I have recently raised a complaint to Easyjet asking them to clarify some additional costs to a flight we made. After my sixth attempt of asking them to clarify the matter they have now responded saying that they are not prepared to enter into any more discussion stating the cost is "just because it is" and refused to continue with the complaint. i now wish to take this further but do not know who to contact. Is there a body or organisation that Easyjet and other airlines are members of should a complaint such as this arises and cannot get resolved? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Phil

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I think it is the Office of Fair Trading that you need to complain to. They recently told all (budget especially) airlines that they should not mislead the buying public with £1 fares that conveniently "forgot" to mention the extra charges and that all charges should be listed in the original fare. Ryanair and EasyJet kicked up about how they would have to re- arrange their websites and were given time, but I think that deadline has now passed. I too got caught out with Jet2 advertising £39 one way fares to find out it became £54 at the end of the checkout process

(Edited to add link:) See this page: http://www.oft.gov.uk/news/press/2007/72-07

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But surely we all have the option not to give our credit card details once we are aware that there are certain add ons, such as taxes, which add up ?

May I enquire, Phil, what are the extra charges you incurred as we only ever book with EasyJet as we only have that option from bristol to Alicante & Murcia.

I think seeing as EasyJet bothered to reply to Phil, they could've been more eloquent, otherwise why bother at all.

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It is our choice, but the problem is that you don't find out about the extras until you are about to pay. You don't go into Sainsbury's with a trolley load of goods priced up, to find at the till you have to pay a fuel surcharge because the cost of diesel has gone up, or pay for packaging as an extra or even that tax is to be added on top of your total do you? So why should the travel industry be any different?

Mark

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Rosemary,

Basically, my son had a flight booked from Gatwick to Belfast and changed it to go from Bristol instead. Their website said the cost would be £17.50 or £20 over the telephone. Easyjet debited his card £50 and as he was unable to get proper clarification over the phone, plus of the rush, he had to accept the cost but stated he would query with customer services.

Over the course of six e-mails to clrify this extra £30, Easyjet have either totally missed what I'm querying and have failed to give me a breakdown of this £30. All they say is is spelt out in their terms, of which they send me a "link" to their site. This just confirms the £20. Their last reply to me was that the payment was correct, they don't have to clarify it and that they consider the matter closed!!!

It might be of interest to some of you that one of their reps at Bristol quietly told me that it's not unsual for this "type" of charge to be added on and he has been told to refer such queries to their customer service team to deal with at a later date in which time the customer has got two options: fly and possibly get ripped off or don't fly, query the cost and get told no-one can help. Seems a bit unfair to me. Although the cost is only small, I think the principal is why IO'm determined to take this as far as I can, especially as I don't think I'm alone.

Phil

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It shouldn't be any different, Mark, I agree with you. However, I hardly think  you can compare booking a flight with buying groceries !

As you go through the stages of booking flights you can see what you are paying for, such as an extra charge should you want speedy boarding, insurance, credit card or debit card charge etc. If you first look at their terms & conditions you know it'll cost you £5 / kg if your case weighs over 20kg (in EasyJet's case if you'll excuse the pun) when you check in or, if you decide to turn up with a second case, it'll cost double at the airport than if you'd booked it online. Etc etc.............

So I'm at a loss as to understand why so many think they're being robbed blind when it says , for example, 1p / one way when we are aware it's going to have heavy taxes added.

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I agree, the groceries angle wasn't a proper comparison, but it was all I could think of at the time .

I suppose it would be easier for the person buying to be able to see exactly what they were getting as a "basic" package which should at least include taxes. I agree, if you have an excess baggage charge or you want a seat with extra leg room, these should be tallied up as you go along. Having the price less any taxes isn't right as the tax has to be paid, so should be shown as the inclusive price.

My own example shows on the Jet2 webpage that the flights were £39ea one way which I thought was really good. This is the "tug" that they give you lure you in. I was comparing the cost of the flights buying direct rather than through the agent we were tralleing with who charged us £212 for the return flights. I saw the £39 one way (£78 return) and immediately thought I had been screwed by the agent (that is yet to come allegedly )  for an extra £56. I was going to cancel those flights and book new ones at the "cheaper" price, only to find that as it came up to the end of the booking procedure, admin costs, baggage (which at check they still want another £5!!) and taxes added an extra £15 or so to each ticket. A bit naughty methinks.

Mark

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Hi Phil,

I truly sympathise with your son regarding that & I, too, would be FURIOUS as you are. That is not acceptable. Previously I wasn't thinking something like that had happened, of course. I see so much written in forums about how certain airlines have done this, that, the other or not, as the case (another pun, sorry) may be when basically all that has happened is that they never bothered to familiarise themselves with the terms & conditions.

I tend to say to most that if they are so p****d off with Ryanair or EasyJet try someone else but of course they don't as these are cheap compared with others. It's amazing how many times forum members complain "we had to pay £3 for a sandwich on a flight with EasyJet !" ... NO, you didn't ! Take your own ! 

Anyway I do feel you're right to want this sorted out if it's any consolation.

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Naughty, maybe, Mark, but Spain's quite a long walk & it's hotter as you get nearer.

I just wished those pilots would concentrate on where they're going.

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Hi Phil

I missed your post. If your son paid by card, can he not put it into dispute with the card issuer due to an incorrect amount being charged? They will ask him why it is in dispute, then normally will freeze the funds until Easyjet provide an answer. Normally, as it is a cardholder not present transaction, the burden of proof is on the merchant that the charges were correctly informed to the cardholder. At tleast that way they will be forced into answering someone.

Mark

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Last year we had booked to go out first week in January but afterwards we had to change it to as my husbands boss decided to close the restaurant over xmas and new year.  

I amended the dates on line and expected to pay x amount as listed on screen.   When I completed all the details I found that the amendment price had doubled as you pay x amount on outward and inward flights.  Was your sons flight a return booking if so then that could account for some of the money.

Zena

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