Boycott Against Air Europa

Boycott against Air Europa. They trashed Päivi´s backpack and promised refund, but getting it took a year and way too much trouble.

Päivi´s backpack received a bit too rough treatment on our flight with Air Europa one year ago, and it broke down. The company promised to refund the damage, as it finally did. But getting the money required dozens of emails, phone calls, and facsimiles. We even had to turn to the European Consumer centre. Here’s the full story why we boycott Air Europa.

Our flight was from Salvador, Brazil to Madrid, Spain. When we noticed that Päivi´s backpack had trashed, we filed a baggage claim report right away at Barajas airport. First, we were told to get a replacement bag in Madrid, but unfortunately the luggage shop that Air Europa used, did not have backpacks. Next, we were told to buy a new one from Finland where we were going, and to send the receipt to Air Europa’s Luggage service for refunding.

We found a new backpack easily and it was as dirt expensive as everything is in Finland. Päivi mailed all the original documents that Air Europa had requested, and kindly asked for reimbursement. Nothing happened. We called to Air Europa several times. During those phone calls we were told to send again all or some of the documents we had already sent. This finally cost us almost half of the price of the backpack as we had to make the calls from various parts of the world and queue in Air Europa’s ever-busy Customer Service line. Just imagine what those other phone calls were about.

When eight months had passed, we had had enough. Päivi filed a complaint to the European Consumer Center. The processing took a few months after which we finally did receive the reimbursement. At that time, it was the end of May. More than one year had passed of the incident.

In general, Air Europa is one of the so called cheap airlines which practically means that the price is about the same as with traditional carriers, but the services are not. Seats are uncomfortable as they cannot be adjusted. For a shorter flight it would have been tolerable, but eight hours was too much. Everything costs extra like listening to the movies, and even a baggage claim for a broken backpack.

Air Europa case reference numbers: MADUX58212 / ET6E676766.