probably the worst low cost company
probably the worst low cost company |
| This introduction was written in December 2007. Some details (the two paragraphs highlighted in red) aren't entirely accurate anymore. If you have reached this website after watching RSI report on Easyjet keep in touch: in a few days I will post my reply to the inane comments Easyjet has made in response to my latest protest. |
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Easyjet is a very particular low cost airline. Like every other low cost, which despite offering to shuttle you from one airport to the other certainly can't be considered real airlines, they sell tickets at dirt cheap prices, and to do so they are force to save money on everything superfluous. So far so good. If you buy a fake Rolex for a couple of Euros from the Chinese guy at the market you certainly don't expect it to give you what a real Rolex can, and if you buy a plane ticket for 10 Euros from Easyjet you certainly don't expect the services, the assistance, and the comfort provided by, say, Singapore Airlines. The trouble starts when, in order to save money, low cost airlines get rid of the necessary stuff. I recently flew to Paris and, by my friend's choice, ended up using this airline. The destination flight was faultless: impeccable plane, slight delay on take-off contained in less than 30 minutes, kind personnel. But on the return trip things went a completely different way. Paris had been paralyzed for several days by a public transportation strike (no subways, RER, buses, taxis: worse than Italy!) and reaching Orly turned out to be quite an adventure. And then, just as we were getting ready to board the plane, an air controller strike breaks out and Easyjet announce they are canceling every departure: the personnel at the boarding gate hurriedly hand out a pamphlet apologizing for the inconveniences beyond the airline's control, close up everything, and disappear before being lynched by an angry mob (there were five flights scheduled for departure). The suitcases of the (would be-)travelers are piled up on the conveyer belt and everyone grabs his own (or not). "Easyjet don't have anything to do with the sudden air controller strike, do they?" I hear you say. They do, they do. Because the air controllers never actually did go on any kind of strike, and planes from other airlines (the real ones) took off and landed regularly! A real scam. Is it possible? You bet it is. Let's think about it for a minute: at those prices, Easyjet makes about 8000/10000 Euros per flight, when they manage to fill up a whole plane. This amount is clearly not enough to cover the costs (salaries of the pilots and flight personnel, albeit miserable ones, and ground maintenance, operation, airport fees, cost of running an office, etc.). If on top of it the plane is not full, say because half the passengers delay their departure fearing they won't be able to reach the airport in time, they really start losing money. Therefore Easyjet is left with only two choices: cancel the flight plain and simple (but in this case they would be obliged by law to provide certain assistance services to the passengers, which they cannot provide, and to pay certain fines which they cannot afford) or cancel the flight and blame it on somebody else (for example air controllers, with all these strikes who's counting anymore..., in which case they would only have to refund the tickets, counting on the fact that most of the scam victims won't realize what's going on or just won't react anyway). Let's assume you decide not to keep quiet about it. Here's surprise number two: Easyjet is basically a ghost airline. At Ciampino Airport they've rented a check in counter where some piecework paid employees work; they do a good job (checking tickets and passengers) but they don't have the slightest idea how to contact their superiors (I'm assuming it's the same story in every other Italian airport). And there is no company office. Same story in Orly (although there are more check-in counters and more employees). There seems to be no Italian branch of the company (or French for that matter) to address in case of problems or complaints (if there is one, it's hidden better than a mafia boss), the operational office is located London, the logo owner and majority shareholder is in Switzerland (meaning outside of the European Union). Even the logo doesn't belong to the company : they rented it ! What can you do then when you want to claim compensations, as entitled to by European regulations (for example in my case I had to purchase another full price ticket in order to get home)? Here's an idea, let's look it up on the Easyjet website. Right, except the website also lacks an address. Usually company homepages always have a "contact us" section which points to a page containing all the useful information and contact numbers. No such luck with Easyjet. Actually there *is* a "how to contact us" section, but it simply points to a FAQ with 20 pages of standard questions and answers on purchasing tickets online, payment methods, etc... Maybe I'm overreacting: if you sift through the 200-plus questions you *will* find something, hidden really well: a list of phone numbers to an information call-center, where you can ask questions about using the internet, get some standard info in case you didn't receive your ticket or it was misprinted, and that sort of things, but no number to make a complaint (there is in fact a phone number you can call to ask for a refund in the event of overbooking for example, but it's overpriced. Can you believe it? Not only won't they let you board the plane, but if you want your money back you'll also have to cough up 1.00 Euro per minute). And then, hidden even better, you'll find a link pointing to general information about Easyjet (the structure of the company, press-releases praising how good they are, and, how wonderful!, their address in London and their fax number. Except the fax number is a fake. Seems they specialize in bogus information). And finally, hidden I can't even remember exactly where, there is also a template to send your comments (NOT complaints, mind you) to the company: except they tell you outright that they only answer in exceptional circumstances, and even then not before a month! In conclusion: they scam you with inexistent strikes to justify cancelling a flight, bogus excuses to avoid their responsibilities, and fake contact information to avoid any contact with customers. One last thought (but just a thought !): who checks whether a plane commuting between Paris and Ciampino, belonging to an airline with registered offices in Switzerland and operational offices in the United Kingdom, complies with aircraft safety regulations and maintenance schedules? Certainly not the Italian aviation administration (the plane is only transiting in Italy), nor the French one (for the same reason), not even the British one (sure the plane is registered in the United Kingdom, but it never actually flies there), and let's not even get started on Switzerland... And if Easyjet couldn't care less about consumer protection laws, do you really think they care about the laws specifying technical norms and regulations (Spanair accident is a good exemple) and aircraft maintenance schedules? (especially since aircraft maintenance can be quite expensive). Acquaviva Picena, december 2, 2007 |
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