Aer Lingus check-in doesn't recognise passport cards or alert you to the fact

Brendan Burgess

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I have wasted a lot of time and assumed I was being stupid when Aer Lingus told me "letters and numbers only" when I inputted my passport number to check in.
I tried on my laptop and on my phone.
I then thought it might be a temporary problem with Aer Lingus but no, it wasn't working today either.

Then I tried with my full passport as distinct from my card, and it worked fine.

It turns out that they don't recognise card numbers.
That is bad enough, but they don't flag it saying "It looks like you are using a card. Sorry you must check in at the airport if you want to use a card."

Brendan
 
Agreed. I honestly don't get the point of the card when the numbers are completely different. I only use it as a form of portable backup ID for US hotel checkins etc, but it's not your 'pass port' in the true sense of the word.
 
I use my passport as the back up now.

The card sits in my wallet. One less thing to carry.

But because of Aer Lingus I now have to back to the passport book

Brendan
 
Dr Strangelove said:
It says “passport” on it. It provides visa-free entrance to 30 countries. It is very much a passport!


We’re you flying to the UK or EU?
Click to expand...

The EU.

But I am sure that I used the card in the UK earlier in the year without any problems. Probably Ryanair though.

Brendan
 
Brendan Burgess said:
I use my passport as the back up now.

The card sits in my wallet. One less thing to carry.

But because of Aer Lingus I now have to back to the passport book

Brendan
Click to expand...
Also the card might not be useable in autolanes at passport control.
We went to Netherlands last year. I brought my passport book and my OH broughr their card. I was through in 5 minutes and they were 50 minutes queueing at the counter with the Brits and Americans.
 
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Dr Strangelove said:
It says “passport” on it. It provides visa-free entrance to 30 countries. It is very much a passport!
Click to expand...

What I meant was it's not really enough in it's own right to rely on when travelling, more of a backup to have in your wallet as a quickflash ID when boarding etc. I travel a fair bit and the card has been refused in multiple situations/online check-in/electronic lanes etc, so there's still a need to keep a regular passport on you along with it. Which kind of defeats the purpose IMO.
 

It is legally valid across the EU in the exact same manner as a passport book. I have had one since they were introduced and fly on it at least 20 times a year. There are occasionally questions about it and sometimes the electronic lanes kick up but that happens with passport books too.
 
I was going in through Rome FCO recently, and there was a guy there steering people into the right queue. When I flashed my card he sent me to a kiosk where there was no queue. I think he thought it was just an ID card.

Brendan
 
thedaddyman said:
Doesn't surprise me, they went a long time without recognising apostrophes when you'd be booking a flight, always bugged me, especially for an Irish airline !
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Oh I know it’s completely valid but based on my experience there’s just too much hassle with additional checks and questions to be answered about it when you just want to go on your way. Whereas the ‘regular’ passport is the failsafe.
 
LLB123 said:
Whereas the ‘regular’ passport is the failsafe.
Click to expand...

There are two types of Irish passport: book and card. The passport card is simply for EEA&UK entry only.

I’ve had enough problems convincing immigration officers that the passport card is in fact a regular passport. Irish people shouldn’t start repeating this myth!

Back on topic, I imagine that Aer Lingus flies to a lot of non-EU and non-UK destinations and doesn’t have its systems set up to reject passport cards for only these destinations. So it simply insists on a passport book for all online check-ins. I haven’t flown with Aer Lingus since I’ve had a passport card, but I imagine if I tried to check in at the airport to an EU destination they would accept me.
 
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