Overview
- The Wedlakes, who had booked months ahead, tried to travel on July 26 and were blocked from online check-in before discovering the 8:25am Gatwick service had been overbooked.
- Gate staff asked for volunteers for the next day's flight and one passenger accepted, which freed only a single seat on the plane.
- Ground crew told the couple that one of them must take the lone seat or both would be treated as no-shows, so the bride boarded and the groom returned home alone.
- The couple were reunited about 21 hours later in Montenegro and easyJet has contacted them, apologised and said it will pay the £350 statutory compensation for denied boarding plus a goodwill gesture.
- The case highlights how routine airline overbooking — used to fill seats when passengers do not travel — can clash with customer welfare on once-daily or peak routes and may prompt closer customer-relations scrutiny even where airlines say the practice keeps fares lower.