What to Do if Your easyJet Flight Is Cancelled

Delayed flights are bad enough, but flight cancellations are even worse. Depending on when easyJet cancelled your flight, you have certain rights that the airline must uphold. Have you had your holiday plans thrown up into the air because of easyJet flight cancellations?

This article will explain what air passenger rights are in the event of easyJet flight cancellations. It will go over what the airline is expected to do at certain timescales. Finally, it will explain compensation amounts in regards to cancellations and when flights qualify.

Ready to make a claim for a delayed or cancelled flight? Fill in your details in our online form. It only takes a minute, and is easier than any request to “please contact our customer support team”.

Cancellation Air Passenger Rights

Under airline regulations, if easyJet cancels your flight, they must offer you an alternative route or refund you. This only happens if your flight:

• Departs from the UK or EU

• Lands in the UK (with a UK airline)

• Lands in the EU (with a UK or EU airline)

As long as easyJet flight cancellations happen within 14 days of your scheduled departure, you are entitled to one of the following:

• An alternative flight

• A voucher

• A refund

Alternative Flight

If you’re offered an alternative, the airline is obligated to reroute you to your final destination as soon as possible or on a specific date. If you choose this option, you can be booked onto a rival airline and they must pay any difference. As an example, with easyJet flight cancellations, if Jet2 is the only airline flying to your destination, easyJet will cover this cost for you.

When accepting an alternative route, you must look at the details. You may not be on a direct flight, and your alternative could include several connections with stopovers. Just because of easyJet flight cancellations, you don’t have to take this option.

Alternative routes for a cancelled service can entitle you to compensation, depending on when they take off and how soon they get you to your destination. A flight tracker can come in useful here.

You can find compensation amounts for easyJet flight cancellations at the end of the guide.

Voucher or Refund

Airlines will offer you a voucher for the value of your ticket if you no longer wish to travel. Under easyJet terms and conditions, this is valid for 12 months from the date of issue.

How does British Airways compare?

If neither of these options work, the airline must accept refund requests. Just be aware that if you have submitted an online refund request, you are then released from their care and you cannot claim for any additional expenses. For easyJet to cancel a flight, a refund might ease the stress of an alternative.

easyJet Flight Cancellations: Duty of Care

When your flight is cancelled and you have taken the offer of an alternative, an airline has a duty of care to look after its customers. This includes paying for food, drink, accommodation and transfers, if necessary. Air passenger rights entitle you to these until you are able to fly, irrelevant of the delay length or what it was caused by.

Food and Drink

Even with easyJet flight cancellations, you must then be given access to free food and drink, and to ensure you have the means to communicate with others, such as internet access. If vouchers or credit cannot be given, the airline will reimburse you for “reasonable” expenses.

Overnight Accommodation

If the next available departure isn’t until the next day, easyJet will offer you a hotel room for the night, including any transport to and from the airport. Where there is widespread disruption and multiple easyJet flight cancellations have occurred, this might not be possible. In this instance, you are advised to seek your own accommodation, but this has to be considered “reasonable”.

According to the easyJet website, their advice is to look for hotels that are 3 stars or equivalent, such as Premier Inn, IBIS, Holiday Inn and Travelodge. The advice for flight cancellations from easyJet (or any other airline) should be fairly consistent.

Additional Food and Drink

Where easyJet flight cancellations require an overnight stay, the airline will also arrange for you to have an evening meal and breakfast. If the facilities aren’t available at the hotel, you will be reimbursed £25 per person per day.

Sometimes easyJet isn’t able to provide transport, so you may have to make your own way to the facilities. In doing so, you will need to keep a copy of all costs as these can be reimbursed. These do need to be “reasonable”, so public transport and taxis count.

What About Travel Insurance?

You can get travel insurance that protects you against flight cancellations from easyJet (or any other airline) as standard. There are premium policies you can purchase for additional levels of protection, and these can refund you in specific cases, whether you cancelled the flight yourself or the airline did. Naturally, all policies differ so you will have to read each in full to understand what you’re paying for.

