Aer Lingus website mistake

IsMise · 16-04-2008 3:53pm #1

This morning the Aer Lingus website was offering flights to the US for 5EUR each way, I booked Shannon to JFK in June, with taxes and charges it was EUR172 in total. I received email confirmation and was able to go into the Manage Booking section and see my flight there and it was Business Class.

I checked it again later in the day and I can no longer see it under Manage Booking, so I called Aer Lingus and the girl I spoke to said that all the flights that were booked at that price today were canceled they were in the process of sending out emails to everyone concerned, to compensate they would give me a full refund. I said that as far as I was concerned I bought the flight in good faith and was it not binding?
She said she would get a supervisor to call me back…..still waiting

Interestingly though this issue occurred before in 2003 and Aer Lingus honored the flights
http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2003/10/12/story949932788.asp

I wonder do we have any entitlement?

Jg1982 · 16-04-2008 4:28pm

Same story with me today. I've been told that they're not honouring my flights.

Girl on helpdesk said that they were "legally covered for system glitches" and she said "that's all we're prepared to say at this time". I've checked the legal stuff on the Aer Lingus site thoroughly and there's nothing that states ANYTHING about website issues.

I've mailed the Citizens Advice Bureau anyway to see what they say.

Harpy · 16-04-2008 4:36pm

just missed these by a few minutes was sickened.. i hope it works out for yee what a deal if ye do get them!!
It's interesting that they honoured them in 2003 so they might do it again..then again after that happened they may have put some policies in place so they wouldn't have to do it again.

blah · 16-04-2008 4:36pm

I'm not a legal expert, but it's my understanding that while a company are free to deny you a mistakenly low price when you try to offer them the price, once you have completed the transaction, you have a contract and paid for it, the deal is done. You should just tell them you don't want a refund and you are happy to accept the item you bought and have already paid for. I'm interested to see what the Citizens Advice Bureau says and how this turns out.

Harpy · 16-04-2008 5:31pm

actually just remembered something there one time before there was a misprice on snd it and i ordered but they emailed me the next day sayin it was cancelled and they didn't have to honour it cause they hadn't taken the money of the credit card yet..
so id have a look to see if the money has been taken from your account if it hasn't pretty sure they are entitled to cancel it but not sure what the story is if they have taken the money off.

IsMise · 16-04-2008 6:03pm

Just received this from Aer Lingus

Dear Sir/Madam

Due to a technical error in our reservation system for a brief period today, a small number of bookings were priced incorrectly.

Unfortunately, yours was one of the bookings affected and this email is to notify you of cancellation of your booking and to advise no funds will be deducted from your account. We are pleased to advise you that this problem has now been rectified.

Should you wish to make a new booking please log onto www.aerlingus.com or contact our Web Helpdesk on (IRL) 0818 365 044 or (N.IRE/UK) 0870 8762020. Opening hours are 0730-2130 Monday-Sunday.

Thank you for your co-operation and understanding. We would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused by this error.

This is an automated email. Should you have any further queries in this regard please contact one of the above telephone numbers.

Yours sincerely,
Aer Lingus Customer Support

Welease · 16-04-2008 7:34pm

I had a similar situation with Dell a couple of years ago (although it was in the UK).. a bunch of people (me included) believed we had just snagged a bargain on the price of a laptop. Buried way down in the T&C's of the web site, was text basically stating that purchasing online is not an agreement to sell, it was a request from the purchaser to Dell to create a contract to sell, or something like that. In short, it was a cover your ass clause on the web site for mistakes just like the one you found today.
I did some checking around and most web sites i visited has pretty much the same clause at the time. Dell did offer us 10% off a purchase at the correct price..

In short, I sadly doubt they will honour the mistake..

Hylus83 · 16-04-2008 8:19pm

I too booked flights this morning & being suspicious of the price, i called Aer Lingus straight after I purchased the tickets (and after they had found the "bug" in their system)
The telephone operator said that while it was a glitch in their system, they would be honouring the flights. I also had my colleagues call Aer Lingus to confirm their reservations. They all got the same reply - they would honour the flights.

Later this afternoon I noticed that when I went to view my booking on the Aer Lingus website, it said my booking reference was invalid. So I called Aer Lingus again, this time I was informed that the booking was cancelled due to the technical glitch in their system.

I asked for the manager on duty in the call centre & was told that they would just tell me the same thing. About 10 minutes later I got a call informing me that the manager on duty would call me in about 15 minutes. When I heard nothing, i called them up again.

This time i got through to the manager. She said that because Aer Lingus did not intend to sell the flights at those fares, there was no "intent to sell" therefore the contract between Aer Lingus & I was void.

The fact that Aer Lingus displayed the fares at the €5 price tag, i would have thought, constituted their intention to sell.
In addition, nowhere in the T&C's does it say that Aer Lingus has to right to cancel the booking or alter the price of the fare after it has been confirmed. If that is not part of the T&C on the contract that you & Aer Lingus are bound into when you place the booking with them, then they surely can't cancel your booking/change the price, can they?? If it's not in the contract, it can't be part of the contract right?

