Aer Lingus cancelled booking - what to do?

I really don't think Aer Lingus will back down here. But in fairness they really should - it was just over 100 customers so what is the difference in actual fares and promotional fares? How much did the company stand to lose? It's definitely not 100's of thousands as they claim they did a few years ago when they honoured similar prices.
 
There was a sale on. Customers can validly expect to get discount fares when there is a sale on. When you add in all the taxes, surcharges, etc . . . the overall ticket price quoted yesterday wasn't that much discounted compared to full price ones. I don't have the figures here, but wasn't it something like €200 on sale vs €400-€600 for regular rates. That's not an abnormal discount for a sale period.

Listening to RTE this morning - EI put up a very poor show. Aine Lawlor (or whoever it was) asked them "Whatever happened to the nice Aer Lingus ?"

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Chim said:
Conor Pope reckons they are within their rights as 'the consumer legislation' says no-one can benefit from a genuine human error?
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So by Mr Pope's reckoning then, when I make a "genuine human error" making an online booking and enter an incorrect passenger name or date then Aer Lingus cannot benefit by charging me a fee to alter the error. and must correct the "genuine human error" without charge. And Mr Pope is????
 
I can see this thread turning into a worse debacle than the pricing mistake.
 

I made a genuine human error when booking an Aer Lingus flight for my mother but I entered my own name instead of hers for passenger name. I called them the next day and they changed it without charge.
 

Conor Pope said Aer Lingus told him it would cost them €500,000 to honour the contracts. But that's based on giving everyone the premier class seats (€3,000 odd price difference per person). (ETA: wouldn't that work out at €300,000 though???) We specifically chose 'lowest' class seats. If they gave everyone economy seats that would cost them about €40,000 (€335 price difference per person).

I still can't find the authority in the consumer legislation that says they don't have to honour their mistake because it was 'human error'...


Couldn't they just do the decent thing?
 
I don't agree with Enda Corneille that we should have known something was up. We paid almost €400 for what we thought were economy seats. Hardly getting them for nothing! We figured it was an introductory sale offer and we'd just gotten in early.

I like the sound of this Dermot Jewell person though
 
Chim said:
If they gave everyone economy seats that would cost them about €40,000 (€335 price difference per person).

Couldn't they just do the decent thing?
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Agreed.
Why they cannot just honour all the bookings with economy seats, I do not know. Especially as it seems that most people (on here anyway) thought they were booking economy anyway. It seems very simple.

They are just digging their heels in and causing a whole lot of trouble and adverse publicity for themselves. I sometimes wonder what kind of useless PR and legal people these companies employ.
 
A classic from a contributor to another forum which really sums it up.

 
avantarklu would you mind telling us what forum was that on? We intend to alert Aer Lingus to the negative publicity they are getting on consumer forums.
 
Good morning all. I just wanted to add to this thread that I am also affected by this too. From reading as much as I can about the issue, I am still of the impression that I entered into a contract with the airline. Human error, trying to pull a fast one, 'I should have known', technical glitch and the rest - non of those excuses wash with me.
They offered the flights for sale (during an actual seat sale), I accepted their offer after reading their T&Cs, they accepted my payment after checking I had the necessary funds, allocated me my seat, issued me with a receipt, and an electronic ticket. Nowhere that I could find in their T&Cs does it say that they can cancel individual bookings.
Perhaps if the flight had been cancelled, but in that case I believe I am entitled to and alternative flight, or a refund. My choice. These flights weren't cancelled. If the problem is with the scheduling as per the subject of their email then, again, offer a different flight. Problem with the seating been overbooked or whatever - offer me a different seat on that flight, or a seat on a different flight, or a refund. Don't just cancel the booking.
 
Contracts can be affected by mistake and misrepresentation so that if a party enters into a contract under the influence of a mistake of fact or law or due to a misrepresentation the contract may subsequently be rescinded (annulled) even if the contract would otherwise be enforceable.
 
Berlin - does that mean if I make a mistake when booking my dates online I can rescind the contract and get my money back? All those of you who booked the cheap tickets yesterday, does it not say if they were economy or business class? I ask as it seems they were business class tickets which are normally 2K.
 

There was no indication that they were business class tickets until I received the Email Confirmation. And that was only after looking really closely at it!
 
I just checked the Aer Lingus website, if you book you have a choice of lowest or business, I did it for both and they showed completely different prices, I would never touch the business tab so I guess the same must have happened with the people booking yesterday - found this from their website front page which is interesting though
"Price Guarantee: Availability or price is not guaranteed until you receive a booking confirmation. "
I have a feeling A L will have to honour the flights unless there is a get out clause in the small print.
 
Bronte - thank you! That's exactly the clause I was searching for and stupid me I couldn't find it. It helps our position because we did receive a booking confirmation.
 
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