Three weeks ago I was denied boarding on an easyJet flight from Lisbon to Bristol. I had checked in but at boarding was told they could not find me on the system. EasyJet’s finance department confirmed it had cancelled my booking – apparently it doesn’t inform passengers when this happens. The gentleman on the phone said there could be a number of factors as to why, including fraudulent transactions. I had used my card to book the £68 flight a week before travelling.
Stranded, I was forced to book another flight from Lisbon-Porto-Gatwick. I missed my coach from Bristol to home, and so had to book another transfer from Gatwick which finally got me back to Wales at 5.30am – 12 hours after I had originally been due. EasyJet has asked me to send my bank statement and booking etc. That’s the only communication I’ve had from them.
LN, Swansea
This is the second letter we have had from someone denied boarding by easyJet in such circumstances, and this has proved very complicated to resolve.
The airline cancelled your flight because it believes that in 2014 you flew from Bristol to Glasgow on a ticket paid for using stolen credit card details. The return flight was booked by someone else, it says, but listed you as the passenger. The cardholder – from Thailand – asked for the £180 cost to be a chargeback, resulting, easyJet says, in it losing this amount and you being placed on its fraud alert list. It says all your recent booking details match those on the 2014 Glasgow flight.
You, however, are adamant you have never flown into Glasgow airport and don’t know the person who made this booking. You say you changed your name by deed poll since and are baffled as to why this has only now emerged, as you took at least two easyJet flights in 2017 without a problem. If you still believe this was nothing to do with you, issue the airline with a subject access request to demand it hands over all the data. You can then try to challenge it. The airline says in cases of suspected fraud it does not notify before departure to reduce the risk of immediate rebooking.
If you were, possibly inadvertently, involved, you may want to pay the £180 owed, which should take you off the fraud alert list. A very complicated and bizarre case.
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