However, what is listed in the T&C's is....
"No agent, servant or representative of carrier has authority to alter, modify or waive any provision of this contract."
The citizens advice told me that Aer Lingus have entered into contract with you & that they have to honour the flights otherwise they are in breach of contract. I too told Aer Lingus this & said that i didn't want the refund of money, i wanted the flight. But of course the telephone operator is not empowered to do this.

So do we have any options here? I e-mailed Matt Cooper on TodayFM about this - i suggest that everyone else do the same.
At the end of the day, they could easily turn around & pull the "sorry, this fare was a glitch in our system" line, whenever they like & get away with it.

IsMise · 16-04-2008 9:32pm

I just sent an email to the Last Word as well, def worth a try. Aer Lingus do not seem to be offering any concrete evidence to say that they are not liable.

Victor · 16-04-2008 9:59pm

They are denying any contract existed, so they aren't changing the purported contract.

Having a fundamental mistake in the contract is grounds for annulling it.

avantarklu · 16-04-2008 10:55pm

I would suggest that the key elements of a contract did in fact exist.

A mistake is grounds for voiding a contract if the other party was aware of the mistake and attempted to take advantage. On the basis that Aer Lingus commenced their US Sale on Monday and the effected flights were trans atlantic, it would not be unreasonable for the customer to assume that the flights offered and the low prices were simply part of the sale.

Anyone know the contact email address of Aer Lingus's largest shareholder?:)

smiler26 · 16-04-2008 11:20pm

AFAIK, if money is deducted from your card, contract is formed.

If you weren't charged, no contract so no comeback.

am open to correction on this tho

eth0_ · 17-04-2008 1:38am

Have you guys never seen the term E&OE in the small print of a sale (and i'm sure it's in aer lingus' small print)?
Errors and omissions excepted - if they make a mistake they are within their right to cancel the sale.

Get over it, I don't for one minute believe you guys genuinely believed this offer was for real!

Gillo · 17-04-2008 5:38am

I always find threads on this sort of mistake interesting.

Had the shoe been on the other foot and you received an email from Aer Lingus (or any other company) saying that due to an error they had over charged you, you'd all be going on now about "Rip Off Aer Lingus" over charging poor little you and how they are taking ages at getting the money back to you. Similar to what we've seen happening with the banks.

It's a two way thing folks.

MrVestek · 17-04-2008 8:34am

This has been all over the news this morning, no replies from Aer Lingus yet but the consumer rights association have been on to advise these customers to houns Aer Lingus to either honour the contract (and yes it has been confirmed that they have entered into a contract with you) or offer you some kind of compensation for your next travel.

JimmyO · 17-04-2008 8:37am

eth0_ wrote: »

Get over it, I don't for one minute believe you guys genuinely believed this offer was for real!

Well yes and no. I agree that I was stunned at the price when I saw it but if Ryair can fly me to Paris for €0.01 plus charges (as they often offer) then it seemed reasonable that Aer Lingus can fly me to New York for €5. I haven't measured the distances but you get my point.

To top that off, I've booked time off work when I received the confirmation. Not sure if I can have that undone. Plus my girfriend works freelance and she cancelled bookings she had made. She's never been to New York and that was the only reason why she cancelled them.

Aer Lingus offered to book us flights at the (as far as I'm concerned) increased price but that's well out of our price range.

parsi · 17-04-2008 9:03am

Time and time again this comes up.

Each time it boils down to: did they actually take your money ?

If they did then they have to honour the price.

If they didn't then they don't have to though like Kodak many years ago they may do it as goodwill (and a good way of shifting oldish stock). Or they may be like Apple with the 1TB drive for tuppence'hapenny and just say no.

If they sent a confirmation email it generally means diddly squat unless they've actually taken your money.

By all means pressure them to come up with the goods but do it with the correct background knowledge of "what they are legally obliged to do" versus "what they can do as goodwill"

Red Alert · 17-04-2008 9:12am

Technically did they not take the money in the first place or did they take the money and then do a refund transaction on the credit card? If it's the latter then contract was formed I'd imagine.

JimmyO · 17-04-2008 9:13am

Just heard Dermot Jewell of the NCA on the radio and he says anyone affected should hound Aer Lingus on this.

Complaints must be made in writing to:

Aer Lingus Customer Care Unit
Aer Lingus Head Office
Dublin Airport
Ireland

axer · 17-04-2008 9:17am

Red Alert wrote: »

Technically did they not take the money in the first place or did they take the money and then do a refund transaction on the credit card? If it's the latter then contract was formed I'd imagine.

From a legal point of view - supply your credit card details is akin is providing consideration under contract law from what I have read. If that is the case then a contract was entered. Anyone know any cases in which this was the case?

EDIT: I think I found it. Providing the credit card details means the contract would be supported with "executory" or future consideration and if the other party does not honour the contract then they would be in breach. Thus a contract has been formed in this situation.

