Woman accuses Jet2 of sexism after compensation is sent to her husband

A woman has accused Jet2 of “blatant sexism” after the airline sent a compensation cheque to her husband ‒ despite her being the lead passenger who had paid for their flights.

Caroline Cartwright and her husband Paul were due to fly from Malaga to Birmingham on 2 June, on flight LS1204, scheduled to depart at 12.25pm.

It followed a long-awaited trip to Spain to see Ms Cartwright’s sister who lives there, and who she had been unable to visit through two years of the pandemic.

However, shortly after arriving at the airport, Jet2 phoned Ms Cartwright ‒ the lead passenger on the booking ‒ to say their flight would be unable to take off that day due to a technical issue.

The airline offered the couple a new flight to Leeds the following day, but after assessing their options they decided not to take it; instead they opted to accept a refund from Jet2 and pay for an alternative Ryanair flight to East Midlands airport later that day.

Ms Cartwright had booked their flights, along with a rental car and insurance, on Opodo.co.uk, from which they would receive a full refund weeks later.

However, she knew they would be also entitled to EU261 compensation from the airline due to the susbtantial delay in getting home.

The couple waited for seven hours at Malaga Airport before the Ryanair flight home. While in the terminal, Ms Cartwright says both she and her husband completed Jet2’s delay compensation form online, as they “had time to kill”.

Their son drove to pick them up from East Midlands Airport at midnight.

Ms Cartwright says she considered the booking her responsibility. “I paid for both the original tickets. I was the first traveller listed on the itinerary. I dealt with the desk staff at the airport,” she told The Independent.

So she was “flabbergasted” when, six weeks later, the compensation amount for both passengers arrived in the post in cheque form, made out to Mr Cartwright.

She feels this is an act of everyday sexism that should be called out.

“This type of behaviour goes almost unnoticed, and may seem benign, yet it reinforces sexism and perpetuates the attitude that it’s OK to act as if some people are less worthy than others.”

“Who decided it was right to send my compensation amount to my husband? The correct course of action would have been to send individual cheques so that we both received the compensation amount due.

“Jet2’s actions are sexist, out of date, dismissive of my rights and it is infuriating that a huge company is still living in the dark ages.”

In correspondence with Ms Cartwright, seen by The Independent, Jet2 customer service agents said that any member of a booking party may request compensation, and that its delay compensation team contacts customers in strict date order.

They added that Jet2 may issue a party member’s cheque before contacting the claimant, and advised Ms Cartwright to contact the other member of her booking party in order for them to transfer her portion of the compensation payment.

Ms Cartwright feels strongly that transferring all money owed to the couple solely to the male passenger feels outdated, especially as she was the lead passenger, point of contact, and name on the booking.

“Being disregarded because of my gender made me furious,” she says.

“How can I say to my four granddaughters that they are as equal as the boys? How can we, as a society, move forward when more than 50 per cent of our citizens are disregarded and discriminated against?

“I hope this will help people to see that these small acts of thoughtless discrimination can have big consequences and companies need to ensure that they are not perpetuating such behaviours.

“This type of behaviour needs to be stopped and I sincerely hope that Jet2 look carefully at their practices and make appropriate changes.”

A Jet2 spokesperson said:“We are sorry to hear that the customer feels this way and would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

“As we received the customer’s husband’s request first and process claims in date order, this was actioned first. It is also important to note that we process claims per family group, if they are on the same booking reference and share the same home address.”