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How to complain to easyJet

Flight disruption is the one area where UK law gives you a fixed sum rather than a negotiation. UK261 sets the compensation at £220, £350 or £520 per passenger depending on distance, and it is payable regardless of what your ticket cost. The airline’s only real defence is extraordinary circumstances, and that defence is narrower than airlines imply.

Where to send a easyJet complaint

These details are published by easyJet itself. Sending a complaint to the route the company actually operates, rather than a general enquiries address, is the single cheapest thing you can do to speed it up.

Official complaints page: https://www.easyjet.com/en/help/contact
Who they escalate to: AviationADR — the scheme easyJet names on its own complaints page. Sending a case to the wrong scheme wastes weeks.

Worth knowing: easyJet sets baggage deadlines that bite well before any complaint: seven days to complain about damaged checked baggage and 21 days for delayed baggage. ADR referral is within 12 months of its final response.

The rights that apply when you complain to easyJet

easyJet is a UK airline, so the rules below are the ones that decide your complaint. Each is named, because a letter that cites the specific rule is handled by a different team to one that does not.

For an arrival delay of three hours or more, a cancellation notified less than 14 days in advance, or denied boarding on an overbooked flight, fixed compensation is due: £220 for flights up to 1,500km, £350 for flights between 1,500km and 3,500km, and £520 for flights over 3,500km. UK261, retained Regulation (EC) 261/2004 as amended by the Air Passenger Rights (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019
The right to care is separate from compensation and applies even where the disruption was outside the airline’s control: meals and refreshments proportionate to the wait, two communications, and hotel accommodation with transfers where an overnight stay becomes necessary. UK261, Article 9
On cancellation you choose between a full refund within seven days and re-routing at the earliest opportunity. The airline cannot force a voucher on you. UK261, Article 8
Extraordinary circumstances must be genuinely outside the airline’s control and unavoidable even with all reasonable measures. Routine technical faults arising in the ordinary course of operating an aircraft do not qualify, following Wallentin-Hermann and Huzar v Jet2. UK261, Article 5(3), as interpreted by the courts
For damaged, delayed or lost baggage, the Montreal Convention sets a liability limit per passenger and short notification deadlines: seven days for damage and 21 days for delay, from the date the baggage was placed at your disposal. Montreal Convention 1999, Articles 17, 22 and 31

easyJet complaints line: 0330 365 5000 — put the complaint in writing as well. A phone call leaves no record you can rely on later.

The deadlines that decide your claim

3 hours — the compensation threshold

Measured by arrival time at the final destination, not departure. A flight that leaves four hours late but makes up time and lands two hours and fifty minutes late pays nothing.

7 and 21 days — baggage claims

Seven days to notify damage, 21 days to notify delay, from when the baggage was placed at your disposal. These are hard limits under the Montreal Convention.

6 years to bring a UK261 claim

Six years in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, five in Scotland. Airlines frequently claim a two-year limit. For UK261 claims in the English courts that is wrong.

What to put in the letter to easyJet

Complaints teams work from a script. The detail below is what moves a case off that script and onto the desk of someone who can authorise a remedy.

The flight number, the booking reference, the scheduled and actual arrival times, and the great-circle distance, because those four facts decide the band.
The reason the airline gave at the time, in its own words, and a request for the specific evidence it relies on for any extraordinary circumstances defence.
Every receipt for meals, accommodation and transfers, claimed separately as a right to care under Article 9 rather than folded into the compensation claim.
The exact sum, per passenger, and a 14-day deadline before you escalate to the airline’s ADR scheme or the CAA.

If easyJet says no, or says nothing

Escalate to the airline’s CAA-approved ADR scheme, or the CAA’s Passenger Advice and Complaints Team.

When you can go: After the airline’s final response, or eight weeks after your complaint if none has arrived.

How long you have: ADR schemes normally require the case within 12 months. The underlying court claim runs for six years in England and Wales.

What it costs: Free to you.

Whether it binds easyJet: An ADR decision binds the airline if you accept it. A PACT referral is not binding.

Worth knowing before you start

Airlines belong to different CAA-approved ADR bodies, and some belong to none. The CAA publishes which scheme covers which airline at the link above. If your airline is not in a scheme, the CAA’s Passenger Advice and Complaints Team can take it up, though it cannot compel a payment, and a small claims action remains available.

Common questions

The airline says it was extraordinary circumstances. Is that the end of it?

No, and it is worth pushing. Article 5(3) of UK261 only excuses compensation where the circumstances were outside the carrier’s actual control and could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. The courts have held that technical problems arising in the ordinary course of operating an aircraft are inherent in the airline’s activity and do not qualify, following Wallentin-Hermann and, in the English Court of Appeal, Huzar v Jet2. Ask the airline in writing for the specific cause and the evidence it relies on. Many claims are paid at that point.

How much is my flight delay worth?

It depends only on distance and on whether you arrived three or more hours late, not on what you paid. £220 for flights of 1,500km or less, £350 for flights between 1,500km and 3,500km, and £520 for flights over 3,500km. The band is set by the great-circle distance between the departure and arrival airports. Everyone on the booking is entitled individually, including children on their own ticket.

I paid for my own hotel and meals. Can I claim those on top?

Yes, and you should claim them separately. Article 9 of UK261 imposes a duty of care that applies whatever the cause of the disruption, including genuine extraordinary circumstances where no compensation is payable. Keep every receipt, claim reasonable amounts rather than luxury, and make clear in the letter that this is an Article 9 care claim distinct from any Article 7 compensation claim.

My flight was delayed three years ago. Am I too late?

Almost certainly not. A UK261 claim is a claim for a sum due under retained EU law, and the limitation period in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is six years, five in Scotland. Airlines sometimes point to a two-year limit drawn from the Montreal Convention, which applies to baggage and to damages claims, not to UK261 compensation. Cite the Limitation Act 1980 and press on.

Where this comes from

Every rule on this page is drawn from primary legislation, a regulator, or an approved dispute resolution scheme. Check them yourself.

Paybacker is not a law firm and this is not legal advice. It is a summary of the published rules that apply to a airline, so that you can put your own case properly. For a dispute of real value, or anything turning on facts unique to you, speak to a solicitor or Citizens Advice.

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