Where do they stand?

Gillie

Hi All,

My sister and her partner have flights booked to New York with Aer Lingus for the end of January. They also have a seat booked for their 18 month old Daughter.
It has emerged that the Daughter requires an operation to be carried out either in December or early January. Because of this they will not be able to travel now (obviously!). The child will be incapacitated for about 3 months so a trip anywhere is out of the question.

My sister rang Aer Lingus today and they informed her that only the childs ticket price would be refunded!! That puts them down €800!
She has a letter from the Family GP saying that the child is unable to travel and therefore her and her partner would also be unable to travel.
Aer Lingus say their policy covers them here. Is this true?
Anyone know if they are correct here?
I would appreciate any feedback on this.

Thanks
Gilly.

(In case anyone is wondering, the parents heading to New York alone is NOT an option).

Tom Dunne

The unfortunate thing here is that with the likes of Aer Lingus, they tend to cover themselves too damn well for situations like this.

And unfortunately, there is no negotiation with them. The human touch is gone and personally, I avoid flying with them when I can.

How about your travel insurance? Might be worth seeing if you can claim something back, given that it is a medical condition.

Gillie

I think she's looking into that.
Thanks for the reply Tom. I thought as much.

FlutterinBantam

tom dunne wrote:

The unfortunate thing here is that with the likes of Aer Lingus, they tend to cover themselves too damn well for situations like this.

And unfortunately, there is no negotiation with them. The human touch is gone and personally, I avoid flying with them when I can.

Unfortunately Tom that is one of the down sides of low cost travel.Low cost carriers haveto be almost ruthless in these situations,otherwise they will be out of business due to revenue loss and admin costs.

While we would like to,we can't have it both ways.

I think you are a tad too harsh on EI this time Tom.

penexpers

Travel insurance will cover this no problem. Everyone should have adaquete travel insurance.

Tom Dunne

FlutterinBantam wrote:

Unfortunately Tom that is one of the down sides of low cost travel.Low cost carriers haveto be almost ruthless in these situations,otherwise they will be out of business due to revenue loss and admin costs.

While we would like to,we can't have it both ways.

I think you are a tad too harsh on EI this time Tom.

I don't think I am. Over the past 10 years, I have flown to and from the US at least once a year. I have noticed a substantial deterioration in the standard of service from Aer Lingus, whereas other carriers (US carriers) have generally remained of the same standard.

The point I am making is that the US airlines that compete directly with Aer Lingus are not low cost carriers, yet Aer Lingus' fares are comparable (give or take €20).

I wonder how Delta, Continental or American Airlines would handle this situation?

FlutterinBantam

Yes!! You certainly have seen a lowering in the standards of service from Aer Lingus.This is due to staff rationalsation,lower training,educational standards.
It is also due to staff shrinkage,and much more emphasis on the bottom line.
Lower yield has FORCEDAer Lingus to adopt a much more intransigent attitude to the situation which the OP describes.

With the advent of internet booking people are leaving themselves open to situations which the OP describes and really cannot expect too much sympathy if they do not take steps protect against this contigency.Thats what travel insurance is for.

With regard to Delta,only a pay cut from the pilots prevented them from going into Chapter 11 some time ago.

When Aer Lingus were a full service airline,everyone hammered them for dearer fares.I sometimes think people expect the service to remain the same when the cost is but a fraction of what it was.

Bluehair

FlutterinBantam wrote:

When Aer Lingus were a full service airline,everyone hammered them for dearer fares.I sometimes think people expect the service to remain the same when the cost is but a fraction of what it was.

Precisely. This kind of incident is exactly what travel insurance is for, having worked for two US carriers i can guarantee they wouldn't have been any more sympathetic.

Bloody*Mary

When booking my ticket to the states I typo-ed one letter of my name.
I put a d instead of a b. Yes it was my fault but I was shocked when they charged me €75.00 to change it. I would have liked them to look at individual situations. It was obvious I wasn't pulling a fast one. Charge €10 even €20 but €75 is very steep in my opinion.

parsi

Bloody*Mary wrote:

When booking my ticket to the states I typo-ed one letter of my name.
I put a d instead of a b. Yes it was my fault but I was shocked when they charged me €75.00 to change it. I would have liked them to look at individual situations. It was obvious I wasn't pulling a fast one. Charge €10 even €20 but €75 is very steep in my opinion.

It would be a different story if each and every cheap flight was booked by touts who then had the name changed for sweet all. To be fair they all give us ample opportunity to double-check the spelling.

OP - did your sister ask to postpone the flights rather than get a refund ? I know someone who was unable to travel but was able to reschedule the flights for a later date (and was able to manage to select dates that cost the same) ?

Unfortunately teh days of refunds are gone - we know longer pay the high fares that enabled such "gracious" refunds.