Complain about a product or service

Aer Lingus

Noel of Khartoum, OTHER October 3, 2008

I was booked to fly to Sudan, the first leg was with A L, departure time 6.45am, arrived and qued at checkin, at 6.10 I was told the flight was delayed and to go to the sales desk. At 6.25 I was informed flight was delayed until 10.30, I was booked on BMI Dublin heatrow dep 10.55, even allowing for traffic I could not have made it by road. get back home get the car and then drive, no hope. They told me hire a car but we will not refund you.

As my flight to sudan was leaving h/row at 14.35 they said they could get me to h/row by 13.25 if I wished to purcahse a ticket, after soliciting an answer in the affirmative that my bags would make it and there would be no problems with luggage and the would prioritise it, But the flight actually left shannon at 11.00 and arrived 11.30 giving me 45 minutes to get the london flight. I arrived at the boarding gate with 15 minuts to spare and asked the boarding attendant if my bag from the shannon flight was on board, they asked the ground crew supervisor who answered in the affirmative, they were loading them now.

Arriving on time in london I had 75 minutes to check in for my last leg, imagine to my surprise no bag arrived and then spent more time tracing it, it was coming on a later flight, 1 hr later, even though I had explained my situation in shannon and receiving catagorical assurances from Aer Lingus my bag would be there. It was only through the good grace of god that I met a sympathetic person in BMI because they reopened the gate for me 10 mins after closing.

I am now in sudan where malaria is endemic , all of the kit to help protect me is in my luggage along with my anti malarials. Therefore as a result of their lies annd misinformation I am now at greater risk of contracting because of them. If they had told me there was a chance it might not make it I could have removed it and brought it in my hand luggage.

Six members of Aer Lingus staff, 4 in Shannon and 2 in Dublin lied to me, if I contract malaria as a result of this where do I stand.There is a religous festival here and no pharmacies are open also my prescription is with the anti malarials and I can not a Doctor until monday. The distress and worry this is causing is making me very angry. And as many others have said here no person to contact and mylostbags.com is next to useless. I will never fly Aer lingus again.

it is causing immense mental stress worrying that I am exposed to contracting malaria considering the precautions I put in place before embarking.

Malachi of Co.tyrone, OTHER September 23, 2008

booked a hotel with aer lingus search engine and two days later had to cancel as flight times had been changed by ryanair making my trip worthless. rang to cancel hotel but despite protestations was told that as well as 20 pound administration cost i woull have to forfeit the cost of first night accommodation. told them booking was over six weeks away but told that was policy and clearly stated. out of 141.75 euro i paid i was getting back 54 euro and some pennies if i proceeded to cancel.

took it on myslef to ring hotel in question direct ie beech mount hotel in liverpool and asked their policy re cancellation. if it is done at least 48 hours in advance there is no charge. rang back to aer lingus and told this and why were they stating this in their terms and conditions when it was simply not true and if the hotel was not seeking penaly charges where were they going to. every hotel i have ever stayed in has the same cancellation policy as this. the aer lingus receptionist put me on hold whilst he rang same hotel and when he eventually came back i was told the charge for first nights stay did not apply and i only would be charged the 20 sterling or 25 euroi.

i asked what about other people who were need lessly paying that charge to be told this was the policy of the company. who gets the money then if hotels are not seeking it i asked. did not get an answer. i would at least like the public to be aware of this practise and that we really do not have to put up with it. really disappointed in the attitude of aer lingus company as i always praised them as an airline and try to fly with them if possible.

Randall of Newport, RI September 2, 2008

On July 30, because the departure of our flight from Nice to Dublin was delayed by nearly an hour and a half, my wife and I arrived for our Aer Lingus connecting flight from Dublin to Boston (flight EI 137) approximately 55 minutes before our flight was scheduled for boarding. Concerned that we might miss our connection, my wife and I went directly to the Aer Lingus transfer desk for our boarding passes. My wife had a pocketbook and a single piece of carry-on sized luggage that she had decided to check in on the previous flight because one of the straps on that piece of luggage had broken. I had only a carry-on bag. We had decided, if necessary, that we would retrieve my wife's check-in bag at a later date rather than miss our connection.

While requesting the boarding passes for our flight, my wife spotted her checked-in bag at the baggage claim carousel and joined me at the transfer desk. I told her that we needed to obtain our boarding passes at the transfer desk and forego checking in her small piece of luggage. The Aer Lingus agent at the transfer desk checked her watch and said that that would not be necessary _ that we had enough time to check-in my wife's bag upstairs at the check-in counter. After dashing upstairs to check-in, we were denied boarding.

