EasyJet Passenger Left Stranded in Marrakech After Overbooking Incident

The traveler decided to visit the city of Marrakech. After a pleasant stay in the ochre city, she fell victim to overbooking. "I had an excellent stay, the outbound journey went very well, but the return was complicated," she confides to La Dépêche. She was supposed to board on May 8 at 10:10 am to Toulouse with EasyJet. "I arrived at 8 am to check in my suitcase. There were a lot of people at customs, the queue was endless. That’s when I started to panic. I had 20 minutes left before boarding, but it wasn’t moving. Employees from other companies were calling travelers with signs, without me understanding why," she details.

Despite her attempts to negotiate with hostesses to pass through, Éliane says she waited nearly an hour at customs before reaching the boarding area. Unfortunately, she and about ten other travelers, including children, were not allowed to board. "We were refused boarding. We had the plane in front of us for 30 minutes, the stairs were still there. It’s extremely frustrating." The reason? "Our seats were no longer available, true or false, we’ll never know, I was so angry," she states. A police officer escorted them from the international zone where they had remained, stunned. "The officer was great, he stamped our tickets ’flight canceled’ to try to get compensation," the traveler emphasizes.

Éliane and the twelve other abandoned passengers then decide to stick together to return to France as quickly as possible. The woman from Lot approaches an EasyJet counter to check in for a new flight. But she is informed that the next flight with this company departs in four days and that hotel costs are at her expense. "Everyone found routes as they could, some landed in Paris Charles de Gaulle, and I found a plane to Montpellier, the same day at 9:15 pm. The ticket cost me 250 euros," adds Éliane, who finally "arrived in Cahors on May 9 at 4 am, instead of May 8 at noon."

The traveler contacts the travel agency to claim reimbursement for her Marrakech-Montpellier ticket. She is asked to send a letter and an email to the company, which she did. But she has received no response and no refund to date. "I continue to travel, even with low-cost companies, but EasyJet is over for us," she assures. For its part, the airline says it "understands our passenger’s disappointment regarding her missed flight in May 2024. However, after careful review of her request, we cannot proceed with her refund claim. As stated in our general conditions of carriage and reminded during booking, it is the responsibility of each passenger to present themselves at the boarding gate within the allotted time..."