What happened to us
We were booked with Easyjet to return from a holiday in Sicily in September 2014, flying from Catania to Gatwick and then back home to Edinburgh. According to the Easyjet terms and conditions, the bag drop desk was due to open two hours before the flight departure time, so we made sure to arrive at the airport with two hours to go.
We were met with a scene of chaos- the bag drop queue was long and unmanaged, and the security queue was even worse. Easyjet failed to prioritise passengers according to flight time and we were told it was just one big queue for all flights. After almost an hour, we finally dropped our bag to be told we just had to join the back of the security queue, which by now was snaking around the hall. We asked to be prioritised through this queue, but Easyjet staff refused.
After an hour of further queuing we finally got to the gate to be told the gate had closed, we had missed our flight, and to go an collect our luggage. Easyjet took no responsibility, and we were abandoned in Catania. We discovered there were two seats free on a BA flight leaving shortly, but were reluctant to believe we could get through security in time to board- until the BA rep told us “Don’t worry, we guarantee we’ll get you through!”. True to their word, they made sure we got to the gate in time, and we made it back to Gatwick to take our Easyjet connection back to Edinburgh.
We had done everything right: turned up on time, followed instructions, even pleaded with staff to do something to help us when we could see that we would never get through the queues on time. Surely, it wasn't our fault?
So when we got back home, we complained. But Easyjet didn't settle without a fight...