Airlingus FLight transfers?

String

I have a flight from heathrow at 10pm. There is a flight as well at 6pm from heathrow. If the 6pm flight is not full would I be able to transfer to it? Ive never needed to transfer before so just wondering.

Foggy43

Ring Aer Lingus is your best bet. You may be charged £28 for the change.

String

Foggy43 wrote: »

Ring Aer Lingus is your best bet. You may be charged £28 for the change.

ok thanks

Our man in Havana

It has happened to me before. If the earlier flight is not full, they will tarnsfer you over free. It then gives them the chance to resell the later seat at top dollar.

GeturGun

Tried it once myself - they wanted to charge me stg£120 for the privilege
I went to the bar and waited for my booked flight

Our man in Havana

GeturGun wrote: »

Tried it once myself - they wanted to charge me stg£120 for the privilidge.
I went to the bar and waited for my booked flight

You must have met an awkward person or the flight was almost full.

GeturGun

She was a kid. I'd say if a supervisor had been there or something it probably would have been fine. I said to her "I know it's not your fault, but that seat is just going to go empty now isn't it?" She just goes "Yeah"

To add insult to injury, I then checked in for the later flight and tried to drop my bag, to be told I was too early [I wasn't laughing at the time tho!]

Foggy43

GeturGun wrote: »

Tried it once myself - they wanted to charge me stg£120 for the privilege
I went to the bar and waited for my booked flight

That sounds about right. £28 plus he difference in prices but if the seat was cheaper you will not get a refund.
Remember Aer Lingus no longer have any staff at LHR. All outsourced to a company who must operate to the terms and conditions laid down by Aer Lingus.

Yes! I do remember when you could bend and twist the rules a bit and do what Bond-007 did. Guilty of doing it myself. I'm afraid it is so difficult to do this now.

Our man in Havana

Those were the days!

Tenger

GeturGun wrote: »

She was a kid. I'd say if a supervisor had been there or something it probably would have been fine. I said to her "I know it's not your fault, but that seat is just going to go empty now isn't it?" She just goes "Yeah"

To add insult to injury, I then checked in for the later flight and tried to drop my bag, to be told I was too early [I wasn't laughing at the time tho!]

This is due to the fact that the check in staff as all Menzies employees. When it was EI staff they would change your flight no problem (mostly) EI handling then changed to Swissport with the same people so the expereince remained. Now however you have new staff with tighter rules on what they can do. This means less flexibility when EI should be trying to help their customers rather than mug them by charging STG£120. Bet the wait in the bar cost you less than £20? As EI crew I have noticed a marked decrease in flexibility over the last 2 years.

GeturGun

i think it was EI staff, this was in Dec 2006.
The whole "i went to the bar" sounds very simple when I typed it here but this was about 5pm and I was sooooo wrecked and my flight was not til after 9 and it took tonnes of self-control not to cry right there at the desk - maybe I should have, maybe they would have taken pity on me!!!

I tried it once from Dublin as well - probably 2002 or something and I got the whole spiel about how my ticket was not refundable or changeable blah blah blah. Then the very next flight I checked in for a few months later "Do you want to fly earlier?" :rolleyes: Yeah cos it suits you this time. [Both were EI to LHR.]

Our man in Havana

Of course where they can resell your later flight at a huge profit.

GeturGun

Bond-007 wrote: »

Of course where they can resell your later flight at a huge profit.

That's why I don't understand about not letting me go earlier the other times - they would have had that extra seat, with more time to sell it [for the huge profit]!!!!

God forbid they should try and convenience the customer

Bramble wrote: »

EI should be trying to help their customers

parsi

Herself did it in Amsterdam last year - was checked in on the Dublin flight. Got to the gate and noticed that the Cork flight was about to board and was allowed change over without the slightest bit of hassle.

Tenger

GeturGun wrote: »

i think it was EI staff, this was in Dec 2006.
.........................................................I tried it once from Dublin as well - probably 2002 or something and I got the whole spiel .....................Then the very next flight I checked in for a few months later "Do you want to fly earlier?" :rolleyes: Yeah cos it suits you this time. [Both were EI to LHR.]

Was Swissprt staff in LHR from early 2003. May have been using EI uniforms. Willie Walsh dropped all handling at outstations around then.

An din terms of chamging...as you say it depends on the check in person and whether or not it suits them.

Davidth88

I used to do this all the time , ie book the late flight , get to the a/port around 5pm and get on the early flight.... never ever failed.

However that was in 2001 , since 2003 really both EI and BM have changed their stripes if you like , it just does not happen any more , I don't even bother asking TBH

However , you never know , so approach the desk and ask , they may say yea , whats the worst they can say... no



Good luck

GeturGun

Foggy43 wrote: »

I'm afraid it is so difficult to do this now.

Bond-007 wrote: »

Those were the days!

Bramble wrote: »

As EI crew I have noticed a marked decrease in flexibility over the last 2 years.

Davidth88 wrote: »

it just does not happen any more , I don't even bother asking TBH

It’s a bit of a joke really. What does it matter to Aer Lingus, or any airline, whether a passenger flies on this flight or the next one. At the end of the day, they have paid for one seat to Dublin and they are taking one seat to Dublin.
I always assumed that servicing an airport like Heathrow – or say, Amsterdam – would force an airline to be more flexible with people that are delayed and missed their connections – or arrived early. Apparently not. Aer Lingus have zero eastbound long haul routes from Ireland and I’ll bet if you polled the passengers on any DUB-LHR flight, you would find that a fair few on each flight are connecting to other flights – is it so wrong to expect Aer Lingus to assist passengers in using a service that they don’t provide themselves? Certainly a passenger that is flying say Wellington-Sydney-Hong Kong-Heathrow-Dublin is not GUARANTEED to turn up at the check-in area within the exact check-in/bag-drop times for their flight to Dublin. Imagine flying half way around the world and then being told you have to pay again for your seat to Dublin :eek: or that you have to wait 6 hours.
I connected through Heathrow weekly for most of last summer and thankfully, [apart from one made-it-by-the-skin-of-my-teeth incident] connections were fairly ok. But it’s hair raising stuff, hoping your first flight is not delayed, hoping the plane will fly faster if it is!!!, hoping for an immediate parking stand when you land, hoping the passport queue in T3 is not 50 miles long, breaking land speed records trying to get from one terminal to another!!! It can be a stressful business. I don’t think a small amount of flexibility on the part of the airlines should be too much to ask.

Although, having said the last bit, I do realise we have been talking about changing to an earlier flight …. maybe they are more flexible if you are late and miss your connection – thankfully I have never had to find out [yet]

skybus

It’s a bit of a joke really. What does it matter to Aer Lingus, or any airline, whether a passenger flies on this flight or the next one. At the end of the day, they have paid for one seat to Dublin and they are taking one seat to Dublin.

That's all good in theory if every seat on every flight was the same price. If you turn up looking to get on a flight at 6pm when your ticket is for 10pm and expect to pay nothing on a transfer like in the 80's and 90's then you are very much mistaken. Flying at non peak hours is signicantly cheaper than at other times. What's to stop everyone from buying a 1 euro ticket and casually walking up to an airport expecting to get on a flight that you know would have been signficantly more expensive. Those days are well and truly gone unfortunatley.

Having a connecting ticket is a different matter altogether. If it was bought as part of a through ticket then the airline is responsible for getting you to your destination through a code share agreement with other airlines. It's a different argument entirely.