# Charges by Aer Lingus



## MaryBe (1 Mar 2010)

A week has passed since this incident and only now am I able to let off steam. We purchased 4 x adult return flights with Aer Lingus flying for flights during school/college break. The total cost 363.88 euro including one bag for check in. Our flights were coming back on Sunday last at 10:00. Anyway arrived at Airport at 6:45 and tried to check in through the machine and got a message that the flight had departed. Went to the desk and was informed the flight went in the 10:00 am - morning flight. (I for some unknown reason read 10:00pm) The girl at the desk said we could make the last flight that evening if we hurried. Long story short.......girl at desk said they had availability and it would cost Sterling 204.00 ouch. Here's the bigger ouch.... she then said EACH. I literally cried and pleaded for some discount as we cannot afford this cost. She did not give a toss and suggested we contact someone who can use their credit card to get us home. We had our credit card with us and had to use it or stay another night in London with the added expense of accommodation and missing work for three people the next day. 
The one hour journey from London cost us Sterling 814.00. To cap it all I had a chicken and stuffing sandwich on the flight home and was not well for two days after. I used to be pro Aer Lingus but now I have my reservations (pardon the pun) It certainly was a very very expensive lesson. Has anyone else experienced this type of incident?


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## callybags (1 Mar 2010)

I have heard numerous similar tales involving Aer Lingus and Ryanair.

Unfortunately this is the price to be paid when using a low-cost airline.

If you notice, when booking through Aer Lingus, there is a "Flexifare" option for each flight which enables you to change without any charge.


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## Sunny (1 Mar 2010)

You missed the flight because you didn't pay attention. Sorry but not sure what you are complaining about. Ryanair and most if all other airlines would have done the same.


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## Celtwytch (1 Mar 2010)

It was an expensive way to learn this, but all of the flight times on the Aer Lingus website are in 24 hour format.  It seems that airlines can charge what they like when something like this happens, but it's fair that there should be some charge as it was your mistake, not theirs.  I do sympathise with you, though, as it was a very, very costly mistake.


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## MaryBe (1 Mar 2010)

Sunny said:


> You missed the flight because you didn't pay attention. Sorry but not sure what you are complaining about. Ryanair and most if all other airlines would have done the same.


 
Sunny, you must have the same problem reading as I have......
I am not complaining......I am letting off steam and feel a bit better now.


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## MaryBe (1 Mar 2010)

Celtwytch said:


> It was an expensive way to learn this, but all of the flight times on the Aer Lingus website are in 24 hour format.


It certainly was an expensive lesson.  Yet the pilot told us it was 5 minutes to 10 when we were approaching the runway!!! Should he not have said 21:55 hours!!!


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## Purple (1 Mar 2010)

Are Lingus are just Ryan Air in green. The pity is that they still think they are a quality airline (like BA) and have the attitude to go with it.


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## Sunny (1 Mar 2010)

MaryBM said:


> Sunny, you must have the same problem reading as I have......
> I am not complaining......I am letting off steam and feel a bit better now.


 
Well you were suggesting that you would think twice about travelling Aer Lingus again. But they didn't do anything that anyother airline wouldn't.

By the way I did it once myself years ago in Bali when the flight to Sydney was at 00.10 on the 22-01-05 or whatever. Of course being in holiday mood I turned up my flight on the night of the 22nd instead of the 21st!


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## MaryBe (1 Mar 2010)

Sunny said:


> By the way I did it once myself years ago in Bali when the flight to Sydney was at 00.10 on the 22-01-05 or whatever. Of course being in holiday mood I turned up my flight on the night of the 22nd instead of the 21st!


 
What was the outcome expense wise?


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## Sunny (1 Mar 2010)

MaryBM said:


> What was the outcome expense wise?


 
I was lucky in that my ticket was an around the world ticket so was flexible and could be changed without charge so I guess it doesn't compare to your experience! Just trying to make you feel better that these things happen!


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## DB74 (1 Mar 2010)

Had same experience last October flying from London to Dublin with Aer Lingus

We (4 adults and 4 kids) arrived at the boarding gate just as the flight closed (we actually saw the last person board the plane from the other end of the corridor but still weren't allowed on). They hadn't even removed the gangway when we were there.

Aer Lingus wanted STG£200 each for the flight but eventually my wife got them down to STG£400 overall - there was extra security in Heathrow that day for some reason which contributed.

We had a bit of a laugh though because after Aer Lingus took our luggage off the original flight the ground crew couldn't get the luggage hold to close and the flight was delayed for 90 mins with everybody on board!

We eventually got home just 30 mins after our original flight landed

I've no problem with charging for missed flights but £200 each is a bit extortionate IMO


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## Calico (1 Mar 2010)

I missed an Aer Lingus flight last week. I was 3 minutes late to the check-in desk (my own bad). Anyway, Aer Lingus charged me €70 to change my ticket which I thought wasn't ~too~ bad.


