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My son arrived at the departure gate 45minutes before the departure time shown on the airport signage.
The EasyJet ticket issuing person also confirmed to my son when he checked in that he had to be at the gate 40min before the departure time shown on the airport signs (billboard).
The flight was delayed however when my son arrived at the gate 45min before the displayed departure time he was refused access to the plane and the luggage was removed.

EasyJet did as follows:

  1. refused my son from recording (filming) his discussion with the EasyJet personal (within their rights/ EasyJet personal are entitled to ask a person to stop this and my son complied)

  2. refused to look for an alternative flight

  3. have up to now refused to pay back the airfare as well as the cost for additional luggage

  4. Easyjet have confirmed in writing that the boarding is 30min prior to departure as shown on the airport signs but advise that the Toulouse Airport company made an error although they have confirmed telephonically that the revised departure time on their system was 09H00 (I have asked that they keep a record of my telephone recording)

  5. EasyJet keep on referring to their travel insurance however why is the onus on the passenger if they have not complied with their instructions.

My question is would we have recourse and who would be the best people to contact in light of the above.

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    Do I understand correctly that he showed up at the gate 45 prior to the delayed time, rather than the scheduled time? What was the delay?
    – Bernhard
    Sep 24, 2017 at 12:42
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    According to the EasyJet terms and conditions, the rule is actually 30 minutes, but from the scheduled departure time, which I interpret as the time at which the flight was originally scheduled to depart, were it not for the delay. See 12.4.1 in that document. So your #4 is either a variation from their written contract, or a misunderstanding. Sep 24, 2017 at 14:07
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    This happens from time to time. I don’t think you’ll get very far with customer service and the travel insurance is a red herring. I have seen a few English court cases where the customer successfully sued the airline on the basis of breach of contract as he arrived at the stated time but transportation was not offered, his damages being the cost of the walk up fare he incurred. You may want to consider that option, but you will need to be on very firm ground about timings before you continue. I’ll look them up if you’re interested.
    – Calchas
    Sep 24, 2017 at 17:03

1 Answer 1

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Pre-flight time limits are always based on the originally scheduled departure time, these include both check in close and arrive at the gate by times. The fact that a flight is delayed does not waive these time conditions, primarily because the airline will do what it can to get the flight to depart as close to scheduled departure as it can.

It sounds like your son made the mistake of assuming he could do as he pleases during the delay. This is never a good idea, because the revised departures times are "estimated" and may happen sooner than posted.

There is really no recourse other than writing a polite message, explaining what occurred and asking for their assistance. Maybe you will get a sympathetic ear, maybe not. But it sounds like the airline did nothing wrong based on the terms of your contract with them.

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