Family forced to cancel holiday because passengers wouldn’t let them sit together awarded nearly double the cost of trip
Parents will receive double the cost of trip to Tenerife after having to watch plane take off without them
A DEVASTATED family who were unable to go on their dream holiday because easyJet passengers wouldn't swap seats, have been awarded double the cost of the trip as compensation.
Carolyn and Jay Mortimore had splashed out £2,300 for an all-inclusive half-term break to Tenerife with their two son Brayden, seven, and Ryley, 12.
The family booked their flights with Thomas Cook back in August but easyJet overbooked the journey.
The budget airline's rules state children must be seated next to an adult, and so other passengers were required to swap sweats so that Carolyn, 39, and Jay, 35, could sit with their sons.
But the heartbroken family had to watch their easyJet flight take off from Bristol Airport without them because all the passengers refused to budge.
The Mortimores, from Exeter, Devon, were initially offered £800 compensation but they chose not to accept.
Their story has generated an enormous amount of press attention and easyJet and Thomas Cook have since submitted a joint offer of £3,640 plus £600 worth of holiday vouchers.
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After the missing out on their trip to the Spanish island the Mortimore family holidayed in a caravan park in Exmouth, Devon, instead.
Jay said: "It's not the holiday we wanted, but they have done us a good deal and given us back more than we paid.
"We are still angry, especially as the boys have gone through it hard this week no matter how much money they give us.
"It's all gone crazy since we shared our story. It's still rubbish what we've been through but we're trying to make the most out of it.
"Later in the year we may use the holiday vouchers to go away for a long weekend or maybe we might have a small holiday next year in Spain."
EasyJet apologised to the family, and a spokesman said: "We protect families from any overbooking, so this situation should simply not have occurred.
"We should have been able to seat the Mortimore family together to enable them to travel and they will be fully compensated for their experience.
"EasyJet does everything it can to seat families together and has a sophisticated algorithm which seats families together more than 99 per cent of the time.
"On the rare occasion where this hasn't been possible we'll ask passengers onboard to move to accommodate families with young children. It is very rare that passengers aren't prepared to do so although this was the case on this flight."
A spokesperson for Thomas Cook added: "Once we became aware we contacted them to offer our full support.
"We have reassured the family that we are taking this matter seriously, and that we have asked easyJet to investigate why this occurred.
"We're pleased the family has accepted a full refund as well as the payment they are entitled to from easyJet for denied boarding. As a further gesture of goodwill we have given them a voucher towards their next holiday, for which they are very grateful."