sleazyJet and favourite clothes

Ryanair has a bad reputation for being cheap and nasty. Ryanair is Europe's leading low cost airline. They took the low cost model pioneered by SouthWest Airlines in the States during the 70's, and have cut every corner possible to bring you no-frills, cheap flights.

Just today in the news there was one example of how Ryanair are trying to slash costs by charging for toilets.

Sure, you lose any form of luxury whatsoever, and pay a premium for drinks and snacks on board, but I think it is fantastic having the choice to be able to fly places for cheap.

And of course budget airlines also bring down the airfares of the full service airlines.  British Airways can be cheaper at times than the budget airlines, and I remember when Virgin Blue first came to Australia. For the first time after that, Qantas fares were affordable.

Despite Ryanair's bad reputation. since my trip to Scotland for Easter 2009, I have been saying that I think easyJet is actually worse than Ryanair. easyJet's fares are not as rock-bottom as Ryanair and for some reason they have not been subjected to the same bad reputation oft the Irish airline. But I personally think service is worse on easyJet.  When I set off on this trip to Scotland, I checked in at the airport and headed to the departure gates. I followed the signs to the "departure lounge" which was actually a room with three queues, standing room only. That was no lounge! No chance for lounging when you are being herded like cattle.

I recently went to Austria (and I am yet to write a blog entry on that trip). I flew with easyJet both ways, and on the way home my easyJet experience wasn't great.  First, my booking confirmation told me check in opened an hour before it actually did, so I spent an hour sitting at the airport on the floor in front of the check in desks. Not very convenient but I can get over that. Then, after the flight, I lost a jacket either on the plane or in the terminal between the plane and baggage collection.  I am hopeless, I know. When I went to Turkey last year I left my phone on the plane on arrival in Istanbul. But British Airways were more than helpful in making sure I get it back.

How did easyJet compare? Did they get my jacket back to me?

No.

I had realised my jacket was missing in the baggage reclaim area. I went to the lost baggage counter and asked how I can get in touch with Gatwick airport lost property. They gave me a phone number to call, which is all I guess I could have hoped for. I rang the number a couple of times over the next few days but my jacket hadn't showed up.

Now, that's for property lost in the airport. But what about property lost on the plane? The easyJet website lists a phone contact numbers depending on the arrival airport. The one for Gatwick airport rings out an nobody answers it.  This is frustrating, as the website says they only keep found items for 2 days.

There is no general easyJet phone contact number. The only was they seem to allow you to get in touch is by filling in an online form.  So I filled in the form to get in touch. I told them how their phone number doesn't get answered and asked them whether they had found my jacket. This was on 2 March.

No response at all for a few weeks and then this on 17 March:

Dear Customer,

You have recently requested some assistance from our customer services team at easyJet.

As you are aware, there have been exceptional weather conditions throughout Europe for a number of weeks between December 2009 and February 2010. This has caused many customers to contact our customer services team and we have received over ten times the usual volume of emails. From our records, we have seen that we have not yet responded to your request and this is below our usual next day standard.

Responding to our customers as quickly as possible is a top priority for us, so we have already doubled the size of our customer services team to meet this demand. We're also looking at other ways we can speed-up replies.

To help us respond quickly, can we ask if you could avoid sending follow-up emails to check the status of your initial contact? Further emails increase the backlog that we need to deal with, slowing down replies overall. Please be assured that we will respond to your original email just as soon as we can.

We would like to thank you for your patience during this difficult time.

Yours sincerely

easyJet Customer Experience Team

Did you find this information useful?

No, I can't say I did find that particularly useful. And yes, it is below your allegedly usual next day standard.

Eventually I did receive a response. It came over a month later after my initial query, on 5 April.

Thank you for contacting us.

Our Cabin Crew have a standard procedure to follow and any items left onboard are handed over to the staff at the arrival airport’s Lost and Found office. Therefore the next best course of action is for you to contact the 'Lost and Found Department' at …….. airport on …………….and they would be able to assist you further. 

Thank you for taking the time to contact us; if you need any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be more than happy to assist you further.

Yours sincerely, 

Mustafa Kemal Ergun

Customer Experience Champion

Thanks Mustafa. Some customer experperience champion you are. No apology for taking so long. You couldn't even be bothered filling in the dots with the word Gatwick. Real champion! 

(I also complained about the incorrect information regarding check in time, but to date have not heard back.)

I know this has been a bit of a rant, but I feel better for getting it off my chest. Thanks for listening. But why am I so upset about losing my jacket? Because it is my favourite piece of clothing, which is very convenient for travel. It is a zip up hoody but much warmer than most hoodies. It is furry and soft on the inside, very comfortable and I have traveled with it extensively. When I've been in hostels where I haven't trusted the pillow covers I've used it invertedly as a pillow cover. I have used it as a blanket. I have used it as my most dressy jumper to go out at night. It was an all purpose travel item. And it was from Toronto in Canada, so so far away.

Here are some photos from my Facebook as a tribute to my lost jumper, which I will never see again:

Continental Europe

Canada

England and Scotland

Exercises:

1. Do you agree that easyJet are actually worse than Ryanair?
2. Do you have an essential piece of clothing that you love to travel with?