easyJet connection – Dohop or rely on Amex Platinum insurance?

[Bill]

I am considering booking a couple of easyJet flights with a self-connction at LGW. The first flight is UK to LGW then a 3 hour wait for the second easyJet flight to a European destination. I am aware that LGW doesn’t have an airside transit and that I will need to ‘arrive’ and re-clear security.

I’m aware that I can book using easyJet Worldwide which is basically the Dohop portal.

I’ve got an Amex Platinum and associated Insurance. It has a section for Travel Inconvenience which states:
Missed connection. You miss Your connecting flight, train or ship due to the late arrival of Your
previous pre-booked flight, train or ship on which You travelled and no alternative is made available
within 4 hours of the published departure time

In the event of a misconnect I would wish to take the next available flight to my destination.

Under the above scenario do you think Amex Insurance would cover a hyperthetical misconnect or should I use Dohop ?

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

What is the AMEX policy definition of “connection”?

Are you sure it covers two separate bookings and if so what assistance does it actually provide?

[Lady London]

I would ask Amex insurance for a written response (or a screen chat you can screengrab or a conversation you can record) for a pre-judgment on this.

The reason is I recall that during Covid it looked as though Easyjet basically was able to abandon Dohop passengers as technically it wasn’t the same booking (this is just my interpretation of their instructions to passengers affected at the time which came in the same materials sent for other flights – when you clicked on the link as though you were a Dohop passenger, it didn’t look good). And yet people buying connections under Easyjet Worldwide, which IIRC is their branding for this Dohop stuff, thought they were buying a through connection from Easyjet. This is why I advise you to be mistrustful.

I suspect it might be the same experience when I purchased a pair of earbuds off the Easyjet trolley from Easyjet crew on a plane. I’d purchased same item from them a few times on my flights. I can’t recall if their machine printing receipts was working at that time or not (it wasn’t a few times but the crew were then making lists of things sold and presumably the sale was processed later when they had a telecoms connection, machine working or were on the ground). One of the sets of earbuds didn’t work and when I sought to return for a refund it became a nightmare as Easyjet said I hadn’t bought from them at all, washed their hands of it and referred me to a different company I hadn’t known I was purchasing from. In the end trying to return the item to other outfit was also a nightmare – post office had a signature but they denied receiving it, were hard to contact, and in the end I gave up – having additionally incurred postage costs – which I am sure was their intention. Never again.

So be careful who you’re buying from if it’s branded Easyjet and you gave someone at Easyjet money or paid for something on their system as you may find yourself abandoned when things go wrong.

[Bill]

Just to followup on this with an update. We decided to fly to LGW and have an overnight in London seeing some sights with the children. Then fly onwards 24 hours later.

[Bill]

Due to a schedule change we are now doing self connection on the the same day. So not Dohop protected and will need to rely on / ask Amex if theres a problem 🙂

[Super Secret Stuff]

Bill wrote:

Due to a schedule change we are now doing self connection on the the same day. So not Dohop protected and will need to rely on / ask Amex if theres a problem 🙂

I believe most travel insurance policies cover disruption to your travel plans if you had planned to arrive at least 3 hours ahead of the flight. Do reach out to Amex though

[Bill]

Due to schedule changes my self-connection is tighter. It was over 3 hours, it’s now 2 hrs 45.

IOM-LGW is scheduled to land at 1105 and LGW-MLA will depart at 1350. Thankfuly we have hand baggage only and fast track security.

[Bill]

Just landed in Gatwick so this remains hypothetical ….. 🙂

[Bill]

Luckily we landed at gate 55 with HBO so we were able to walk directly into the plaza premium lounge, rather than go through arrivals and return via security.