EASYJET have U-turned and apologised after refusing to cover the cost of a single mum’s hotel bill when she was left stranded by a cancelled flight.
Nikki Kirkland from Grouville, Jersey claimed expenses from the budget airline after her flight was called off last month leaving her stranded in London for more than 48 hours.
Nikki, head coach of the Jersey Special Gymnastic Club, was returning from a competition alongside two other volunteers and three disabled athletes, who were all forced to find somewhere to stay.
However, having been forced to fork out for a hotel, EasyJet only reimbursed the 47-year-old for half of the expenses, despite the group having to stay for two nights.
As well as being short handed by the airline, support worker Nikki was also forced to miss two days of work as a result of the cancellation.
She was left disappointed and confused when she received a reply to her claim yesterday telling her that the hotel would only be covered for one night.
EasyJet said: “Our team has now reviewed your claim and we are pleased to confirm that we will partially pay you for the expenses claimed.
“Please see a breakdown below for the expenses that can be reimbursed.
“Hotel and Accomodation – Amount claimed: £675.
“Amount reimbursed: £337.50.
“Accepted for one night only.”
However, after facing backlash on their decision the airline have now U-turned and pledged to cover the entire £675 bill.
Speaking today a spokesman for EasyJet said: “We’re sorry that Ms Kirkland’s flight from London Gatwick to Jersey was unfortunately cancelled due to a ground handling delay at Gatwick airport, which meant the flight was unable to land in Jersey before the airport curfew.
“While we provided customers with options to rebook or receive a refund as well as hotel accommodation where possible and advised any customers like Ms Kirkland who arranged their own that they would be reimbursed, we are aware that flight options were limited on some routes at this time and fully appreciate the difficulty this will have caused the group.
“We are in touch with Ms Kirkland to apologise for her experience and for the delay in reimbursing all her expenses due to a misunderstanding by the advisor assisting her, and we have now reimbursed her in full.”
Speaking today, Nikki said: “They’re saying one thing to the press and another thing to me. It’s really confusing.
“In one breath they’re saying they’ve reimbursed me in full and in another they’re asking me to send over even more details when I’ve already provided them with everything.
“I don’t know what they’re playing at. At the end of the day, it’s down to them that we had to spend two extra days there.
“We were good with our expenses, we stayed in the cheapest hotel we could find and even didn’t eat lunch one of the days! Some of the hotels we were looking at were well over £1000.
“Some people would have chosen those, but we just wanted somewhere close and cheap.
“We had to apply to a charity in Jersey for money just so we could afford those extra two days that we weren’t expecting.
“I still haven’t received my first payment, but they did say it can take up to seven working days to come through.”