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## bond-007 (1 Mar 2010)

Is it not standard practice for all airlines to use the 24 hour clock?


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## PyritePete (1 Mar 2010)

I misread a flight back from Birmingham last October - cost me 248 sterling to get home.  turned up a day late.


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## Padraigb (1 Mar 2010)

I don't know if I should tell you a happier story. It goes back to the days before Irish Ferries adopted the Ryanair hard-nosed approach.

I phoned them to tell them of a problem with a crossing I had booked to France the previous day.

"What was the problem?" they asked.
"I wasn't on it. Something came up, and I couldn't leave home."
"Do you still want to go to France, and can you make tomorrow's sailing?"
"Yes and yes"
"Okay, I'll change your booking."
"How much do I owe you?"
"No charge."


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## Capt. Beaky (1 Mar 2010)

In the early days of Ryanair I got to the airport late on three occasions. Twice I was put on the next flight - gratis. The third time I was charged for the single part of my ticket - £35 I think, out of either Luton or Stanstead. When I tell this to people now they find it hard to believe. On two occasions being late for Aer Lingus I had to pay through the nose for the next flight.


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## sunrock (1 Mar 2010)

I always read my flight details very carefully and always make sure I am at the airport in time.
Still the huge charges for the next flight are extortionate and totally out of order.I missed a ryanair flight...due to an M25 crash about 5 years ago and got the next flight for£20 when I explained myself at the ryanair desk.
Still what do people expect from aer lingus.....they use to charge £200  25 years ago when there was no ryanair competition.
What one could do is get on to the web and book another flight for the following day if necessary.....bound to be cheaper than £200.


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## z107 (2 Mar 2010)

I always thought that the expensive flights help pay for the cheap flights.
I can't see how an airline could possibly afford to operate if all flights were €5 all the time. How would they make money doing this?

How much per mile does it really cost to fly someone somewhere?


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## Graham_07 (2 Mar 2010)

Few years ago I was flying Aer Arann Cork-Dublin-Cork in one day. Finished early in Dublin so arrived in time for flight an hour before the one I was booked on. Asked at desk any chance of getting on that flight, no problem was told, plenty of availability. So I (naively) said grand so. Then was asked for €57. For what says I. For the cost of the seat on the earlier flight says she. But I said, you have loads of availability and my seat on the original flight leaves availability on that flight for someone else if needed. Well its €57 says she. So I said, grand, I'll sit & read my paper for an hour and get the regular flight I was booked on. She seemed shocked, you don't want it? I was quite happy to sit there for an hour, have a browse round and arrive home at regular time.


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## Yorrick (2 Mar 2010)

I am fed up all this " but Aer Linhgus is our national airline" rubbish and should be protected. The facts are that despite all the cosetting it got from the Government over the years they are no competing with Ryanair and have adopted the same practices as regards customer service.
While I don't believe that passengers who misread tickets should get another flight free of charge it is a bit severe to charge what the contributor above was charged.
There obviously was capacity on the plane which they could use. Impose some penalty but no need to crucify passengers


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## orka (2 Mar 2010)

sunrock said:


> What one could do is get on to the web and book another flight for the following day if necessary.....bound to be cheaper than £200.


Almost certainly would be cheaper - Sunday evening from London are probably the most expensive flights of the week.  The OP would have had hotel charges and missed work though.



Yorrick said:


> While I don't believe that passengers who misread tickets should get another flight free of charge it is a bit severe to charge what the contributor above was charged.
> There obviously was capacity on the plane which they could use. Impose some penalty but no need to crucify passengers


The problem with that is you would get people trying to work the system to get cheaper flights (human nature) - Sunday evening flights are expensive so why not book an early morning cheaper one, 'miss' it and then ask to be let on cheaply to the later flight...  

In fairness to AL, they do give the best available fare to people who miss flights (have done this a couple of times myself and got my husband to check on line to see if he could get it cheaper) and a big part of the OP's problem was the day and time she was travelling - if it was a Wednesday morning, it might have cost £75 but a last minute Sunday evening fare from London will always be expensive.


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## sunrock (2 Mar 2010)

Well what would Aer LINGUS  charge the O.P. for a flight out first thing on monday morning. I think this is what the O.P. should have asked for on the aer ligus desk suggested. After all it is only an 8 hour wait till 6am monday morning.
Just checked the aer lingus website for tomorrow  Wednesday morning for comparison.
It is £196 on all flights leaving tomorrow with A.L. heathrow to dublin.
It is £174 from gatwick to dublin with A.L.

With ryanair  Gatwick is £95 at 11.55 and £80 at 21.55.
                  Luton  is£50 at 11.am
                  Stansted is £80 at 11.55 and 21.50.