17-04-2008 9:21am

It all depends,in my opinion on whether one of the 100 or so customers takes this further.
Usually ime,when you book on the EI site,they do take a charge(which reduces your available credit) and then they collect this money from your a/c a few days later.
thats a contract in my opinion.
I wonder what the terms and conditions are because I'd suggest that the contract on the customer side was entered in good faith.
If EI don't have a clause to protect them in the fine print of that contract,they may have to do a lot more than just give the money back or rescind the CC charge.

eth0_ · 17-04-2008 10:21am

This is really pathetic. If all these whingers really do take it further to get their 5 euro flight to the USA, chances are Aer Lingus will think twice about seat sales (I presume this error happened due to someone wrongly inputting the sale price).

So you're impacting on ALL aer lingus customers if you take action against them. Thanks, guys.

axer · 17-04-2008 10:23am

eth0_ wrote: »

So you're impacting on ALL aer lingus customers if you take action against them. Thanks, guys.

lol

eth0_ · 17-04-2008 10:23am

Achilles wrote: »

This has been all over the news this morning, no replies from Aer Lingus yet but the consumer rights association have been on to advise these customers to houns Aer Lingus to either honour the contract (and yes it has been confirmed that they have entered into a contract with you) or offer you some kind of compensation for your next travel.

Question - did any of the people who bought this flight actually receive a RECEIPT for the purchase of their mistakenly priced flights?

If not, then this man is totally wrong and shouldn't really be in the job he is in!

This sort of things happens regularly and the only time the mistaken price has been honoured was just a PR stunt (Kodak's mispriced cameras, I believe).

Jg1982 · 17-04-2008 10:26am

I rang my credit card company, and they said the transaction has gone through. Looks like Aer Lingus are gonna just put their head in the sand and refuse to compensate no matter what.

I agree that this offer looked too good to be true (and wasn't obviously), but if this was an item that you'd purchased in the shops, the retailer couldn't ring up your home address and tell you to bring the product back coz they'd undercharged you.

The only reason Aer Lingus can do this, is because we have agreed to purchase a service in the future, not something that we are using immediately.

Etho, we are within our rights to do this. I don't see why you are annoyed at consumers who spotted a gap in the market. If you want to get mad at someone, why don't you ring Aer Lingus and criticise them for bringing this upon themselves.

JimmyO · 17-04-2008 10:27am

eth0_ wrote: »

This is really pathetic. If all these whingers really do take it further to get their 5 euro flight to the USA, chances are Aer Lingus will think twice about seat sales (I presume this error happened due to someone wrongly inputting the sale price).

So you're impacting on ALL aer lingus customers if you take action against them. Thanks, guys.

The airline business has to constantly offer sales and deals due to it's competitive nature. If Aer Lingus stop offering deals we'll just take the deals offered by other airlines. Customer Loyalty in the Airline Industry is almost zero.

Don't worry 100 people won't ruin the deals for everyone else.

Enough with the drama already.

LotusBlossom · 17-04-2008 10:28am

I am one of the customers of Aer Lingus who booked a flight yesterday to New York. However, the flight price on the screen was not zero euro, it was €5 (Five euro). Does this make a difference?
Also, as to the question of human error, why was the site allowed to remain live when they knew there was this problem? Surely they waive their right to claim "Human Error" if they did nothing to take the site down, thus preventing people from booking these tickets?
And in addition, I only went into the site because I received an email from Aer Lingus INVITING me to look at their Summer Sale to the U.S. When I did so, I discovered the €5 flights and promptly booked. My confirmation email from them states my flight was CONFIRMED! I dont want a refund, I dont want to book at full price, I want them to honour the price I was quoted and booked at yesterday.

LotusBlossom · 17-04-2008 10:34am

I'd imagine eth0, if you'd been one of the people "lucky" enough to get this great deal and then it had been cancelled on you, you'd add your voice to the complaints. Maybe the complaints will make Aer Lingus more careful in future about what their site says - certainly they're not going to stop doing special offers, so you can keep your "gratitude"!

LotusBlossom · 17-04-2008 11:00am

eth0_ wrote: »

Question - did any of the people who bought this flight actually receive a RECEIPT for the purchase of their mistakenly priced flights?

I believe we all received confirmation emails, which constitutes a receipt AND is used as an e-ticket!

axer · 17-04-2008 11:06am

Jg1982 wrote: »

The only reason Aer Lingus can do this, is because we have agreed to purchase a service in the future, not something that we are using immediately.

They actually can't do anything about it as a contract has been formed. They can be sued for breach of contract if they fail to honour those contracts.

Jg1982 · 17-04-2008 11:11am

axer wrote: »

They actually can't do anything about it as a contract has been formed. They can be sued for breach of contract if they fail to honour those contracts.

Apologies, you're correct. When i said "Aer Lingus can do this" I meant they are physically able to give us back our money as we havent used the service yet, unlike say Argos who can't chase you down the street trying to take your telly back off you. Not "can" as in the legal sense.

Aer Lingus website mistake

Comments