Aer Lingus cancelled booking - what to do?

[Chim]

Too true gubbit. I already know of one person who is so irate with the way Aer Lingus handled this that now they are adamant they want the premier class seats. They would probably have taken economy had Aer Lingus held their hands up from the beginning and just 'sorry, mistake, we didn't mean to sell premier seats, can we move you to economy?'

Get in there, Boston here I come 2!!! I'm sure heads will role for this but I don't care, could have all been avoided so easily.

[bugler]

I have very little respect for AL. Their customer service is poor, and they try to maintain some veneer that they are better than the likes of Ryan Air, and they're not.

I was affected by their strike last summer, which really jeopardised my enjoyment of my holiday. They were very unhelpful.

The only good thing about them was that they caved spectacularly quickly when I took them to the Small Claims Court.

just been on to aerlingus, and seats(2) booked at the original price quoted.Happy Days. Phone them, as there was only limited availability on our flight to boston departing on the 27th June.
Best of Luck and enjoy the USA.

Their attitude yesterday was awful, and now they are coming back on the radio saying, "we want to make our customers happy", obviously they were taking legal advice throughout this as the same spiel was coming out over and over again yesterday. If they had only done it straight away, they have made huge problems for themselves, and annoyed alot of people. Looks like they will need a new legal advice team! I'm hoping the flights are booked out and we have to get an upgrade

[Chim]

I wonder if the people who are going to tough it out for the premier class seats will get them?

We plan to accept the economy seats as that's what we thought we were booking, we didn't realise they were economy until after we got the confirmation email.

[becky]

They are honouring the flights but only economy class.

[Daddy]

So all in return price for 1 person worked out at how much to New York ?

[Chim]

We paid €336.42 for two. So €168.21 each.

[Megan]

The National Comsumer Association is now saying if you are not happy accepting the economy class flights you can go the legal route for the business class. The NCA say you would have a very good case to push for the business class flights. If it were me I would be happy with the economy flights. I wonder could there be a problem with getting the dates you had booked as that flight might be booked up by now. Maybe a call to Aer Lingus might be a good idea and not wait for them to contact you.

[Havealaugh]

At the risk of getting slaughtered - Would you all not move on from this now, those seeking Business class flights are chancers in my opinion, AL have honoured the economy class flights so move on.

I have no great love for AL trust me, you can see from previous posts of mine but those of us who did not book flights are sick of listening to it, on national tv and radio, in the newspapers.

It's run its course.

I move to close this thread !!!!!

Have a nice flight, enjoy the USA, but please stop boring the rest of us !! Over and out !

[Chim]

I'm sorry Havealaugh but I don't agree that the topic has run its course. And the only post on this thead where you expressed irritation was the one where you picked on a first time poster for using a larger than usual font. I thought that was a bit mean to be honest.

As I said in my post above, when Aer Lingus ring us, the SO and I will accept economy seats on our chosen dates. The National Consumer Agency, however, has stated that those people who wish to push on for premier seats do have a case in law: http://www.nca.ie/eng/Media_Zone/Press%20Releases/Aer_Lingus_deal_agreed.html
They don't seem to think these people are chancers.

If you are tired of listening to the story, then don't. And don't read the thread. But it has its place as an information resource for those who might wish to pursue further action. If I come across information that might help those who do wish to press on, I'll publicise that. Isn't that the point of the site - "civilised and informed discussion of financial topics"?

[Megan]

Originally Posted by Havealaugh

At the risk of getting slaughtered - Would you all not move on from this now, those seeking Business class flights are chancers in my opinion, AL have honoured the economy class flights so move on.

I have no great love for AL trust me, you can see from previous posts of mine but those of us who did not book flights are sick of listening to it, on national tv and radio, in the newspapers.

It's run its course.

I move to close this thread !!!!!

Have a nice flight, enjoy the USA, but please stop boring the rest of us !! Over and out !

That's a bit much Havealaugh. Are you sure you are not sick that you were not one of the early worms on Wednesday morning to book the cheap flights?
I think OP has stated her/his case very well right through this post all 6 pages of it. She/He has stated that they are quiet happy to accept to accept the economy flights.

[Havealaugh]

Are you sure you are not sick that you were not one of the early worms on Wednesday morning to book the cheap flights?

Indeed

My post wasn't aimed specifically at the OP though he/she likes to take a pop at me, I, for one, am fed up of listening to it on National TV news, National papers, National radio. IMO there are far more important things in the world does one not think ??

They (the NCA) don't seem to think these people are chancers

The NCA don't know the exact circumstances of each any every booking and should not be commenting so broadly IMO as to the legalities of the bookings.

Of course it is only my opinion.

[Sim Two]

Here’s my take on this whole issue.

An employee of Aer Lingus mistakenly loads wrong price information in the booking engine of the website and for 2 hours or thereabouts, flights are offered to the USA at a substantially reduced yet obviously WRONG price.

Aer Lingus become aware of the mistake and the problem on the website is rectified. They set about contacting those individuals who booked flights within hours of the error being identified.

Am I alone in thinking that, whatever about the legal rights or wrongs of the situation, morally people should accept that a genuine human error was made in that these flights were never meant to be offered at €5 each.

Maybe people will think I’m being silly here but if I was one of those 300 or so people who got flight(s) at a wrong price in these circumstances and the company notified the error to me within hours, then I would accept the mistake and move on.

I listened to various people on radio shows yesterday and today expressing indignation and threatening legal action. Couldn’t help thinking that it’s a poorer society we live in today …

[bond-007]

Morals have no place in a court of law. The law of contract does.

Good luck to anyone that still wants their business class seats.

[evilal]

FYI will be on Newstalk tomorrow around 12pm talking about this if anyone wants to phone in a comment.

[Complainer]

Originally Posted by Sim Two

Am I alone in thinking that, whatever about the legal rights or wrongs of the situation, morally people should accept that a genuine human error was made in that these flights were never meant to be offered at €5 each.

If a customer makes a genuine human error when making a booking, will AL let the customer off the hook?

[Purple]

Originally Posted by Complainer

If a customer makes a genuine human error when making a booking, will AL let the customer off the hook?

I thought Sim Two had a good point 'till I read that. Good point!

[Blueberry08]

Originally Posted by Havealaugh

At the risk of getting slaughtered - Would you all not move on from this now, those seeking Business class flights are chancers in my opinion, AL have honoured the economy class flights so move on.

Completely agree, the ones complaining about only getting economy seats on Liveline today will probably be suing for mental distress next.