Up to 20 hours of hassle for passengers on the Toulouse-Paris Orly flight: Easyjet’s explanations
As we announced here, an Easyjet flight to Orly scheduled for 1:40 p.m. on Monday remained stuck on the tarmac at Blagnac airport. Travelers waited many hours before seeing the situation unblock. Two passengers recount their journey. The company explains.
Laurent was traveling to Paris for a meeting. Sabine, she was returning from the commemorations of the attacks. Like these two Toulouse residents, more than 150 passengers were registered on the Toulouse-Paris Orly flight which was to take off at 1:30 p.m. on Monday March 21. But the trip did not go as planned. “We were told we were 45 minutes late. So far nothing serious. We then got back on the plane to wait there for more than an hour and a half,” says Sabine.
Passengers are worried, Easyjet teams mention “a technical problem requiring a change of aircraft”. The 150 passengers then wait for a second plane for Orly. One hour. Then two. Time is long and travelers are not satisfied with the €4.50 voucher granted by the company to eat. “They couldn’t even finish the distribution: we had to cross the entire airport to get on a second plane,” says Laurent.
A technical then organizational problem
But the A319, chartered urgently, has a lower capacity than the A320 which was to leave at 1:30 p.m. “The company then offered compensation of several hundred euros for the volunteers who agreed not to take this flight. People rushed, there were jostling, ”regrets Sabine. Around 7 p.m., the hundred passengers thought they could finally take off for Paris.
But a new organizational problem appeared: “The crew had already completed their maximum number of daily flight hours. We had to get off the plane again, the stewardess told me it was unheard of, ”says Laurent. It is then 8 pm In a few minutes, Sabine finds another flight with AirFrance: “I spent more than 300 euros for a one-way ticket from Toulouse to Paris”.
Others weren’t so lucky. Back home, Laurent receives confirmation that all the company’s flights to Paris have been canceled for the evening. He will finally leave for the capital the next day at 10:31 a.m., alongside 25 other companions in misfortune. The Toulousain expects compensation of €250 provided by the company. Sabine for her part, is waiting for a refund of her flight at AirFrance.
EasyJet’s response:
“easyJet confirms that flight EJU4026 from Toulouse – Paris Orly on March 21 was reported the next day due to a technical problem on the aircraft before departure requiring a change of aircraft. Passengers disembarked normally in the terminal and received vouchers to eat in the terminal. A replacement aircraft was designated to operate the flight, but due to the delay, the scheduled crew was no longer able to operate the flight because they had reached the legal maximum working hours. Hotel rooms were provided for passengers in need and the flight departed at 09:21 this morning.
In order to allow passengers to reorganize their journey, the company has also transferred several passengers, subject to availability, to the easyJet Toulouse-Paris Orly flight on the evening of March 21 and to the first morning flight of easyJet Toulouse- Paris Orly from March 22