Aer Arran flight re-scheduling

cariss1

Right, I've just finished giving out about Quinn direct and I'm still in a whingey mood so here I go with my gripe with Aer Arann.
I'd be interested to hear if anybody else has had a similar experience.

Six weeks ago I booked a flight with Aer Arran for my girlfriend and I from Galway to Luton.
Despite the extra expense compared to Ryanair we chose Aer Arran for the convenience of flying from Galway and getting to spend a few more hours of our weekend in the UK.
The return flight was scheduled Luton to Galway 11am.

Two weeks ago I received an email from Aer Arran stating that due to flight rescheduling the new flight time would be 10.45am and I was to email them back confirming I could make the new time or, and I quote, "If the new times are not suitable, please reply to this email stating your alternative flight requests which we will endeavour to accommodate subject to seat availability."

Now I understand that there is only 15 minutes in the difference but due to our other pre-booked travel arrangements this meant that we would be running the risk of missing the flight altogether due to the rescheduling.
If it was 15 minutes later it wouldn't have been a problem.

I sent them a polite email explaining my situation and requested to put us on the next flight as I'd rather stick with the bus and train tickets I'd payed for and sit in the airport for a couple of hours then have to pay again.

They replied that to change my flight time I would have to do it through the website.

I went on the website thinking they would honour their offer as there were plenty of seats left but no, it came up asking for the difference in seat price of €12 plus €35 taxes and administrative fees. This meant that on top of the €150 each we paid for the flights they wanted to charge us an extra €47 each because they inconvenienced us. A total of €394 for the weekend flight to London.
It meant that whatever I did I was losing money.
I emailed them back and asked if there was a mistake and why were they charging when they offered to accommodate us and also why it cost so much taxes and charges when all they had to do was switch our names on the system from one time to another.

They replied that, as per the terms and conditions, unless they change a flight time by 2 hour or more then they don't have to provide a free flight change or refund.

It's an air-tight argument as I did agree to their T&Cs on booking but they shouldn't have offered to accommodate us if they had no intention of doing so.

In the end I decided that, seeing as though I was going to be out of pocket anyway, we would get the latest possible flight out of Luton and spend the day sight seeing in London.

Not only did I pay for 2 return flights each but because I canceled the earlier flight they can sell those seats again.

I did email them telling them that I would never fly with them again as they made quite a bit of profit out of their rescheduling and I wasn't one bit happy with their business methods.

I got an email apologising for the inconvenience but they once again quoted the T&Cs and more or less said tough ****.

Another kick in the stones came 3 days later when I got a promotional email saying they were having a sale on flights and when I checked to see if my flights were eligible they were half the price I payed originally.

I unsubscribed from the email and that's the last of my custom Aer Arran will ever get regardless of convenience.

I'd like to hear if anybody else has had a similar experience or am I being unreasonable expecting a flight change over a 15 minute difference?

Cabaal

Seriously its only a 15min difference, you'd normally experience departure delays longer then this.

As you re-booked you were subject to the new prices for a different flight, its all about supply and demand. You booked early you got things cheaper you booked later the seats were more expensive

the_syco

Cabaal wrote: »

Seriously its only a 15min difference, you'd normally experience departure delays longer then this.

Agreed. If 15 minutes would f**k up your plans, then you didn't leave any time to spare, should sh|t happen and the bus/train that you were going to get to the airport either didn't turn up, or was late due to traffic.

I agree what they did was pure and utter bo||ox, but having such a tight schedule is never a good idea if you're depending on so many variables beyond your control.

MagicMarker

the_syco wrote: »

Agreed. If 15 minutes would f**k up your plans, then you didn't leave any time to spare, should sh|t happen and the bus/train that you were going to get to the airport either didn't turn up, or was late due to traffic.

I agree what they did was pure and utter bo||ox, but having such a tight schedule is never a good idea if you're depending on so many variables beyond your control.

I agree, booking trains and buses so close to a flight that a change of 15 minutes could force you to be late is asking for trouble.

Sponge Bob

You really should be looking at 1:30 to 2:00 hours of wiggle room in a case like this. Getting agitated over 15 minutes is sillly.

I made a mistake (typo) in booking flights last year and rang aer aranns call centre to correct it. This they did on the spot and emailed out a new confirmation. All gratis.

Try doing that with say..... Ryanair

Grumpypants

You planned to arrive 15 mins before a flight ? and this is in some way Aer arranns fault ??

uoluol

Wow, you really are in a whingey mood!! A flight time change of 15 mins is nothing, it's your fault that you did not allow sufficient time for your travel arrangements.

