Monday 7 June 2010

HardJet

How I lurve booking stuff online. Especially 'low-cost' flights. We have to go to the UK next week for a funeral (the DIL - RIP - I'm devastated - maybe a more complete post later...). Ryanair don't fly direct from Madrid to Bristol (it is possible to do it via Alicante, Malaga, Sevilla, Reus (eh?) or Valencia), but the buggeration factor is just too high. So that leaves EasyJet. We need to be in Bristol on Wednesday, but EasyJet have no seats available on Tuesday, so I do the booking for both of us on Monday. By crikey, they want €33 for each checked-in bag! No way, we can stuff our stuff into carry-on bags. Then I book a return flight for the boss. I might stay on in Land-Of-Maybe-Nuts for a few more days, so I don't book my return flight.

I move onto the online payment thing, and by some miracle, the payment goes through. The confirmation email arrives. My wife has two seats on the way out, and one on the way back. Feck. Feck. I mean, feck. I then spend an hour and a half trying to change this on EasyJet's website. Cannot be done. Then I waste half an hour trying to find a phone number for them. Cannot be done. I Google EasyJet phone numbers, and find one that could have worked. They close at 8pm, though, and this was a quarter to. I thought it might be worth the risk, but after listening to ridiculous recorded messages ('Welcome to the EasyJet Customer Experience' - I kid you not) for fifteen minutes, the thing shut off bang on 8pm, having no doubt charged me a preposterous amount of money for my hanging on.

So, tomorrow, when I finally get through to an actual person, they'll calmly explain to me that I am stupid (and I am - far too stupid to avoid the deliberate tricks their website puts in your way), and force me to pay another €30 to correct a mistake that their website fooled me into making. If it turns out otherwise, you'll be the first to know.

UPDATE: Well, my flabber is gasted! I spoke to real person. She made the change, and didn't ask me for any money!

4 comments:

nzm said...

Nooo - big hugs to you and MamaDuck from me and J.

xoxo

Jayne said...

This 30 odd yoyo charge for 'checking in' bags is utter bollocks really! Where's the dosh going, cos I certainly don't see check-in staff or baggage handlers prancing around like they win the lottery every time they have to lift a finger?

Istanbilly said...

Ah, Keefie, condolences to you both from both of us.

Got to say though, you were absolutely as good as your word with the acknowledgment that the real person sorted your error out, can't see EasyJet having any complaints there then.

Cheers mate,

Istanbilly

Susan said...

SLeazyjet...we just booked an August ticket from Liverpool to Bordeaux, and bag charges were kindly marked down to 18 pounds...a real deal.