Sally says:
You were angry about what had happened to your friend, who was travelling alone and had also recently been diagnosed with cancer, so was feeling particularly vulnerable when staff did not help him. I contacted easyJet and asked if it would urgently come to the aid of the 80-year-old.
It took many hours and several pestering emails before the situation was resolved. As there was no alternative flight that day, your friend had to remain in Spain, staying the night with a friend who picked him up about eight hours after he missed his flight.
His own property in Spain, where he had been staying, was too far away from Alicante.
On my intervention, easyJet arranged a ticket for the next day at no extra charge. A spokesman defended its actions, saying the Government required all passengers heading to the UK to present verification of a completed passenger locator form on departure to be able to travel. She said it informed customers of this ahead of their flight. Your friend knew this but simply struggled to produce the completed form on his phone. Rather than help him, staff gave him the brush-off.
EasyJet’s spokesman said: “Unfortunately, as he could not provide the required documentation as set out by the UK authorities, we were unable to allow him to travel on his flight. We understand this will have been a difficult situation and arranged for him to travel on an alternative flight free of charge as a gesture of goodwill.” You told me your friend managed to show his form the following day and successfully board his flight to Manchester.
I recently flew to Jersey and was fiddling around with my phone right up to the boarding gate before I could produce my NHS Covid pass for checking. It is a stressful situation.
My travelling companion suggested that I download a QR code into a file on my phone, making it easier for me to locate when in a fluster, rather than trawling through emails. That is what I will do in future.
Another option is to print it out before you go to the airport and tuck it inside your passport. This can also be done with a passenger locator form.