It was 40 minutes before the flight was scheduled to depart and the Aer Lingus agent at the check-in counter brusquely informed us that the flight was closed _ that boarding passes for that flight could not be issued less that 45 minutes before the flight's scheduled departure. Although the flight had not yet even begun to board, she told us that there was only forty minutes before the flight was scheduled to depart and she was therefore not allowed to process my wife's one piece of luggage. I told her we would forego that piece of luggage if necessary and I explained that we had two pets stranded at home with no food or fresh water (our cats' caretaker had returned to her home in Austin, Texas the previous day).

The Aer Lingus agent turned to the woman who was standing next to her (I assumed she was her supervisor) and explained the situation to her. The supervisor punched in something on her keyboard and asked whether we had come into Nice on that morning's Aer Lingus flight. I told her we had come in on the delayed Ryan Air flight. Well, I'm sorry, there is nothing we can do. It was too late, she said, to handle my wife's luggage. It was, by now, still at least one half-hour before the flight's scheduled departure.

I asked the supervisor if she would at least issue me a boarding pass _ that I had only my carry-on bag and needed to get home to the pets. That flight, she repeated dismissively, is closed. My wife and I then proceeded to the ticket counter where the Aer Lingus agent there charged us an additional 1,250 to give us our boarding passes for the next flight to Boston.

She said the additional charge was for change fees and differentials in the price of the ticket. I explained that our scheduled flight _ the one we had tickets for and still wanted to board _ had not yet even opened its gates for boarding. Could she at the very least, I asked, waive the change fee. She said she could not and sent us on our way.

1,250 to purchase tickets for the next flight from Dublin to Boston

Susan of Chicago, IL August 23, 2008

I left my camera bag on board aer lingus flight IE125 july 30,from Dublin to chicago. I called as I was heading home from the airport, and they said they were cleaning out the plane while I was on hold, she came back on line and said, no camera was under my seat. That's IMPOSSIBLE. The ground crew in Chicago I believe is responsible for stealing my camera, For one: because we had our business card in the bag. For two: I know it was left there because on the flight from Dublin we took the still camera out of the camera bag to look at photos. So it was there when we were on the flight.

Fortunately we took the small camera out, because those are the only photographic memories we have from a trip of a life time. I have called several times to Aer Lingus, but as of today still no video camera and bag has been turned in. My camera was a Cannon HF10 high definition video camera and assessories in the bag. This camera was brand new and bought especially for this trip as my daughter played fiddle in Ireland and we were videoing the events.

Ian of London, OTHER August 21, 2008

Awaiting an Aer Lingus flight at cork for around mid day, it flashed up on the board the plane was delayed by 2 hours. No big deal, it happens, but 4 hours later we were told a replacement plane was being sent (apparantly our plane had been used to cover a previous delayed flight). Around midnight the plane arrived, switched off its lights and we saw the pilot exit. He had flown too many hours so was not allowed to fly any more.

After going back to claim our baggage, we were told there were two flights and that the midday flight was fully booked and the next flight was five in the afternoon. We were also told all the hotels were fully booked, but there was a peaceful corner to sleep in in Cork airport. Finally we managed to get a room through a cancelled hotel booking. By now it was 3am and having only had airport food for sustinence, my sens of humour had failed.

Finally flew back (after another 2 hour delay) and then as told in their complaint fact sheet, made a complaint in writting to their office on June 3rd. A month later we received an acknowledgement letter saying please be patient whilst we deal with your claim. Another month passed by and we tried calling, but the complaints department has no phone. We tried faxing, but the one fax macine for the whole company did not work and upon calling back to say this, the lady said thats the number for the fax, if it doesn't work, I can't help you. Sent another letter and await reply...I have a feeling though that we will receive nothing. Is there anyone out there who has actually received compensation/expenses?

