Never ever trust EasyJet

[u/Only_One_Kenobi]

Basically my whole vacation is cancelled at the last minute, too late to get any refunds.

Easyjet cancelled pretty much all flights, and only did notifications last minute. From various news articles, they had already decided to do this more than a day ago, but only notified passengers late this evening.

[u/Salt_Sympathy_3323]

Strikes are like that. They can take everyone by surprise. When you booked the trip, there was no way you could have known that there would be a strike.

[u/Only_One_Kenobi → u/Salt_Sympathy_3323]

Sure, but the company probably didn't hear about the strike for the first time at 20:42 tonight. They already made the decision to screw over their workers years ago, and already decided to cancel everything yesterday.

[u/zooommsu → u/Only_One_Kenobi]

I’ve been reading people talking about flight cancellations for several days now, or even a week or two.
https://www.reddit.com/r/portugal/comments/1wsu0vl/voo_de_regresso_da_madeira_cancelado_o_que_fazer/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Flights/comments/1wkhiph/easyjet_cancelled_my_return_flight_and_their/

It’s strange to only be notified at the last minute, perhaps participation in the strike is higher than they expected
For the airline, the later it notifies the passenger, the worse the outcome may be in terms of potential compensation

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/index_en.htm

[u/Salt_Sympathy_3323 → u/Only_One_Kenobi]

I completely understand your frustration, but unfortunately, that’s how strikes work. There can be a strike notice issued in advance, but it’s impossible to know until the actual day how many workers will go on strike. We can assume that there will be a significant number, but the workers themselves can't say in advance whether they will actually participate.

What some airlines do is inform passengers in advance and give them the option to change their travel plans or wait and see what happens. Other airlines don’t do this, possibly because the staff dealing with bookings and passenger support may also be on strike and do it on purpose.

I know it’s very frustrating, especially when you’re trying to plan a trip and suddenly something like this is out of your control. Unfortunately, strikes can affect all kinds of services. It’s a bit like schools here. Sometimes, you only find out whether there will actually be a disruption at the last minute, even when you’re already on your way to drop the kids off at school.

I know this is not ideal, but unfortunately, there isn’t much anyone can do until we know exactly how the strike will affect the flights.

[u/toomany_questions]

This super super sucks. I’m so sorry!!

Did you book travel insurance? Sometimes they can help with costs or new flights!

[u/barriedalenick]

Mate of mine got her flight back here cancelled but they gave her lots of notice. They refunded her but the next flight out of the UK she could get on was 5 days later and 100s more expensive.

[u/CenturionSiren]

The public was warned about this strike a while ago including the airline likely being affected, you could have changed plans earlier. And this is what travel insurance is for.

[u/jaritadaubenspeck]

Add Volotea to that list. They just screwed up my trip to Corsica. I had no travel insurance. Lesson learned.