Changing Flights booked on Aerlingus.com

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Cahir

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Has anyone ever changed flights they booked on Aerlingus.com without a huge financial penalty?

I booked flights a while ago for myself, boyfriend and parents to go to America in November but I've just found out that my sister is pregnant and due around the time we're going. My sister doesn't live in Ireland but herself and her husband will be travelling back to England (where he's from) for the birth and I know that there's no way my parents would want to be anywhere else - first grandchild! It's still early days so my folks don't know she's pregnant yet and I've been sworn to secrecy so I can't get their opinion.

I've checked the confirmation email for terms & conditions but didn't find anything about changing/cancelling flights.
 
Think it's usually 50 euro for changing date. Name changes are normally not allowed. Most aer lingus fares these days are non-refundable in the event of cancellation.

Note that I usually only book European flights and US terms and conditions could be different. It should be fairly clear on your confirmation email what you can change or cancel.
 
Janet said:
Note that I usually only book European flights and US terms and conditions could be different. It should be fairly clear on your confirmation email what you can change or cancel.
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Nope, all it says on the email is: Requests to change your itinerary may result in a change fee. No mention of what this change fee might be. Just noticed that I also made a mistake when booking the flights of leaving one letter out of my boyfriends name (name on passport is in Irish and I always mess up the spelling of it). Maybe they won't notice!!
 
How can you mis-spell your boyfriend's name ??

Not a good basis for a long term relationship, I'd say
 
fatface said:
How can you mis-spell your boyfriend's name ??

Not a good basis for a long term relationship, I'd say
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:)
Because he normally spells (and says) his name in English - it's only in Irish on his passport and that's not something I'd often be looking at!
 
You'd normally be Ok with the misspelt name, but US flights are more stringent due to requirements to transmit passenger info to US authorities, etc. Under circumstances, you might get free name change.

Change fee for US flights is €100 per person per sector (I think). Depends on the class that you booked. For 4 people, return flights, could be €800!
 
If it was me, I'd be wary about the mis-spelled name, especially when travelling to the US. You have to have a machine readable passport which presumably will cross check with the names on the eticket of those travelling. Maybe it could be sorted out simply at check-in but would you want to take the risk of being turned back?
I've only ever used the self service check-in at Dublin on a European flight. Two of us travelled but the machine only "read" one passport and there were no checks on the identity of the second passenger. In these overly security conscious times, I thought it was a bit of a step back. However, I was singled out for a pat down search on my return journey from Spain. I suppose the random nature of it all ensures some deterrent.
 
Just phoned the aerlingus.com helpdesk and was charged €50 for sticking the letter a into my boyfriends name. Don't mind though as it was my mistake in the first place.

He said that US authorities are really strict and if the name wasn't fixed he wouldn't be allowed travel - think I'll have to get him to get his next passport in English!
 
That was fairly painless.

Can you imagine the hullaballoo that a change like that would have caused before Willie Walsh kicked their ass into shape ?
 
Unregistered said:
That was fairly painless.

Can you imagine the hullaballoo that a change like that would have caused before Willie Walsh kicked their ass into shape ?
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Yeah, they'd probably have done it for free. :rolleyes:
 
:rollin

Ha !! That's a cracker !!!

The flight would have cost you three times as much, and you'd have to go through such burocracy that you'd probably just give up in the end !

:rolleyes
 
Have to say that was never my experience with them, and I used them 26 times a year for many years.

Always found their staff helpful, friendly & willing to make amends if things went wrong. Even generous at times, if you were a few TAB points short of a free flight. Now they're Ryanair in green uniforms. And flights to Scotland cost pretty much the same as they always did.

Still, they're in profit now & you can't fault them for that, I suppose. And the pedancy over detail since 9/11 isn't their fault either.
 
Jock04 said:
Now they're Ryanair in green uniforms.
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In a recent interview Willie Walsh said how proud he is to have Aer Lingus mentioned in the same breath as Ryanair. Now at last Irish consumers have some of the most frequent, efficient, and low cost airfares servicing Europe and beyond, from two of the world's most profitable airline.

I only hope that Walsh doesn't turn on his native Ireland now that he's leading BA
 
Just rang aerlingus.com helpdesk because I hadn't received my new confirmation email after the name change and the woman on the phone said it didn't have to be changed and the bloke I was talking to yesterday was only new and hadn't changed it.

She said there'd be no problem because it didn't change the look of the name and they allow for spelling errors.

Not sure if I should get them change it anyway and be charged €50 or leave it as is.
 
Hears the deal...a one letter mistake in a name will not be an issue travelling on ANY Aer Lingus flight. The fifty euro fee only applies to situations when a different person is travelling and the entire name has to be changed on the ticket.

If you are changing the dates of travel the rules are as long as you change before the date of travel the minimum change fee is 25euro per sector. The minimum applies when the fare you paid is available for sale on the flight you are changing to. If the fare is not available then you must pay the differrence in the fare you paid and the fare lowest fare that is selling on the new flight. Moral of this is that you change your flights as soon as you know your new flight dates in order to minimise the fare difference you have to pay on your ticket

An Aer Lingus employee
 
Why do Aer Lingus charge so much more for this simple service than Ryanair do ?
 
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