Caro of Gowran Kilkenny, OTHER June 30, 2008

AER LINGUS AIRLINE It is impossible to know how much a flight is going to cost until one has completed the on-line transaction

Albert of San Diego, CA June 20, 2008

I booked two trips on KLM/Northwest from London to San Diego (NW103) for May 2nd and June 21st. KLM/Northwest advised me verbally to use Aer Lingus to book my Dublin-London connection because of being part of the same airline alliance. I did so and on 2nd May had 80 lbs of luggage in two suitcases which were accepted by Aer Lingus. In Dublin for the additional cost of a bag (9 euros). Yesterday, I returned to the same ticket counter and had pre-booked 3 bags for checking into the planes hold. I had paid an additional 36 euros for these additional bags on my ticket. When I got to the ticket counter the representative told me each passenger was only allowed 20 kilos of luggage in total. I explained I had an international flight and was referred by KLM/Northwest. She told me Aer Lingus was no longer a partner and the ticket was to be treated as an independent segment therefore I had to pay 340 additional euros for my bags Each additional kilo of baggage in excess of 20 kilos was to be charged 9 euros. This means I have paid 376 euros in addition for my airline ticket to London.

I spoke to a supervisor who informed me I had to pay it and there was a marked contrast between the cost and service I experienced on May 2nd and June 19th. The price of this ticket is more than I actually paid for the London-to San Diego leg of my journey. I understand the need to raise luggage prices and had no objection to paying for additional bags. However [their] website is misleading in that it is assumed 20 kilos per bag would be a reasonable expectation to pay an additional cost, but why would any customer want to carry 20 kilos in three bags when 20 kilos would fit into one bag?

It is not a rational system and assumes customers will be further charged at the airport. At that point, we have no significant means to redress what I consider unfair trading and contract practices which appear as gouging to me. How was it I did not have to pay additional charges on May 1st and was gouged yesterday? It was the same flight and route and I was making a transatlantic crossing on the same carrier. I have no intention of ever flying Aer Lingus again and will make that known in my circle of acquaintances and professional relationships.

In treating us in this way, I believe Aer Lingus will ultimately loose passengers and I hope government will intervene to protect the public from these draconian measures that appear to be giving passengers incentives to fly at discounted rates, when in fact  very sophisticated schemes at check in counters leave us no options but to pay outrageous costs that are well in excess of the cost of passenger travel. Why in my right mind would I ever agree to paying a 400 euros airfare for a 50 minute flight?

Bad of La, CA June 17, 2008

My camera went missing after I went through security. They were never any help in answering phone, emails, messages to even make inquiry.

John of Winter Park, FL May 31, 2008

My wife and I were recently scheduled to travel from Paris to Dublin on flight 521 on May 25, 2008 at a departure time of 10:40 AM. We purchased our tickets some time before on the Orbitz.com website, along with many other legs of our journey through Europe and back to our home in Orlando, Florida. Having left our home many weeks prior to our Paris to Dublin flight, we had traveled on approximately 10 flights without benefit of a printed ticket since we were not at our residence to receive our mail.

We arrived at the Charles Du Gaulle airport in Paris approximately 3 hours prior to our departure time. We were directed to the Aer Lingus counter in section 5 of the airport where the agent checked our 4 bags and asked for our printed ticket. We informed him that we had not been at home to receive our tickets, but showed him our confirmation number, credit card receipt, confirmation email from Orbitz.com and passports. We were told that we had provided sufficient proof of our identity and that our reservation was in the computer. We were promptly issued boarding passes and baggage claim receipts. We arrived at our gate for more than an hour and a half. As we were standing in line to board the flight, we were approached by the same young man who had taken our luggage and issued us our boarding passes. He told us that we could not board the flight. He informed us that someone in Dublin had spoken to him and given him orders to deny us access to the plane.

Based on these instructions, we were prohibited from flying to Dublin. We were told to accompany him back to the check-in counter and were informed that our flight would be leaving without us. Needless to say, we were horrified by such an action. Once we were escorted back to the Aer Lingus ticketing counter, we asked the Aer Lingus agents about our connecting flights and how we could possibly get home. We were informed that this was neither our agents, nor Aer Lingus problem. We were rudely told that it was a problem we would have to solve on our own and that issuing tickets or finding flights was not the job of the Aer Lingus representatives.

We asked if we could catch the next Aer Lingus flight. We were told we could not. We asked top speak to a supervisor at Aer Lingus in Dublin. We were given a phone and spoke to a young lady in Dublin who said the young man should have allowed us onto the flight. The woman we spoke to in Dublin was unsure from whom the young man had received the instructions to keep us from getting on the flight. She reiterated that it was our problem and we would have to solve it on our own. After we hung up the phone, we asked for help with finding our luggage, which we had hoped was not on its way to Dublin. My wife was given directions to a general area of the airport. After my wife left, I asked the employee for his name or employee ID number so I could have a record of who had caused us to miss our flight. He covered up the ID that was hanging around his neck and told me that the information was confidential. We asked to speak to his supervisor at which point he said that such information was also confidential and walked away quickly, never to come back!

