easyJet retains holiday protection scheme, ramps up recruitment

British airline easyJet confirmed earlier this week that it will retain its Holiday Protection Promise until 2022 in a bid to provide additional certainty during customers’ booking process.

“We know this news might have affected some of our customers with imminent travel plans so, as ever, we want to be on their side and give even more flexibility at this time,” easyJet holidays Director of Customer and Operations Matt Callaghan said.

easyJet introduced a number of policies during the pandemic to encourage customers to book flights and holiday packages, particularly during a time of high unpredictability and ever-changing travel restrictions.

Some of the policies implemented by the airline and still active as of the time of writing include a price match guarantee, a full refund in the event where the company has to cancel a holiday, and an option to pay for a holiday in instalments.

It also includes a full deposit refund if the airline is notified 28 days in advance, as well as the ability to change a holiday with the same notice period as the deposit refund.

Moreover, travellers can make flight changes without an additional charge up to two hours before departure.

In addition, in order to get around the varying restriction policies, the policy includes the ability to switch to any of the 35 countries that make up the airline’s network.

This particular policy has been extended to March 31 2022.

Regarding the holiday protection scheme itself, which has been extended to December 31 2022, this means that if a lockdown travel ban or hotel quarantine comes into force, customers will be entitled to a refund, voucher or the ability to change their flight free of charge, regardless if their original flight is still scheduled to go ahead.

“We know that flexibility continues to be crucial for our customers, so we’ve extended our Protection Promise to help customers book flights with confidence, safe in the knowledge they can make plans to travel without having to worry about incurring change fees or the expenses of mandatory restrictions, should their trip be impacted,” easyJet Chief Commercial Officer Sophie Dekkers said.

“And with more flights now available to destinations across our unrivalled European network, customers have more choice if they need to make changes to their trip,” Dekkers added.

easyJet has also recently ramped up its recruitment efforts, aiming to hire 1,500 season cabin crew members for next summer, in anticipation of higher demand.

1,100 of these jobs will be based in the United Kingdom, while 250 seasonal crew members will be returning after having worked for the airline last summer.

“With the recovery underway, we are ready and able to seize opportunities and our seasonal crew are integral to this,” easyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren said.

“As the largest UK airline, we are proud to employ thousands of people across the country, as well as in Europe, and have been delighted with the overwhelming response so far with more than 11,000 applicants for the 1,500 crew roles,” Lundgren added.

easyJet recently drew the ire of many travellers when it announced that it will be charging more money for customers who want to take large hand luggage on board.

The new fee, which affects standard ticket holders, costs between £5.99 and £32.99, with the airline saying that the average fee paid is £15.

The new fee also includes speedy boarding, as well as the ability to take certain pieces of luggage on board that the airline previously forced customers to check into the hold.