Anything-But-Easy Jet. Easiest way to lose over 1000 euros. We had a nightmare experience involving a series of beginning-to-end horrible choices from their reception desk, to the gate supervisor, to their customer service (on site, over the phone, and over email - no response over 3 months later).
Yes, we arrived to the airport a little late. Yes, when we had to split up after they struggled to check in our luggage, the Lisbon airport put a wife and 7 children in an almost immobile "priority" line while my husband later got in a regular line that made it.
But here is the horror: The supervisor at the gate knowingly chose to abandon a husband's wife and seven children, baby included, after what he said was 10 minutes, knowing we were at the airport (because the husband was already on the plane begging him), knowing we were on our way to the gate (and I firmly believe we were actually there lost in an indistinct line mass at the correct gate because I saw people at the front go in the gate). He insisted we were not there, but he had to admit that no one even looked out to see if we were there. Believe me, we were noticeable. The sign was still labeled with our destination "Edinburgh: Boarding" when we arrived at the gate. He refused to take responsibility, and sent us away.
Next nightmare: No one at customer service would reroute us, even with a late fee of almost the price of a full-price ticket, unless we committed to a flight to exactly the same city in the next two hours. Even though the next available flight was FOUR DAYS from then. (We only had a week total.) They knew our story. Wife and children, separated from husband. He had the stroller, the car seat. The only one who spoke Portuguese. We begged, we camped at their desk, watched other frustrated customers come and go. Nothing. I spent HOURS trying to reach customer service over the phone.
Six hours and many phone calls at the airport later, we found THE BEST airline. Jet2 had tickets for ONE THIRD of the price of Easy Jet's rerouting "fee" for the next day. They made our whole trip still possible, though epically crazy. Imagine the journey of a mom and seven children (though impressively brave and helpful) taking shuttles, trams, metros, and a four-hour train ride to a one-room tiny hostel at 11pm in Faro, then busing first thing in the morning to a new airport, flight, shuttle, and long walks uphill with carryon luggage to reunite with husband in the middle of his work presentation (the reason we took the trip in the first place) in Edinburgh. (Side note: Scotland was worth it!)
We are grateful. For Jet2. They were competent, friendly, and professional from start to finish. Easy Jet was a pure nightmare from start to finish. It was not a fluke bad person or bad day. The whole system is just bad. You can be in the majority of people who don't get stuck, but if you are stuck - be it weather, airport mistakes, or anything even out of your control, they will have no mercy. Of course their general tickets can be cheap. They pocketed over 1000 euros from us alone with no service at all and put a large family through horrors I only now have the energy to recount.
Smaller later incidents: We still had our return tickets and endured a disorganized mass mess of lines corralling us to our seat. Then my husband, hoping it was different flying alone, used them again for a business trip. For the first time, he was told his backpack did not count as a carryon and he scrambled to (fortunately) stuff it in his other luggage.
Please, please do not ever use this airline. Others are so much more deserving of your business, and most importantly, you don't want to risk losing sanity, trip, and money for it. read more