Flight refund landed
Michael Baxter, from Westonsuper-Mare, bought return flights to Menorca from easyJet in November 2019 for £731. In July 2020, easyJet cancelled Michael’s outbound journey. When Michael asked for a cash refund, the airline refused, claiming he had agreed to instead accept travel vouchers, plus an additional £20.
The law
We advised Michael that under General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) pursuant to the Data Protection Act 1998, a person can obtain information held by a company by submitting a subject access request (SAR). This would show whether or not Michael had indeed agreed to accept travel vouchers. The company should normally respond within one month.
Our advice
Our advice We advised Michael to formally complain to EasyJet, and submit a SAR. He did so in April 2021. He had to chase a response from EasyJet’s Data Protection Officer and consult the Information Commissioner’s Office. Eventually, EasyJet responded and confirmed Michael had requested a cash refund back in July 2020 and hadn’t agreed to take travel vouchers. Michael escalated his complaint to AviationADR, an airline dispute resolution body, and EasyJet then refunded him in cash in January 2022.
In reply, EasyJet said: ‘Following the cancellation of Mr Baxter’s flight, he completed the refund request form. However, due to an isolated agent error, he received a flight voucher instead. We have provided Mr Baxter with a full refund and apologised for the inconvenience.’
