Irish Times "Aer Lingus didn't wake up a passenger on a transatlantic flight for her dinner"

[Brendan Burgess]

A sleeping passenger goes hungry on an Aer Lingus flight across the Atlantic

“maybe they are hoping I will die before they have to respond”

www.irishtimes.com

This is the gist of the complaint. She fell asleep because she was exhausted. When she woke up, the plane was in darkness and she couldn't find a steward to provide her with food. She had missed dinner. (Not sure why she didn't hit the call bell)

She says that when “eventually things began stirring again I asked about food and was told that I had been asleep when they served dinner. They don’t wake passengers and there was no food for me, as it would be cold now.”

She says that “some time later I was given something left over from the business class breakfast being served. At no time did anyone apologise or suggest that there had been an oversight. When I tried to mention what happened as I disembarked I was told it was my own fault and I ‘should have known’. I should have known not to sleep I suppose.”

It strikes me as if she and Conor Pope are making a bit of a meal out of this?

What will next week's complaint be? I was sound asleep on a transatlantic flight and the staff woke me up and forced me to eat dinner!

 

[Firefly]

It strikes me as if she and Conor Pope are making a bit of a meal out of this?

 

[faketales]

I don’t think it’s the job of staff to wake her up!

Also probably not good practice to leave a dinner out for her on a flight due to turbulence etc.

Was obviously going though a difficult time but she seems… difficult.

I wonder of she flies often or is used to luxury where staff might go above and beyond for you.

 

[ClubMan]

We got back on to the airline and said that we believed many readers will find the story frustrating

Yes, Conor - but not for the reasons you think...

 

[ClubMan]

What will next week's complaint be? I was sound asleep on a transatlantic flight and the staff woke me up and forced me to eat dinner!

Passenger fumes as he's woken up during flight but others think he's wrong

An Asiana Airlines passengers has spoken of their fury at being woken up by a flight attendant during a recent flight, despite others on Reddit insisting it is normal practice

www.mirror.co.uk

 

[Brendan Burgess]

Also probably not good practice to leave a dinner out for her on a flight due to turbulence etc.

Apparently there was turbulence of a sort...

When she woke up the cabin was in darkness and as it happens “there was a passenger in the aisle seat of my row and another one in the back row where I was told I could not sit. They were stretched out, snoring, farting, grunting and bumping the back of my seat.”

 

[TomEdison]

If I finally succeed in going to sleep on a long-haul flight I absolutely, definitely do not want to be woken up.

 

[ClubMan]

I'm always fascinated by these complaints that come with an extensive but completely irrelevant back story about what was going on in the person's life and the time...

 

[elcato]

This sounds like the IT are now doing what the tabloids did with agony aunt stories. Stories that never happened.

 

[Sarah Ryan]

And this is why I always bring ham sandwiches with me on the plane.

 

[faketales]

completely irrelevant back story about what was going on in the person's life and the time

I worked taking calls / complaints for a bit and it made me very cynical. Everyone one had very sick children or multiple deaths in the family that week.

It’s not possible they were all true but some must have been.

 

[Sister Sara]

"- some time later I was given something left over from the business class breakfast being served. At no time did anyone apologise-"

She got Business Class leftovers. Arguably she got a bump-up?

 

[DannyBoyD]

Pin a note to your eyemask / neck pillow - "please wake me up for meals"

 

[Brendan Burgess]

She got Business Class leftovers.

But that is nonsense too. Aer Lingus serve a breakfast about an hour before landing which is what she got.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

The Irish Times has posted about it on Facebook and the responses are funny.

https://www.facebook.com/irishtimes/posts/she-says-she-is-aware-this-is-not-life-and-death-stuff-but-it-might-serve-as-a-w/1155579526600297/

"I thought this was Waterford Whispers"

"Let sleeping whingers lie"

"The irony is when the Irish Times wants you to pay €1 to read about someone going hungry"

But a lot of criticism of Aer Lingus as well.

 

[Fortune]

Everyone one had very sick children or multiple deaths in the family that week.

I once had a landlord telling me all this when he was putting up the rent

 

[Marsupial]

Ignoring the blather, she has a (small) point about Aer Lingus not responding to complaints. They're pretty dreadful at it.

I'm still awaiting a response to a genuine complaint that I sent them about a Cork - CDG flight that I took in March 2020!

 

[Dr Strangelove]

And Joe Duffy not even a week into retirement!

 

[Brendan Burgess]

And Joe Duffy not even a week into retirement!

Is Conor in the running to replace him?

"It's a disgrace Conor!" doesn't have the same ring to it.

 

[argentina]

Used to fly long haul frequently; there was a time you had a sticker you could put at the back of the stowed tray when you didn’t want to be woken for the meal. Am going back a number of years; this was usually BA / SwissAir.
Wouldn’t be hard for AL to include a piece in the announcement that passengers sleeping won’t be woken for the meal.
On another note, AL customer service is awful; took me ages to get a refund processed for a flight for which AL had cancelled, they booked me automatically on the next days flight which didn’t suit.
The ‘filler’ included is headwrecking