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A woman is angry with airline easyJet after missing her flight, claiming she was not given enough time to get to the gates.

Lucy Tilney, 57, and a friend were due to fly from Bristol Airport to Venice Marco Polo Airport.

But the pair never made it after missing the window to get to the gate and board the plane, despite their luggage already being put on the flight.

The pair were drinking a coffee at the EAT cafe in the waiting area and looking forward to their holiday when they saw a "gate closed" message on the noticeboard.

Ms Tilney says they had been checking the display. but claims the gate number was not visible long enough for them to see it and make their way onto the flight on Friday, December 6.

“EasyJet knew we were in the airport as they had loaded our bags onto the aircraft, so I fail to understand why they were not able to issue a call warning us we would miss our flight,” she said.

“We were forced to book another flight with Ryanair, leaving very early the next morning, as we had onward plans in Italy which would be affected.

The pair, who had paid £114 for the tickets, forked out an extra £90 for the replacement flights, as well as £48 in taxi fares to get home and then back to the airport, Bristol Live reports.

What Ms Tilney explains what happened

Giving her full account of her own experience, Ms Tilney said: “We arrived at the airport in good time, at 11.30am.

“We had checked in online and only had to drop off our bags and go through security.

“Having done that, we looked for the gate number on the screen. The screen informed us that the gate number would be displayed later.

“We decided to get a coffee and wait in the main area upstairs. We sat and drank our coffee and every so often, I checked the screen to see the same message – ‘gate number to be shown shortly’.”

She says she and her friend waited there for more than half an hour and finished their coffee, “checking occasionally”.

“We were sitting and talking and doing our finances and all that stuff,” she continued.

“The next time I looked at the screen, the display was showing ‘gate closed’.

“I shouted ‘s***’ and grabbed my stuff. We ran in the direction of the usual easyJet flights, which are usually the furthest gates from the central hall.

“I encountered an easyJet crew coming off duty who kindly called the gate on their mobile phone. We were told that the gate was closed and they had offloaded our bags.”

'Unhelpful desk'

Ms Tilney was unhappy at the exchange she then had with an easyJet employee.

She said: “We went to the help desk, or rather the ‘unhelpful desk’, where we were treated very unsympathetically by the young lady at the desk.

“She looked at her screen and casually commented the gate number was displayed at 12.45pm.

“Perhaps she assumed we were drunk or had been drinking – I don’t know, that might explain the offhand way she spoke.”

Ms Tilney believes the employee saying the gate was displayed at 12.45pm exposes a fault on the part of the airline.

She said: “Since the gates are closed 30 minutes before departure, that means the gate was closed at 12.55pm, only 10 minutes later.

“The easyJet gates are at least 10 minutes’ walk from the central hall and some of them take even longer to get to, even for fit able-bodied people.

“My travelling companion was 71-years-old and has a heart problem. There are signs which tell you at the start of the walk to the gates that it can take 15 minutes to arrive.”

Ms Tilney added the help desk assistant said her name had not been called because Bristol Airport is a “silent airport”.

“She told us the next flight was on the Sunday and it would cost £110 to book it through her directly, and it would be cheaper online,” Ms Tilney said.

'Exhausting'

Ms Tilney says she suggested the possibility of compensation but allegedly received the simple response: “No.”

She said: “By the way, there was another young man queuing at the desk, who had had the same experience and who had to buy another ticket.

“He had been flying to Belfast and they had changed the gate number and he’d been unable to get to the new gate in time.

“On Saturday, December 7, we had to order a taxi to collect us at 4am, as the Ryanair flight departed at 6.25am.

“This was an exhausting start and left us both feeling shattered for the next couple of days.”

The friends flew back with easyJet from Rome–Fiumicino International Airport on Saturday, December 21.

“On our return flight, the check-in attendant was able to confirm the gate number for the easyJet flight even though we arrived over two hours before departure,” Ms Tilney said.



“I don’t understand how a much larger airport in Rome was able to correctly identify the gate number for the easyJet flight when easyJet cannot at a much smaller airport such as Bristol.”

Ms Tilney has since lodged a complaint with easyJet but says she does not expect to receive any compensation.

easyJet's response

An easyJet spokeswoman said the gate number was displayed at 12.45pm and the gate closed – and was displayed on the board as closed – at 1.06pm.

She added: “We are sorry that Ms Tilney missed her flight. Unfortunately they did not arrive at the gate before it closed and all other passengers had boarded.

“Our team did everything possible to try and get them through to the aircraft. However it was unfortunately too late for them to be able to board and so we assisted Ms Tilney with alternative travel arrangements.

“Punctuality is important to all of our passengers. We ask everyone to be at the gate at least 30 minutes prior to the scheduled departure so we can get passengers to their destinations on time.”

The spokeswoman said only one gate number was provided to passengers for the Belfast flight mentioned by Ms Tilney.

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