Generally, you can receive a full refund through your travel insurance for a cancellation if it was:

• Delayed for more than 24 hours

• Cancelled and the airline didn’t find you an alternative flight within 24 hours

When Are easyJet Flight Cancellations Allowed?

Airlines cancel flights all the time, and they are permitted as long as they happen at least 14 days before. This allows time for alternatives to be sought. However, if easyJet flight cancellations occur within the 14 day window, you could be owed compensation. As long as the airline is at fault, you can make a claim.

In extraordinary circumstances, such as poor weather and air traffic control decisions, you cannot make an easyJet claim for a cancelled flight as this is outside the airline’s control.

easyJet Compensation for a Cancelled Flight

You can receive compensation for easyJet flight cancellations, providing they fit certain criteria. These amounts are similar to what you receive for flight delays.

Cancellation From 7-14 Days

If easyJet flight cancellations are relayed to you between 7–14 days before the scheduled departure, you could claim compensation based on the timing of the alternative that’s offered.

You cannot claim for a flight cancellation if your alternative departs within two hours of your original flight time. The alternative must also arrive within four hours for you to be exempt from compensation.

You can see easyJet flight cancellation compensation amounts with 7-14 days’ notice in the table below.

Looking at easyJet flight cancellations and their compensation amounts, you can see how they differ based on timings. On a short alternative (within 1,500km), you could be owed up to £220 if it arrives 2 hours later to your final destination. The amount is halved if the journey takes less than 2 hours.

For longer trips (over 3,500km), you can claim up to £520 if the replacement lands at your final destination 4 hours later than your original flight. Again, the amount is halved if the replacement took off within 1 hour but arrives less than 4 hours later to your final destination.

Cancellation Within 7 Days

If easyJet flight cancellations occur within 7 days, you are entitled to compensation, but this is still based on the alternative offered.

You cannot make a claim if the alternative flight departs within an hour of your original time. This alternative must also arrive within two hours of the original scheduled time for you to not be eligible for compensation for easyJet flight cancellations.

You can see the easyJet flight cancellation compensation amounts for under 7 days’ notice in the table below.

Similar to the timescales and criteria with 7–14 days’ notice, you can still claim up to £520 for easyJet flight cancellations, providing you take the alternative and it arrives late to its destination.

The smallest amount for easyJet flight cancellations is £220, but the alternative needs to arrive 2 hours or later to your final destination. The biggest amount of £520 is reduced by half if the alternative arrives within 4 hours. These amounts depend on the route distance.

When Can You Not Claim for easyJet Flight Cancellations?

There are always instances in which you cannot make a claim in the event of a cancellation. These include:

• Cancellation with more than 14 days’ notice

• The airline informed you of the cancellation within 7–14 days and offered you an alternative that lands at your final destination within 4 hours of the original time

• The alternative flight lands at your final destination within 2 hours of the original time

• The cancellation was caused by extraordinary circumstances, so it was outside of the airline’s control

Extraordinary Circumstances

Situations outside of the airline’s control are not covered. This means that easyJet flight cancellations cannot be claimed if they are a result of:

• Air traffic control decisions

• Drones

• Security threats

• Extreme weather

• Political situations or civil unrest

• Hidden manufacturing defects

• Strikes from airport staff (not the airline)

• Bird strikes

• Natural disasters

• Outbreaks of disease

• Unruly or sick passengers

Should I Make a Claim?

If you’ve been a victim of easyJet flight cancellations, there’s not much reason to avoid making a claim. As long as your trip was cancelled within the last 6 years, you can make a claim for it. This means that you can claim for multiple flights that have been affected, so you could end up with a surprising amount in compensation.

The stress and sheer inconvenience of easyJet flight cancellations is a cause of worry, concern and more than a few headaches. Even if the airline covers the costs of food, accommodation and transportation, this does not account for compensation for the inconvenience. Making a claim for financial compensation can remedy some of this hurt.