Your easyJet flight is delayed.
You have checked the flight status online and see that it’s delayed.
What happens if your flight is delayed? Should you come to the airport as planned, or it’s better to wait at home or hotel? Because, as you might already know, delays can be long. If it’s a long delay, will you have to wait at the airport for several hours until easyJet finds a solution? It depends. You might not need to wait at the airport until your flight departs.
There are situations when you can stay at home.
Should You Wait or Proceed as Planned?
You have checked the flight status online.
Or you have received an e-mail saying that your flight is delayed.
What now? It depends on where are you now. Are you at home or at the airport?
1. You Are at the Gate, Waiting for Your Flight
If you’re already at the airport, at your gate, stay there.
Wait for the updates about your flight status.
If it’s a short delay, most probably, the flight will depart from the same gate.
2. You Haven’t Gone Through Airport Security
You find out about flight delay once you arrive at the airport.
If you haven’t gone through airport security yet, stay at the landside (public access) area of the airport. Don’t go through security until you know what happens with your flight. Because it could be a long, overnight delay, or your flight could be cancelled altogether. If it is the latter, you will need to get yourself booked on a new flight, and you will need to check in for this flight. This can be done in the public access area of the airport. If you go through security before you know what happens to your delayed flight, you might need to go back to the landside area of the airport. And not always it’s that easy.
Also find out what happens with check in. See if check in for your flight is delayed, too. If it’s delayed, it’s best to wait at the public access area of the airport until it starts. Even if you have already checked in online.
What if check in has already started? Then it’s possible that delay won’t be long. You can go through airport security and proceed to your gate.
3. You Are at Home or Hotel
Find out if check in time has changed.
Call easyJet or the airport to find out if check in is delayed. Of course, you can just arrive at the airport and wait there until your flight departs, but it’s not necessary.
If check in is delayed too, there’s no need to go to the airport right now. Especially if it’s an early morning flight. Find out the new check in time, and come to the airport in time for it.
If, however, check in time hasn’t changed, it is better to go to the airport as planned. Especially, if you still have to do airport check in, and check in your bag. If you have already checked in online, but you are traveling with a checked bag, proceed to the airport as planned if check in time hasn’t changed.
So, in short:
If check in is delayed — wait at home or hotel.
If check in is not delayed — go to the airport as planned.
How to Check EasyJet Flight Status Online?
There are three options how you can check your flight’s status:
- Airport website (the airport from which is your flight);
- Your airline’s website (in this case, easyjet.com);
- Flight trackers (e.g., flightradar24.com).
Always check flight status before leaving for the airport, to avoid surprised later.
Especially, if it’s an early morning flight. You don’t want to arrive at the airport early in the morning just to find out that your flight is heavily delayed, and you aren’t going anywhere for now. In this case, it is much better to have an extra few hours of sleep at home / hotel. Don’t you think so?
If your flight is very early in the morning, check your flight’s status right after you wake up. To see if your flight is heavily delayed, or even cancelled. If it is, there’s no need to go to the airport this early. Also don’t forget to check the status right before you leave for the airport.
And don’t forget to ask the airline if check in is delayed, too.
Usually travellers find out about the delay:
- By SMS or e-mail notifying about the delay;
- When checking flight status online;
- At the airport, or even at the gate.
What If You Are Going to Miss Connecting Flight?
If you miss your easyJet connection, you will need to book a new flight.
EasyJet doesn’t sell connecting flights. If you have an easyJet connection, most probably you have booked the flights separately. Even if you have booked easyJet flights as a single booking (using a third-party flight ticket booking site), it still might be a self transfer. You’ll see that each easyJet flight has its own booking reference number. And it means that it’s not a connecting flight, but a self transfer.
Since it’s a self transfer, easyJet is not responsible for your connection. If you miss your connection, you will have to deal with the consequences yourself. You will need to book another flight, and pay for it yourself. Your travel insurance might cover the costs, though.
However, you might be entitled to easyJet flight delay compensation.
In some cases, your easyJet self-transfer flight could be protected. If you are booking it with kiwi.com, it’s possible to purchase Kiwi Guarantee which will protect every leg of your journey against unexpected changes. In case of flight delay or cancellation, Kiwi will book you on a new flight.
Right to Care at the Airport
If you have to wait at the airport, you have a right to care.
If you are experiencing a long delay, last-minute cancellation or denied boarding, and you have to wait at the airport for 3+ hours, easyJet has to take care of you. These are the laws in Europe.
EasyJet must offer you free meals and drinks, two free phone calls, e-mails or faxes. In many cases, all of that is offered in the form of coupons.
If it’s an overnight delay, a free hotel stay and free transfer to the hotel (and back to the airport) should be provided by the airline. In addition to that, the airline should offer you a free meal and refreshments.
Get in touch with easyJet if you haven’t yet received anything.
Featured photo by Ketut Subiyanto