On reflection,this was a difficult choice for the O.P. as the alternatives are not cheap either with the cost of an overnight stay and booking new flights and the kids.
Aer Lingus really had her in a bind and made her pay thru`the nose.If they were decent they would have charged her maybe £30 extra per seat. Granted Aer Lingus have financial problems but is this any way to treat a loyal customer.
Despit ryanairs image, I doubt if they would have treated this customer to this exorbitant fare. Anyone been in this situation with ryanair recently?


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## Sunny (2 Mar 2010)

sunrock said:


> Despit ryanairs image, I doubt if they would have treated this customer to this exorbitant fare. Anyone been in this situation with ryanair recently?


 
You are kidding right? Every airline would have done it. The days of doing these things for free are gone. People have got cheap fares. The flip side of these fares is that airlines will look to maximise profits when they can. Look at the price of seats when there are sporting events on. I paid €500 for a last minute flight to London last week (bought 24 hours before hand) with AL. Ryanair were charging €560 and Cityjet were charging €590. And that was the beginning of the week and had nothing to do with the rugby. 

The OP was unlucky but I don't see why Aer Lingus should get singled out.


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## WaterWater (2 Mar 2010)

The other thing is that 4 adult return tickets were purchased yet nobody noticed the correct flight time. One person should not be responsible for checking flights etc when there are four adults travelling.


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## Padraigb (2 Mar 2010)

Everybody messes things up from time to time. MaryBM has the honesty not to blame anybody other than herself. As she points out, she learned an expensive lesson. And she brought it to the letting off steam part of the board rather than the consumer issues part.

Let's be fair: most of us could make an equivalent mistake. I know that I have on more than one occasion, but have been lucky in that the consequences were less painful.


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## MaryBe (2 Mar 2010)

I was talking to an AL cabin member last night and told her my recent experience. She told me of another crew member who booked flights rather than stand by as she wanted the particular flight. Long story short - she missed the flight and needed to get on the next available flight (don't know where she was flying). Her own establishment charged her EURO 300.00. They really look after their own!!!!

Last year my daughter booked flights with Ryanair to England. She booked one week early by mistake. I rang the airline and the girl on the other end of the phone changed the flights to one week later with no extra charge.

I think a lot depends on who you are dealing with at the time and how much commission they need or their target sales.

By the way, the cabin crew member got full reimbursement when she brought it to a higher level upon her return.


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## sunrock (2 Mar 2010)

Sunny said:


> You are kidding right? Every airline would have done it. The days of doing these things for free are gone. People have got cheap fares. The flip side of these fares is that airlines will look to maximise profits when they can. Look at the price of seats when there are sporting events on. I paid €500 for a last minute flight to London last week (bought 24 hours before hand) with AL. Ryanair were charging €560 and Cityjet were charging €590. And that was the beginning of the week and had nothing to do with the rugby.
> 
> The OP was unlucky but I don't see why Aer Lingus should get singled out.


 
No  I am not kidding! The reason Aer Lingus is singled out is because they are the airline in question who took advantage of an honest mistake by a loyal customer.She already had bought tickets for the journey but Aer lingus saw fit to charge her this exorbitant rate even tho`they had plenty of seats available.
People booking last minute are different.THey are making a decision and are not stuck at a foreign airport with no option.
Ryanair may be just as bad but lets get some examples from posters before anyone jumps to conclusions.


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## orka (2 Mar 2010)

sunrock said:


> is this any way to treat a loyal customer?





sunrock said:


> took advantage of an honest mistake by a loyal customer.


What makes the OP a loyal customer?


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## sunrock (3 Mar 2010)

MaryBM said:


> A week has passed since this incident and only now am I able to let off steam. We purchased 4 x adult return flights with Aer Lingus flying for flights during school/college break. The total cost 363.88 euro including one bag for check in. Our flights were coming back on Sunday last at 10:00. Anyway arrived at Airport at 6:45 and tried to check in through the machine and got a message that the flight had departed. Went to the desk and was informed the flight went in the 10:00 am - morning flight. (I for some unknown reason read 10:00pm) The girl at the desk said we could make the last flight that evening if we hurried. Long story short.......girl at desk said they had availability and it would cost Sterling 204.00 ouch. Here's the bigger ouch.... she then said EACH. I literally cried and pleaded for some discount as we cannot afford this cost. She did not give a toss and suggested we contact someone who can use their credit card to get us home. We had our credit card with us and had to use it or stay another night in London with the added expense of accommodation and missing work for three people the next day.
> The one hour journey from London cost us Sterling 814.00. To cap it all I had a chicken and stuffing sandwich on the flight home and was not well for two days after. *I used to be pro Aer Lingus* but now I have my reservations (pardon the pun) It certainly was a very very expensive lesson. Has anyone else experienced this type of incident?


 
This is why I considered her a loyal aer lingus customer.Taken from her first post. She may however now and in the future not be such an aer lingus fan.


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