Charges by Aer Lingus

[orka]

What one could do is get on to the web and book another flight for the following day if necessary.....bound to be cheaper than £200.

Almost certainly would be cheaper - Sunday evening from London are probably the most expensive flights of the week. The OP would have had hotel charges and missed work though.

While I don't believe that passengers who misread tickets should get another flight free of charge it is a bit severe to charge what the contributor above was charged.
There obviously was capacity on the plane which they could use. Impose some penalty but no need to crucify passengers

The problem with that is you would get people trying to work the system to get cheaper flights (human nature) - Sunday evening flights are expensive so why not book an early morning cheaper one, 'miss' it and then ask to be let on cheaply to the later flight...

In fairness to AL, they do give the best available fare to people who miss flights (have done this a couple of times myself and got my husband to check on line to see if he could get it cheaper) and a big part of the OP's problem was the day and time she was travelling - if it was a Wednesday morning, it might have cost £75 but a last minute Sunday evening fare from London will always be expensive.

 

[sunrock]

Well what would Aer LINGUS charge the O.P. for a flight out first thing on monday morning. I think this is what the O.P. should have asked for on the aer ligus desk suggested. After all it is only an 8 hour wait till 6am monday morning.
Just checked the aer lingus website for tomorrow Wednesday morning for comparison.
It is £196 on all flights leaving tomorrow with A.L. heathrow to dublin.
It is £174 from gatwick to dublin with A.L.

With ryanair Gatwick is £95 at 11.55 and £80 at 21.55.
Luton is£50 at 11.am
Stansted is £80 at 11.55 and 21.50.

On reflection,this was a difficult choice for the O.P. as the alternatives are not cheap either with the cost of an overnight stay and booking new flights and the kids.
Aer Lingus really had her in a bind and made her pay thru`the nose.If they were decent they would have charged her maybe £30 extra per seat. Granted Aer Lingus have financial problems but is this any way to treat a loyal customer.
Despit ryanairs image, I doubt if they would have treated this customer to this exorbitant fare. Anyone been in this situation with ryanair recently?

 

[Sunny]

Despit ryanairs image, I doubt if they would have treated this customer to this exorbitant fare. Anyone been in this situation with ryanair recently?

You are kidding right? Every airline would have done it. The days of doing these things for free are gone. People have got cheap fares. The flip side of these fares is that airlines will look to maximise profits when they can. Look at the price of seats when there are sporting events on. I paid €500 for a last minute flight to London last week (bought 24 hours before hand) with AL. Ryanair were charging €560 and Cityjet were charging €590. And that was the beginning of the week and had nothing to do with the rugby.

The OP was unlucky but I don't see why Aer Lingus should get singled out.

 

[WaterWater]

The other thing is that 4 adult return tickets were purchased yet nobody noticed the correct flight time. One person should not be responsible for checking flights etc when there are four adults travelling.

 

[Padraigb]

Everybody messes things up from time to time. MaryBM has the honesty not to blame anybody other than herself. As she points out, she learned an expensive lesson. And she brought it to the letting off steam part of the board rather than the consumer issues part.

Let's be fair: most of us could make an equivalent mistake. I know that I have on more than one occasion, but have been lucky in that the consequences were less painful.

 

[MaryBe]

I was talking to an AL cabin member last night and told her my recent experience. She told me of another crew member who booked flights rather than stand by as she wanted the particular flight. Long story short - she missed the flight and needed to get on the next available flight (don't know where she was flying). Her own establishment charged her EURO 300.00. They really look after their own!!!!

Last year my daughter booked flights with Ryanair to England. She booked one week early by mistake. I rang the airline and the girl on the other end of the phone changed the flights to one week later with no extra charge.

I think a lot depends on who you are dealing with at the time and how much commission they need or their target sales.

By the way, the cabin crew member got full reimbursement when she brought it to a higher level upon her return.

 

[sunrock]

You are kidding right? Every airline would have done it. The days of doing these things for free are gone. People have got cheap fares. The flip side of these fares is that airlines will look to maximise profits when they can. Look at the price of seats when there are sporting events on. I paid €500 for a last minute flight to London last week (bought 24 hours before hand) with AL. Ryanair were charging €560 and Cityjet were charging €590. And that was the beginning of the week and had nothing to do with the rugby.

The OP was unlucky but I don't see why Aer Lingus should get singled out.

No I am not kidding! The reason Aer Lingus is singled out is because they are the airline in question who took advantage of an honest mistake by a loyal customer.She already had bought tickets for the journey but Aer lingus saw fit to charge her this exorbitant rate even tho`they had plenty of seats available.
People booking last minute are different.THey are making a decision and are not stuck at a foreign airport with no option.
Ryanair may be just as bad but lets get some examples from posters before anyone jumps to conclusions.

 

[orka]

is this any way to treat a loyal customer?

took advantage of an honest mistake by a loyal customer.

What makes the OP a loyal customer?

 

[sunrock]

A week has passed since this incident and only now am I able to let off steam. We purchased 4 x adult return flights with Aer Lingus flying for flights during school/college break. The total cost 363.88 euro including one bag for check in. Our flights were coming back on Sunday last at 10:00. Anyway arrived at Airport at 6:45 and tried to check in through the machine and got a message that the flight had departed. Went to the desk and was informed the flight went in the 10:00 am - morning flight. (I for some unknown reason read 10:00pm) The girl at the desk said we could make the last flight that evening if we hurried. Long story short.......girl at desk said they had availability and it would cost Sterling 204.00 ouch. Here's the bigger ouch.... she then said EACH. I literally cried and pleaded for some discount as we cannot afford this cost. She did not give a toss and suggested we contact someone who can use their credit card to get us home. We had our credit card with us and had to use it or stay another night in London with the added expense of accommodation and missing work for three people the next day.
The one hour journey from London cost us Sterling 814.00. To cap it all I had a chicken and stuffing sandwich on the flight home and was not well for two days after. I used to be pro Aer Lingus but now I have my reservations (pardon the pun) It certainly was a very very expensive lesson. Has anyone else experienced this type of incident?

This is why I considered her a loyal aer lingus customer.Taken from her first post. She may however now and in the future not be such an aer lingus fan.