A band were unable to play the final date of their tour after EasyJet allegedly cancelled their flight less than one hour before departure – and claim they had no prior warning.
Nicole Pinto, from London, is the lead drummer of “punk” rock band, Girls in Synthesis, who have recently finished their last tour – but due to sudden flight cancellation, they never got to play their final date.
Since October 2016, the band have played 15 tours and were excited to start touring again after the pandemic hit.
In November 2021, John, who plays bass and is the lead singer, Jim, the keyboard player and guitarist and Nicole, started planning their next tour and were eager to hit the ground running after not being able to play for two years.
After sell-out shows in London, Manchester, Nottingham, Birmingham and Paris, they couldn’t wait to play their final set at the Wine Nat White Heat Number Eight festival in Nantes, France.
However, an hour before their flight, they were informed of a cancellation and were told that the next available flight wasn’t for another five days.
“I asked when the next flight would be and they said it’s not likely until the following Tuesday or Wednesday,” Nicole told Jam Press.
“I couldn’t believe it as we had no emails, texts, or anything to say our flight had been cancelled.
“We arrived nearly three hours before our flight and realised there was an issue as we were unable to check in.
“There was only one lady at the check in desk, who told us that we were too early – I said we only had a few hours until our flight, so she printed off my ticket and we headed upstairs.
“I arrived at the departure lounge to scan my ticket, but this stopped me once again, so I asked a man who worked for Gatwick airport.
“He told me to go down to the ticket office, which I had already done, so I quickly asked him what was going on.
“Without any thought, he said our flight had been cancelled which was news to me as I had been checking religiously.
“I was given a pamphlet and told the instructions we needed to take for a refund and that was it.”
As she had already checked in her cymbals, she was told to wait 45 minutes before she would be able to retrieve them and her luggage.
After arriving at the desk, she was asked to wait a further 45 minutes and the band were left drinking in the nearest pub, trying to drown their sorrows.
She said: “We appreciate this is just a concert date for some people but for us, this is the equivalent of importance that a wedding or another huge personal event would be.
“We also witnessed so many people be so upset and it’s just awful that this is happening to people just as Covid is ending and they’re trying to get some fun time away in the sun.
“We occupied our time drinking beer and getting smashed as we were so depressed.
“We had to get in touch with the promoters, the concert organisers, our hotel and transfers to let them know we weren’t coming.
“I remember feeling so over excited as this was our last day of the tour and we couldn’t wait all week long to go.
“I noticed something was going on with EasyJet as I saw on the news that they had cancelled 200 flights, so I asked my friend who said that the tracker still showed our flight.
“We kept checking, especially in the morning, and there were no issues presented – they’ve completely failed as an airline.
“I thought they would’ve at least given us enough notice, as if we needed a connection or were meeting someone on the other side, we would need to let them know or forward plan.
“Our flights have been reimbursed, but we won’t see the money for fees, our hotel or the lost opportunity of playing a gig for our fans.
“Our band really brings the audience into the show and we were so excited to finally be able to play for them.
“It’s so important to us, not only for the income, but to play our fans a show they will remember.”
Nicole believes that the aviation industry was finally taking off again and thought that apart from queues, the process would be easy.
However, after arriving at the airport at 10:30am, only to leave once again at 4pm, she says that the airline needs to put their customers first.
She added: “I think they should be grateful that people are travelling again and they’ve had ample time to hire people.
“I don’t understand why they’re not using their bailout money to get the business back up and running – it makes no sense.
“It’s a missed opportunity we’ll never get to experience again.”
Jam Press contacted EasyJet for comment.
A representative said: “We are very sorry that flight EZY8963 from London Gatwick to Nantes on 27th May was cancelled.
“We notified customers directly of their options to rebook or receive and refund and provided hotel accommodation and meals where required.
“Nonetheless we fully understand the disruption this will have caused to this customer’s plans and we are very sorry for this.”
