Aerlingus

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Ann-Marie

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booked flights to spain with AerLingus for next month and made a typing error by leaving out one letter in a name and phoned aerlingus today they told me there is a charge of 70 euro to add the letter s in. The price of the flight was only 50 euro return.
 
As far as I am aware a one letter spelling mistake between the name on the ticket and the name on the passport is acceptable - as long as you arent flying to the US where they are sticklers for accuracy. Not sure who you should contact to confirm this for you...maybe someone else will know . If you are in the vicinity of the airport maybe call in and ask at the Aer Lingus customer service desk
 
Maybe i will pop over to the airport its only a few mins away. The girl on the phone wasn't very helpful. She just said i would have to pay 70euro or would not be able to fly. They should really allow for typing errors 70 euro seems very steep to add one letter onto a name its not as if its a total name change. Anyway i will let you know how i get on
 
Joe Duffy had a woman on about this a while back. Her tickets were
booked over the phone and she had one of those names that had various ways of spelling e.g. Linda, Lynda, etc.

The person taking the booking didn't ask for clarification of the spelling.
Her daughter subsequently noticed the spelling mistake when some confirmation arrived and when they pursued it they were told they would have to pay to fix the error.

It sounds about right for Aer Lingus. The last couple of times I've flown I've been really struck by how much things have changed in terms of customer service. There was a time when I would happily pay extra to fly Aer Lingus rather than Ryan Air. Now I look for other airlines like BMI or BA first.

I don't care about luxuries when I fly. A complimentary snack isn't essential on short flights. But things like correcting a spelling error on a ticket should not cost €70. And the low fares model isn't suitable for long haul flights like 9 hours to the States.

But hey! they seem to be making money.

-Rd
 
When we used ryanair last year a friend of mine never put the full name on the booking when she phoned them they changed it F.O.C thats why i was very surprised when i was told i would have to pay 70 euro thats just crazy I wouldnt mind paying 20 quid to get it sorted but 70 euro is a bit much.
 
Good on Ryan Air if they changed it Free Of Charge. Extorting money out of people when they are over a barrel like that is reprehensible. I never thought I'd be complementing Ryan Air for having a more Customer Focused service than Aer Lingus.
How the mighty have fallen.

-rd
 
Changed my flight dates once and was told "All you have to pay is the extra cost of the new flight plus a eur50 admin charge" so original flight 100 , new flight 150 , pay 50 admin and 50 extra = 100.

next time I had to change flights i had the opposite situation - original flight 150, new flight 100. So I tried to argue that I should be clear - 50 admin charge minus the 50 saving on the new flight.

Fat chance!
 
I made a one letter mistake on one of the names on a flight to Boston/from New York for next month. Initially I was told it would cost €50 to correct but then they said it's such a small mistake it doesn't matter. I'll ring them again a couple of weeks before I go just to make sure.
 
If a name error is a single letter in the middle of the name and you dont pass any comment as to the error on checkin in it wont even be noticed. Use you booking reference to check in at the self service kiosks.
If the spelling error changes how the name sounds/looks ie first letter then bite the bullet, curse yourself for not being able to spell your own name correctly and pay the money. Aer Lingus wil offload you at the gate if you try to pull a fast one and go directly to the gate and then charge you a fare difference and reservations change fee and your name change fee.
You are advised as part of the booking process that the name on the reservation must match what the form of id is being presented at the boarding gate so all you John's who like to be called Billy Bob by your friends remind them of your correct name if they are booking your flight tickets for you or you will have to pay.

Finally, remember that in the old days you could not change the name on a ticket at all. So the ticket that cost 3/4/5/10 times as much was worthless and non refundable.
 
As I read this I have a letter beside me addressed to the Commission for Aviation Regulation in respect of a complaint made to Aer Lingus last March that still hasn't been resolved satisfactorily. Over the year I have noticed how unhelpful the customer service staff are and how little they really know about their own jobs.
 
Hi Pink,

a similar situation occured with my parents a few months ago.

My mum's name on her passport is 'Bridget', but she always uses the spelling 'Brighid'. So when she booked tickets to London with AerLingus, they were under the name of 'Brighid'.

So I rang AerLingus, and was speaking to a very helpful girl who told me that the rule is that if the name on the tickets differs from the name on the passport by 3 letters or less, then for european flights it is fine. (For USA flights there are more stringent rules).
So my mum flew with no problems.

I'd suggest you ring Aer Lingus again, and request to speak to a manager, who should be able to advise you of this rule.
 
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