Newlyweds discover that flying easyJet is no honeymoon

My husband and I are a young newlywed couple from Australia. Our honeymoon was a tour of Europe. It was the adventure of a lifetime, marred by one nightmare – our first experience of flying easyJet.

We arrived early for our flight from London to Annecy, but at the boarding gate three of us were told easyJet had overbooked the plane and two would have to stay behind.

We were offered the one remaining seat but, as it was our honeymoon and I was nervous about travelling to France for the first time alone, we agreed to let another single passenger take it instead. We were assured we would each receive compensation of €250 for being denied boarding.

We spent six distressing hours at the airport trying to sort out the situation, then three hours transferring to another airport for the next available flight, thus missing a pre-paid night in our French hotel. Four months on, we have still not received compensation. A recent email from easyJet said only one of us would receive the payout and claimed that we had refused to take the spare seat, even though another passenger had taken it instead. Now it says we are not due anything at all. RH, Queensland, Australia

The email trail from easyJet’s customer services makes for dismal reading. The first, sent in September, confirmed you were victims of its notoriously zealous overbooking policy and therefore due €250 each under EC Regulation 261. The second reckoned that, since you refused the last seat on the plane, you are only entitled to half that.

The third, the following month, reminded you that if disruption is caused by “extraordinary circumstances” beyond the airline’s control, it is not liable to pay compensation.

The press office swiftly establishes the obvious: that easyJet’s overbooking policy, while it may seem “extraordinary” to passengers who’ve paid for a seat that they can’t have, is entirely within the airline’s control and that you should have been paid the full whack months ago.

It therefore authorises a payment of €500, plus £250 to cover your expenses and distress. All of which sounds promising … except the next day you are emailed again and told, in a woefully ungrammatical message, that the total you will receive is €250.

The cynical view is that easyJet is wriggling and weaving to save itself a few quid. The real explanation, apparently, is that staff at the departure gate logged you as declining an offered seat, and forgot to add that another stranded passenger could travel in your stead. No one has amended the record since.

I am promised that you will soon be sent the full sum.

If you need help email Anna Tims at your.problems@observer.co.uk or write to Your Problems, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Include an address and phone number.