On 30 January 2003 I was stranded at Stansted airport when my easyJet flight to Munich failed to take off because of a raging blizzard. What happened next was farcical - the easyJet representatives disappeared from the departure lounge and shut the desks, it took from 8 at night to nearly 4 in the morning to get my baggage back.

• 5 February 2003 I wrote a letter of complaint to easyJet's CEO Ray Webster. I also applied online for a refund.
• 25 March, having heard nothing, I wrote a second letter...
• 4 April, because of my online application, I received email notification of a refund.
• Out of the blue, in June, a letter of apology from easyJet customer support. Much non-specific humble-pie-eating, no evidence of any real attempt to get to the bottom of what happened, and certainly no spontaneous gestures of goodwill in the form of compensation. And hey, it only took 4 months, 2 letters and 1 website to squeeze it out of easyJet. A real no-frills apology from a no-frills airline.

Mr Webster... tell your customers what happens if their flight is cancelled, and train your staff in how to deal with customers when things go wrong!

2. Second letter to easyJet CEO Ray Webster

Ray Webster

CEO, Easyjet

easyJet Airline Company Limited

easyLand

London Luton Airport

Bedfordshire

LU2 9LS

5 February 2003

Dear Mr Webster,

I sent you the attached letter of complaint on 5 February. It is now 6 weeks later, I have received no reply.

Since we both believe in the power of the internet, a copy of my original letter can now be found at the following URL: http://www.liebreich.com/LDC/HTML/Opinion/Easyjet1.html. I will gladly post any reply you choose to send.

I await your response.

Yours faithfully,

Michael Liebreich