And..... by the way its Aer ARANN not Aer ARRAN......

cariss1

Ye're absolutely right lads, I did leave things a bit tight in the first place when selecting transport to the airport but i'm used to departure delays not flights being brought forward!
I would never leave 1.5-2 hours wiggle room for travel plans, especially on a weekend trip away to the Uk, i'm too used to delayed flights. Can't say I know anybody that does arrive 2 hours before departure and I don't mind putting up with delays.
I chose transport that gave us 10mins wiggle room on top of the recommended 1 hour before departure time.
I never said I planned to arrive 15mins before a flight, thats just stupid 'grumpypants'.
Great use of incredulous question marks, good point well articulated. Thanks for the input and keep up the good work.
Chances are we could make the new flight time but it's a risk and my gripe is about the email offering to accommodate us and then getting charged for said offer.
As for supply and demand, the flight has gotten cheaper since I booked so there is more supply and less demand.
And ya it is Aer arann, sorry for the multiple typos.
Point taken though, I'm a stupid head. Please fleece me of my money Aer Arann, its perfectly acceptable.

tallaghtoutlaws

cariss1 wrote: »

Ye're absolutely right lads, I did leave things a bit tight in the first place when selecting transport to the airport but i'm used to departure delays not flights being brought forward!
I would never leave 1.5-2 hours wiggle room for travel plans, especially on a weekend trip away to the Uk, i'm too used to delayed flights. Can't say I know anybody that does arrive 2 hours before departure and I don't mind putting up with delays.
I chose transport that gave us 10mins wiggle room on top of the recommended 1 hour before departure time.

90% of all flights board from 20-40mins before departure. Depending on Airline and destination. Add security delays of say minimum 15mins on weekends. Anything less than an hour before departure is suicide. The fact you only give yourself 10mins on top the hours to me is mad to be honest. I travel a lot and quite frankly there is many a time folk like you held up planes due to 10min "wiggle" room.

Now don't take this as a personal dig. But One should always give themselves in my eyes 45mins of extra time outside the hour before departure especially if taking public transport to get to the Airport.

And really your response to others in here is incredible. Most of whom are stating the obvious to be fair. You leave yourself with very little time to play with what do you expect people to say? I hear so many people give out when I'm at airports it gets very tedious after a while. Always reminds me of those guys on the Airline TV shows giving out about crashes on motorways or trains stuck at a station and they blame the airline for them missing the flight. Some people just never learn really.

cariss1

Yup completely agree with what ye're saying, I wasn't being sarcastic or anything and I appreciate peoples opinions.
I was only sniping at grumpypants because for some reason he thought I planned to arrive 15mins before the flight and had no opinion to present.
I'm just speaking from experience that when you have checked in on-line and you are arriving at an airport like Luton that takes 10mins to get from the entrance to the departure gate then it isn't necessary to get there 2hrs before departure.
1hr 10mins should be plenty of time considering the London transport system is very efficient.
Whenever I have to check in baggage or I'm flying into a large airport then ya I give myself plenty of time to allow for unforseen circumstance.
I'm not the type of person that thinks airports are a good place to go shopping and don't mess around when It comes to making it through to the departure gates. I am usually one of the first people sitting at the departure gates and that is when I leave myself 1hr before departure.
It really frustrates me when the plane is nearly fully boarded but is delayed by 15mins by gob****es you can see making there way out of the terminal loaded down with bags of duty-free. Chances are these people were at the airport long before I was!
I am usually very cautious and as such have never missed a flight or held up a flight and I don't want my return flight from London to be the first I miss because it was brought forward.

Right, so hopefully we've established that I am in agreement that I should have left more than 1hr 10mins to make it from Lutons entrance to departure gate so once more I'll get back to the reason why I was whinging on here to a bunch of strangers in the first place........ Aer Aranns offer to accommodate us and then reneging on that offer when I chose to avail of it.

With all due respect i don't need another post telling me that I should have left more time, and its my own stupid fault as I really need to camp in the airport the night before a flight to be sure i don't miss it or something along those lines

Cheers for reading the original post anyway guys.

Del2005

cariss1 wrote: »

Right, so hopefully we've established that I am in agreement that I should have left more than 1hr 10mins to make it from Lutons entrance to departure gate so once more I'll get back to the reason why I was whinging on here to a bunch of strangers in the first place........ Aer Aranns offer to accommodate us and then reneging on that offer when I chose to avail of it.

With all due respect i don't need another post telling me that I should have left more time, and its my own stupid fault as I really need to camp in the airport the night before a flight to be sure i don't miss it or something along those lines

Cheers for reading the original post anyway guys.

Just reading Aer Arann's T&C's. They didn't even have to tell you that the flight was being changed and it clearly states that the departure isn't guaranteed or part of the contract.

I can't see anything in their T&C's about charges for schedule changes, only that you can get a full refund if greater then 2 hours. I'd contact Consumer Affairs, or the SCC if applicable, about this as you have an email saying the change would be free.

