Covid: Jet2 customer asked to pay £1,000 to change flight dates

Ms Sparnenn-Josh says it is unfair to charge "loyal" customers more than someone booking a flight from scratch

A family who tried to "help out" Jet2 by rebooking instead of claiming a refund were asked to pay almost £1,000 extra to change flights.

When Olivia Sparnenn-Josh's summer 2020 trip to Turkey was cancelled, she said she opted to be "loyal at a difficult time" and reschedule to June 2021.

Amid fears the family would not be vaccinated in time, they asked to move the booking again, to August, but were told it would cost £921 to amend.

Jet2 has since waived the fees.

Ms Sparnenn-Josh, a musician, had made two bookings - one for her family and one for her mother - and moving her flights to June had only incurred a small admin fee.

Amid recent warnings that travelling might not be possible for all Britons by then, the family looked into amending their flights.

After checking the cost of the August flights on the company's website against the price she had originally paid, she expected to cover the difference of about £70 plus the firm's standard £35 rebooking charge.

Frustrated

Instead, she was told she was ineligible for the online rate and must pay for an undiscounted ticket.

Ms Sparnenn-Josh said she would have needed to pay an extra £500 to switch, with her mother facing a similar request.

She worked out the cost for both changes to be £921 more than a new customer making the same booking would pay at current prices.

Ms Sparnenn-Josh said she believed she was doing the right thing in supporting the West Yorkshire-based firm by not taking a refund, but was left feeling frustrated.

"I think our main cause for complaint is the fact that we feel we were loyal to them during a difficult time," she said.

"It doesn't seem fair as a loyal customer... to have to pay extra," she said, adding that she probably would have taken the refund in hindsight.

She said she chose not to take a refund last year in a bid to show support for the firm during a difficult time

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A spokesperson for Jet2 said: "We have been widely recognised for how we have looked after customers affected by programme changes during the pandemic.

"We have spoken to Ms Sparnenn and are pleased to say that the matter has been resolved."

The holiday firm said the original booking had been made during a promotion. and that when it was amended to the new dates normal terms and conditions excluded any discounts.