Meanwhile, my wife was forced to wait in a general area for 3 hours, unsure when, where or if our baggage would ever come. She was not assisted by anyone or treated with any concern. She was in tears when she called me on my cell phone to tell me that we might never retrieve our baggage. We were in shock and disbelief that this could happen. Eventually, we found each other and began searching for internet access since no employees at the Aer Lingus counter would give us any consideration in obtaining a way back to our home. Our connecting flights were impossible to make at this point and we were told that we would have to, at our own expense, finance our own way back to our own home.

We were abandoned and stranded by the actions of the Aer Lingus representatives at the Charles Du Gaulle Airport. There was absolutely no concern for our plight by anyone at the Aer Lingus counter. We proceeded to purchase minutes for internet access and go online with our laptop computer to search for flights to return home. We found that the prices for flights ranged from approximately 3,000 Euros to 8,000 Euros. We decided that these prices were outrageous and proceeded to the Air France counter. There we were able to secure flights home for 2,553 Euros. This was the least expensive flight combination that we were able to find and required us to spend much more time in less convenient airports due to long layovers.

We returned home a day later than we had originally anticipated and were greatly inconvenienced as a result. This issue, we thought, could be handled under the lost ticket protocol which frequently is used under such circumstances. If there was a problem that couldnt be overcome using this protocol, we should have been informed before our baggage was checked and our boarding passes were issued. We have yet to have anything resolved with Aer Lingus. Apparently, they are not worried about responding to compaints in a timely fashion.

2,553 euros, around US5,000

Wes of Cork City, OTHER May 9, 2008

This complaint concerns Aer Lingus, the Irish airline; and in particular, the personnel at Paris Charles De Gaulle airport. I suppose complaints about extortionary charges for excess luggage are fairly routine at this point, but I have a new wrinkle to add to the situation: outsourcing of airline personnel! I am a seasoned traveler, and I checked Aer Lingus's website for the baggage allowance when I made my reservation. Admittedly, I may have gotten the numbers wrong. I believe the website itself was not very clear, and in particular, did not clearly warn that there are different baggage policies for intra-European flights than for transatlantic flights.

Anyway, I carefully weighed my check-in luggage and my carry-on luggage, and showed up at Paris Charles De Gaulle airport expecting little trouble. However, I was informed at the check-in gate that my luggage allowance was half what I had expected it to be. I asked what the penalty would be, and was told it was 10 euros per kilogram in excess of the limit! Thus for 10 kg (about 22 pounds) above the limit, I had to pay 100 euros (150 at current exchange rates). This doubled the price of my ticket. At this point I asked to speak to a supervisor, because I felt that the company had misrepresented the baggage allowance on their website. I was told there was no supervisor to talk to - and in fact, there were no Aer Lingus personnel anywhere within Charles De Gaulle Airport!

It turns out the checking-in process had been outsourced to another company, and this meant that there was no discussion possible on the fairness of the excess luggage policy. At this point I considered my options: I could go back to my hotel and find another airline. Cost: another night in the hotel, and another plane ticket (since I knew this one would not be refunded). I could unload a bunch of gift items I had bought and leave them on the airport floor, lowering the weight of my luggage. This probably would have been the smartest option, but in the heat of the moment I didn't take it. I decided instead to pay the 100 euro and get on the plane.

But my troubles were not over, because to do this I had to go upstairs to ANOTHER company - another outsourcing job. This time it was a company that specialized in collecting money. This company's job was to collect money from me and give me a receipt to take back downstairs to the check-in company, saying I had paid for the excess weight of my luggage. But it turned out I needed a receipt from the check-in company in order to be allowed to pay the collection company! So I had to go back downstairs again (taking my luggage each time of course), then back upstairs again, then back downstairs again, before I could finally get my boarding card. Upon arrival I told my story to Aer Lingus personnel, but of course they reacted with complete indifference, suggesting I write to their customer service department. Which I did.

Price of plane ticket doubled. Humiliation. Hustling around for about an hour in Paris Charles De Gaulle airport with a trolley full of luggage, taking elevators up and down.

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