3DataModem

To answer your original question;

- yes I have plenty of experience of this happening. With Aer Arann and other airlines.

- yes you are being unreasonable. 15 minutes less should never put airport transfers in jeopardy... What if you needed the bathroom?

I've flown with AA about 20 times in last 6 months and their customer service beats all others IMO.

rubberdiddies

People come on here looking for advice and instead they get a lectureand a spelling lesson. Cop yourselves on people! This isn't AH

you book a flight for 11am and make arrangements based on that time. Perfectly acceptable to do so and expect the flight to depart no earlier than 11am.

The airline change the flight time after you have booked and paid for the flight. (offer and acceptance has occured and a contract is now in place). Regardless of the fact that it's only 15 mnutes it completely inconveniences the customer. Had they allowed you to reschedule a later flight with no extra charge then that would be accetable. However in ths case I would contact both consumer affairs and the commision for aviation regulation.

Also you are correct in voting with your feet and not flying with them any more. If only more people wud follow up with these threats when they have consumer issues then service might actually approve across many companies

Del2005

rubberdiddies wrote: »

People come on here looking for advice and instead they get a lectureand a spelling lesson. Cop yourselves on people! This isn't AH

you book a flight for 11am and make arrangements based on that time. Perfectly acceptable to do so and expect the flight to depart no earlier than 11am.

The airline change the flight time after you have booked and paid for the flight. (offer and acceptance has occured and a contract is now in place). Regardless of the fact that it's only 15 mnutes it completely inconveniences the customer. Had they allowed you to reschedule a later flight with no extra charge then that would be accetable. However in ths case I would contact both consumer affairs and the commision for aviation regulation.

Also you are correct in voting with your feet and not flying with them any more. If only more people wud follow up with these threats when they have consumer issues then service might actually approve across many companies

If you go to Aer Arann's T&Cs, which the OP agreed to when purchasing the tickets, you'll see in Part 12.1 that Aer Arann does not guarantee flight times and they aren't part of the contract. No point in going to consumer affairs or the aviation regulator.

The only hope the OP has is that they have an email saying free transfer which Aer Arann says is against their T&Cs. But there is no mention of this in their T&Cs, or at least any that I can see.

rubberdiddies

Del2005 wrote: »

If you go to Aer Arann's T&Cs, which the OP agreed to when purchasing the tickets, you'll see in Part 12.1 that Aer Arann does not guarantee flight times and they aren't part of the contract. No point in going to consumer affairs or the aviation regulator.

The only hope the OP has is that they have an email saying free transfer which Aer Arann says is against their T&Cs. But there is no mention of this in their T&Cs, or at least any that I can see.

i actually was under the impression that if an airline changes their schedule then the consumer has certain rights. but having checked it up online it seems that this isnt the case unless a day flight is changed to a night flight.

however apparently under EU law, you are entitled to claim a refund for the rescheduled flight. however in your case its probably a bit late as you have already rebooked.

Despite the fact that their T's&C's absolve them of any liability, it would have been good customer service to rebook them on to a later flight at no extra charge. but unfortunately good customer service and airlines dont seem to go hand in hand.

About a year ago ryanair changed the time of a flight I had booked to 1 hour earlier but it didnt suit me as I was attending a meeting in London and would have been impossible for me to make the flight. The fact that ryanair put me on a later flight instead at no extra cost automatically made me think that other airlines would do the same.

Thanks for sharing your experiences OP. It will certainly make me think twice about using Aer Arann again

cariss1

3DataModem wrote: »

To answer your original question;

- yes I have plenty of experience of this happening. With Aer Arann and other airlines.

- yes you are being unreasonable. 15 minutes less should never put airport transfers in jeopardy... What if you needed the bathroom?

I've flown with AA about 20 times in last 6 months and their customer service beats all others IMO.

Flights being brought forward probably does occur regularly across airlines but as I fly maybe 16 times in a year I've never had the misfortune of getting caught out by one, as I said earlier I figured planning to arrive at the airport 1 hour and 10mins beforehand should leave me enough time to make the flight AND visit every bathroom in Luton airport along the way!

It's good to hear that you have had nothing but good experiences with Aer Arann. They do provide a convenient service and if they've done good by you so far then fair play.

Thanks for summarising my complaint 'rubberdiddies', it looks like you're the only one that thought I had a good reason to be annoyed with Aer Aranns empty offer and profitable (In my case) time change.

At this stage I have spent my money and don't think it is worth the stress trying to pursue a refund.
I feel a bit more satisfied now that I let off a little steam on here.
I will not be using Aer Arann again out of principle but they're not going to miss my custom anyway.

For my return flight to Galway, I plan to arrive at Luton 2 hours before my flight is due as recommended.
I'll let ye know how long I'm waiting at the departure gate