Aer Lingus, Aer Lingus Extorts Customers with Outrageous Additional Fees Ireland/Nationwide
Booked two tickets with Aer Lingus through Expedia.com. In a nutshell:
1- It angers the airline when you book through an online travel company. They are unwilling to deal with passengers who have used another website and deferred all complaints, even after travel commenced, to the travel website.
2- Charged me a $200(USD) change fee twice when altering flight dates due to medical emergency. No refund, no waiver. Offered a doctor's note and they gave me a non-chalant "too bad." They also charge a paper ticket fee of $20.00. When you make a change, you must overnight the paper tickets back to them at your own cost. Total economic loss from changing two dates: excess of $850(USD)- close to the value of two round-trip tickets from Boston to Dublin.
3- Abysmal customer service, phone service, ticketing agents, etc. If you think the bankrupt U.S. airlines are bad, you haven't seen anything yet. I am waiting to hear how they respond to my complaint. Will never fly again or recommend- despite how cheap their advertised fares are.
Anonymous
Bflo, New York
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Valerie
Mesa,Arizona,
U.S.A.
EVERY airline has change/cancellation fees
#2Consumer Suggestion
Thu, November 01, 2007
Aer Lingus could care less HOW you purchased your ticket, they get revenue-that is the bottom line.
EVERY airline, on trips overseas will charge $200 to change your ticket, plus any difference in the airfare.
The medical issue, although I believe you, is WAY too easy to circumvent.
Anyway, they all do this. Cheap airfares are restrictive, period. Want to ditch the restrictions, pay about 3 times more for the initial ticket.
Paper tickets???? Since every airline uses e-ticketing, why should they do extra work so you can have a paper ticket and not have you pay for it?
Hope you enjoyed your trip,
Val