Reasonable advice, except for the underlined part - no way to contact them and no online refund option. So I'll what until the day of my flight, give another try with the phone and if they don't pick it up, off the Amex.

You confused me with that. Check in weeks ahead? Sure enough, you can do that with EasyJet. I just did that, and I have boarding passes. Still no cancellation, but I’ll post here what happens. Thanks.

You can check in a month ahead with Easyjet... I did the same as you yesterday, but no cancellation email yet.

Keep us updated.

I'm going to hold off going for charge back until much closer to the time. Probably 24 hours out.

Same plan and will do. What happens with the April 16 flight (CDG-CTA) should be telling. Right now it's still showing as going, but I really doubt it.

I am really surprised that how come EU agency (not sure which one) is not pushing airlines to provide a cash refund for the canceled flights. Are they not seeing the passenger hardships? or more worried about the airlines? In order to get a cash refund passengers need to contact the airline- but if the phones or online chats are extremely busy, someone should push the airlines to provide online tools to get a cash refund.

I applied for a chargeback for my canceled flight but not sure if and when I will get it. From the other posts, I see that airlines are disputing. Is EU261 that flexible?

I got an email today at 1926 UK time from the CEO of Easyjet which I am going to use as evidence if I do not get a refund. As I have posted earlier I have around 4 tickets and could not get easyjet to agree for a refund. I raised a dispute via AMEX .Amex had closed the case for all 4 disputed tickets and the funds were placed back into my account.

It looks like Easyjet has been disputing with AMEX as my cases have been opened up again .

This has happened to me in the past when a merchant disputes the decision made by Amex . It goes from the closed state back to the open state.


I am waiting to see what they want to say after this email from the CEO.




Dear xxxxxxx,

On behalf of everyone at easyJet, I hope you and your loved ones are healthy and safe at this time.

I wanted to write to you to let you know what's been happening at easyJet.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been working hard to repatriate more than 45,000 customers from across Europe, and we will continue to work with governments to support the ongoing effort to get people home where needed.

However, with our number one priority being the safety and wellbeing of customers and crew, and with the travel restrictions across Europe, we took the decision to temporarily ground all of our fleet of aircraft. This means that throughout April, there will be no easyJet flights operating anywhere on our network other than for repatriation.

If your flight is cancelled as a result of this, I am sorry. Our customer service team will be in touch to let you know how to switch to a new flight, get a voucher or be reimbursed. We are currently dealing with an unprecedented number of calls and are working hard to try and process these as quickly as we can - however, with a number of our service centres directly affected by government restrictions, it may take longer than usual and so we thank you for your patience.

I know that this has been a difficult and frustrating time for many of you who have had travel plans disrupted, who may have waited on calls, or who faced difficulties booking onto rescue flights, so I am sorry if this has been the case.

Rest assured, my team and I are working around the clock trying to ease the disruption as much as we can. I am extremely proud of the way that everyone here, from call centre staff to the crew onboard, has given their all at such a challenging time.

Looking to the future
We’re missing travel as much as anyone and will continue to evaluate when we can start flying again. As soon as we can do so safely, we’ll be back in the skies again – proudly taking you on your holidays, business trips, and weekends away with friends and loved ones.

Until then, I wanted to say thank you for your support and understanding. Please look after yourselves, and we look forward to warmly welcoming you back on board one day soon.

Sincerely,

Johan Lundgren
CEO, easyJet

Carriers are playing for cash. Sooner or later, the dispute will be resolved in your favor presuming that you followed the chargeback rules to the "t" and everything is documented. But, anything that delays the loss of the cash is a net positive for the carrier.

This will be the case for a good long while and as it is various governments which are left to bail out carriers, don't look for NEB enforcement.

easyJet carried around 96 million passengers last year, or 8 million per month. Just say the average price paid was £60 per journey then they would need almost half a billion GBPs each month to pay them all back. Do you think they could get that credit at such short notice or sustain it for any length of time?

Thanks for posting the CEO's email, ukdoctor. That's encouraging, and it's also encouraging that the stock market isn't expecting easyJet to go under anytime soon. It currently has a market cap of £1.88 billion. Looks like we'll get our refunds for cancelled April flights soon enough.

Yes, if they use their customers as a credit facility. Which is what they are doing by not refunding. It's at 0% interest with 100% of the risk on the consumer. Most enterprises will take those terms to locate cash.;)

And without this credit they would go under and all the benefits of flying that have built up over the years due to easyJet and the like would be gone. I'd rather extend them some credit than watch them go under - although I would like at least a little bit of interest. :)

Agree. I would rather have Easyjet continue to fly than some other ones around.

Isn't that what the government is for? Bail them out, take a stake in the company, and the taxpayers share the risk. While, as a taxpayer, you may have a small part of that risk, it is not disproportionately on you.

Many carriers are offering a 20% or fixed amount premium for those accepting a credit when they could have a refund. That becomes more appealing.

Getting too near OMNI territory, but no, in general government should not be involved and taxpayers should not share the risk. Even in these unusual times, government intervention should be a last resort and one of the steps could be laws allowing vouchers to be offered rather than cash.

An uplift as you describe to make the voucher more palatable won't suit everyone, but is a good approach for many as long as it isn't abused by price hikes down the line.

It looks like Amex UK have removed the option to dispute transactions. I don't see that link any longer.

Additionally, as someone pointed out earlier, Easyjet have disputed all chargeback requests so Amex have reopened all 4 cases in my account.