We booked £4,000 in EasyJet flights – but it won’t let us postpone them all after devastating news

We were organising our wedding for this June when the happiest period of our lives became a nightmare.

Our two-year-old daughter was diagnosed with an aggressive grade 4 brain tumour requiring immediate life-saving surgeries. The prognosis is devastating.

Amid the grief, we have been consoled by the compassion from companies large and small. Every business connected with our wedding, including the accommodation provider for my stag trip, has overridden their terms and conditions and offered a full refund.

But not easyJet. My best man had booked the flights, totalling £4,000, for the 14 of us attending the stag do, but easyJet has refused his request for a credit note so we can postpone.

The hospital provided a letter explaining the severity and rarity of the tumour, but easyJet’s “compassionate resolution” was the offer of a voucher for my fare only, and a refund of the tax element of the others. It argued that the others could still travel.

This has caused significant additional stress at a time when my sole focus should be spending precious time with my little girl.

I feel responsible for a group of friends now being hundreds of pounds out of pocket because they were attending my stag celebration.

EasyJet currently promotes its partnership with Unicef, supporting initiatives to improve children’s health. It makes the lack of compassion shown in our situation feel even more difficult to understand.

JB, Wiltshire

No words exist to express the horror of your situation.

It’s clear that the easyJet customer service agent, who made the paltry offer to your best man, felt your agony while being hamstrung by corporate intransigence. “I do wish there was more flexibility available,” they wrote, blaming “policy”. “I do wish I could offer more.”

What is this inflexible policy? EasyJet’s website states refunds or credits may be available in cases of sickness or bereavement. It does not specify this goodwill does not apply to everyone on the booking.

When I put this to the airline, it explained that its “compassionate serious illness policy” only applies when a passenger on the booking is the patient. Otherwise, the only option is to change the booking to a later date for a fee.

I reiterated the exceptionality of your case, whereupon it belatedly remembered it will “always act with discretion”.

“Given these exceptional circumstances, our customer support team has been in contact to issue all passengers on the booking a full refund,” it said in a statement, three weeks after refusing your best man’s request.

I suggested it amend its terms and conditions to make clear who is covered by its sickness and bereavement policy. It did not respond.

For the record, travel insurance is the usual route when illness prevents a holiday. Most of your stags did have policies, but the excess represented a significant chunk of the air fare, and payouts were by no means certain.

We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at consumer.champions@theguardian.com or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number. Submission and publication of all letters is subject to our terms and conditions.