Airlines will sometimes have schedule changes, whereby the schedule for a flight will be changed at some point before departure. As a traveler, you can often make these work to your advantage, since you can typically make a (reasonable) change without incurring a fare difference.

However, the policies do vary by airline, and it seems like EasyJet may have a particularly “unfriendly” policy in this regard, as shared by an OMAAT reader. I guess that’s not too surprising for a European budget carrier that largely makes its money on fees, but still…

EasyJet’s unreasonable schedule change policy

OMAAT reader Mike booked a flight on EasyJet for next June from Lisbon (LIS) to Bordeaux (BOD), which was scheduled to depart at 1:05PM. Separately, he had booked a TAP Air Portugal flight to Lisbon out of New York (JFK), scheduled to land at 10:15AM.

So while it required two separate tickets, this was the most convenient routing for getting from New York to Bordeaux, and he figured with a 2hr50min layover, that would be plenty of time to collect bags, and once again check them in for the second flight, and make the connection.

Recently, Mike received a schedule change notice from EasyJet, informing him that his Lisbon to Bordeaux flight was moved by 1hr5min, from 1:05PM to 12:00PM. With just 1hr45min to make his connection, he’s understandably more concerned.

Fortunately EasyJet also has a flight in the market at 3PM, so Mike figured he could be moved to that flight at no extra cost, given that it’s EasyJet that made the schedule change. When he contacted EasyJet, he was informed that he’d have to pay around €50 to move flights, as the airline reportedly only waives change fees for schedule changes of three hours or more.

When he asked them to show proof of where this policy is written, he was informed this is an internal policy, and there’s no public documentation of this. Mike concludes the following:

This seems very unreasonable — to enforce a policy that was: 1) not disclosed at booking; and 2) not available for reference anywhere (even after booking). I’m considering disputing the charge on my credit card — but I hate to resort to that if it’s avoidable. It seems like they should take accountability for their schedule change, and simply move me to the other flight on the same day? I know this is what a US carrier would do (as I’ve done it several times), especially since I’m NOT looking for a refund.

For what it’s worth, below is part of Mike’s chat with the EasyJet customer service representative.

Is EasyJet’s policy even remotely reasonable?

There’s a lot going on with EasyJet’s schedule change policy. As I see it, the biggest problem here is how the company doesn’t clearly publish its rules. I’ve looked through EasyJet’s contract of carriage, and (unless I’m missing something) nowhere does the airline state what its policy actually is.

That’s a problem, and a little bit of transparency shouldn’t be too much to ask for. Airline contracts of carriage are one-sided under the best of circumstances, let alone when you see stuff like this.

While the European Union has strong air passenger consumer protections (in the form of EC261), that doesn’t really address situations like this, where a schedule change is published many months in advance. So it’s up to each airline to set their policy (though again, the issue here isn’t even the policy, but instead, the lack of publishing the policy).

Now, of course I should add the obvious caveat that there’s always a risk when you’re booking flights on separate itineraries. Also, the further out you book, the better the odds that there will be a schedule change. So I can’t say that I’m shocked to see a schedule change like this, and I think a potential €50 fee might just be the “cost” of this kind of an arrangement, when confirming travel far in advance, and hoping for things to work out.

Of course watch him pay a €50 fee, only to then have that afternoon flight have a schedule change as well. So I’m not sure I have any great advice here, though at least let this act as a warning to other travelers. With many airlines, a schedule change is essentially carte blanche to pick the flight you want. With EasyJet, it’s an opportunity to pay another fee.

Bottom line

While most airlines are pretty generous when it comes to how they handle schedule changes, EasyJet isn’t. The company’s policy seems to be that if they change the schedule for less than three hours, you’re stuck with the same flight, and have to pay a fee to change to a more convenient flight.

I think that policy is a little aggressive, but worst of all, it doesn’t even seem to be clearly published. So if you do book an EasyJet flight, let this act as a warning…

What do you make of EasyJet’s schedule change policy?