Aer Lingus website insecurities

probe

I've noticed that the SSL/TLS "padlock" doesn't come on when using the Aer Lingus website to make reservations while entering personal data such as payment card details etc - if one enters their system via www.aerlingus.aero.

I haven't checked the position using www.aerlingus.eu.

Not very confidence inspiring in terms of how the company is run....!

probe

NutJob

[url] http://www.aerlingus.aero/[/url] no ssl


www.flyaerlingus.com does work with a ssl cert so it looks like a bug.


eek!

Bob the Builder

there should make a better effort...SSL certs are as cheap as dirt these days.

Its problems like that website that are throwing Aer Lingus out of the business...

tck

I think Aer Lingus do that to themselves or even the government for protecting them so much in the past.

probe

Aer Lingus geeks have a clunky, complicated, 1960s mainframe approach to the web.

Everything is made more complicated than necessary.

If for example, you check flight arrivals and departures, your only option is to enter the flight number and their default flight date is yesterday rather than today – so you have to change this too.

If your phone rings while making a reservation, chances are the system will have timed out by the time your call is finished and you will have to re-enter the booking process from the start. Again the mainframe mentality, obsessed with 1960s shortages of computing resources rather than an emphasis on user-friendliness. And of course they probably assume you don't have broadband so your phone can't ring while on their website.

If you go into seat selection, you have to enter not only your reservation locator ID, but also the “from” and “to” cities and your e-mail address to locate the reservation record. Any other similar travel website would only require a reference number and your e-mail address. The dumb un-user-friendly belt and braces approach with a rope attached just to make sure, Aer Lingus style.

If www.aerlingus.aero and www.aerlingus.eu and www.aerlingus.ie etc all pointed to www.aerlingus.com and the entire transaction took place in aerlingus.com rather than being delegated to flyaerlingus.com half-way through, these website insecurities would not arise.

The ultimate online user-unfriendliness is to publish one’s payment card details in clear text on the net. Bastards!

One wonders what next?

Examples of good airline websites:

www.lufthansa.ie
www.airfrance.ie
www.jetblue.com
www.swiss.com

probe

tck

www.ebookers.ie is a dream to use, booked 4 flights there already

probe

tck wrote:

www.ebookers.ie is a dream to use, booked 4 flights there already

At a price!

ORK>LHR o/w tday
€416 on ebookers
€169.99 on aerlingus.com
(both incl so called "taxes")

probe

themole

probe wrote:

If your phone rings while making a reservation, chances are the system will have timed out by the time your call is finished and you will have to re-enter the booking process from the start.

This is to prevent you from blocking other users from getting seats. The seats are "reserved" while you are finishing your booking. Thats why there is a timeout, and tbh this is how most online purchasing websites work.

Hecate

www.aerlingus.aero has the www.flyaerlingus.com page in a frame. Please learn how to use the "View Source" option in you browser

probe

themole wrote:

This is to prevent you from blocking other users from getting seats. The seats are "reserved" while you are finishing your booking. Thats why there is a timeout, and tbh this is how most online purchasing websites work.

Rubbish! Other airline websites (eg Ryanair and Easyjet) don't dump you after a few minutes. Seat availability on an aircraft doesn't fill up so fast that you have to dump potential customers after a few minutes. It is just as impolite as hanging up the phone on reservations callers.

People spend a lot of time making reservations online - particularly if they are frequent travellers - especially with dysfunctional websties such as Aer Lingus's.

And the Aer Lingus website dumps you even if you are not making a reservation (eg re-checking flight arrival or departure data).

The Aer Lingus website is a user-unfriendly shambles. Probably the worst aspect of the airline (aside from the unhealthy junk "food" they sell in-flight of late). Those responsible would be advised to consider their position, in the light of the apparent government's decision to dump the company.

probe

probe

Hecate wrote:

www.aerlingus.aero has the www.flyaerlingus.com page in a frame. Please learn how to use the "View Source" option in you browser

So what? It doesn't matter. People have a right to expect to see the security padlock on a website before giving their payment card details.

probe

tck

probe wrote:

At a price!

ORK>LHR o/w tday
€416 on ebookers
€169.99 on aerlingus.com
(both incl so called "taxes")

probe

Well there was a newspaper article on that the other day.
Aer lingus are to blame here, they don't let ebookers sell for anyless.
They want people to book on their site and restrict competition so to speak.

It's incredible really.

probe

tck wrote:

Well there was a newspaper article on that the other day.
Aer lingus are to blame here, they don't let ebookers sell for anyless.
They want people to book on their site and restrict competition so to speak.

It's incredible really.

It would certainly be anti-competitive if an ebookers type website was offering a comparison shopping service and Aer Lingus blocked access to their system. I seem to recall that Ryanair blocked the IP numbers of a webservice that allowed the client to enter their travel requirements (from, to and dates) and it scoured the net for airline and route options and their prices to meet the client's requirements.

At the end of the day, there is very little competition in the airline industry between specific city pairs - especially to/from countries with third world ground transportation links such as IRL.

If on the other hand both Aer Lingus and Ryanair flew from say DUB to LHR and Aer Lingus would only allow ebookers to show grossly inflated prices on their system, while ryanair permitted open network access at their standard prices, Aer Lingus would be shooting themselves in the foot!

probe

tck

This seems to be the case.

Say for example I wanted to book a flight to Rotterdam or Prague.

Going via ebookers and/or directly through KLM or CSA respectively - you are more or less going to get the same results, now I've done a quick comparison in the past when travelling myself and had no issues.

Now with Aer Lingus they just bump up the prices. I mean people are booking on their flights anyways! Ebookers make a few bob as expected but at the end of the day it's still at least a sign of good business for Aer Lingus.

I don't think Aer Lingus are competent enough to manage online revenue
And their low fare deals now, I would fly Ryanair just despite them.

I remember back in the day for the international Intra EU services when Ryanair needed a vote from either the Irish government or the UK government to allow them to operate cross channel flights and provide service to the people.

The Irish government said no as to protect Aer Lingus from competition, they got the go ahead from the UK government. And look where they are today, bringing great value cheap flights to everyone. Aer Lingus just don't get it.

Maybe some proper sturdy results should be done up in regards to the ebookers / aer lingus bookings. Hmm e-travel.ie is another one - haven't checked yet.

Does anyone know of any other sites ?

Hecate

So what? It doesn't matter. People have a right to expect to see the security padlock on a website before giving their payment card details.

probe

:rolleyes:

themole

probe wrote:

Rubbish! Other airline websites (eg Ryanair and Easyjet) don't dump you after a few minutes. Seat availability on an aircraft doesn't fill up so fast that you have to dump potential customers after a few minutes. It is just as impolite as hanging up the phone on reservations callers.

All booking website use timeouts. Including ryanair. The problem with the Aerlingus website may be that the timeout it too short. I have used it several times and have had no problems.

But, tbh. How hard is it to just finish your booking without taking a phone call?

Would a reservation hotline wait for you while you took another call on your mobile?

wiggzie

Hecate wrote:

www.aerlingus.aero has the www.flyaerlingus.com page in a frame. Please learn how to use the "View Source" option in you browser

ah, framesets - HTML 101 again...pity there isn't an alternative...oh I forgot there is and framesets have been redundant for years...

amateur hour I'm afraid - as probe says, users have a right to expect the SSL icon if entering CC details - they shouldn't need to view the source to check if it's there.

tossers - and as for a blank page to obfuscate the source code...let me see - the page is empty BUT there is a scrollbar - maybe I sould consider scrolling down

at least they're using struts.