Aer lingus strike June 2011

cooperguy

Ok so it looks like Aer Lingus could be on strike (again!) next week. Next Friday I am flying from Dublin to Heathrow with Aer Lingus and then on to Bangkok with BA. This was booked in one go on ebookers.

I was talking to an ebookers customer care person who said that if the flight was cancelled they HAD to provide an alternative. Is this true? Im pretty sure I remember people loosing out on flight during other strikes?

Secondly I asked would it be possible for me to buy an alternative flight to London and just turn up for my Heathrow flight. They told me I would be marked as a no show in Dublin and all my tickets would be cancelled. Surely there is a way around this? I would prefer to book an alternative way over to London for €50 if it saved me sitting through possible massive delays in Dublin and having to get a different onward flight (as I am meeting somebody on the onward flight).

Any help appreciated!

fonzy157

Ive a flight booked with Aer Lingus for next week. They are saying that they might go on strike then.
Does anyone know if you are entitled to a full refund if your flight is cancelled?, or do you have to have travel insurance etc to get a refund?
Thanks

Civilian_Target

http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/consumers/protection_of_consumers/l24173_en.htm

In short:
- If you're within a certain distance of your place of residence, and you have not been given 14 days notice of cancellation by the airline, you have a choice of a full refund or a replacement flight (including change of dates for possible return flights)
- If you're already abroad, you're entitled to a refund of all remaining legs, full hotel accommodation, food and transport to-and-from the airport until your rescheduled flight departure

You're also entitled to 2 free telephone calls - I have yet to see any airline make good on this offer!

undo

Missing one segment cancels all onward segments. However, this rule only applies to proper traditional airlines. When you buy tickets through the Aer Lingus website, you get separate tickets for each individual segment, at least within Europe. So there are two possibilities:

* If Aer Lingus have an interline agreement with BA, ebookers may have put both flights on one ticket. In that case, the airlines are obliged to get you there, start to end. If there is a delay, Aer Lingus will have to find you a different flight and if this means missing your BA flight, they will have to rebook you free of charge. They will also be required to provide you accommodation and subsistence while you wait. The downside is that you cannot just make your own way to London. You have to let the airlines sort it out for you.

* If ebookers got you two separate tickets, Aer Lingus will still be obliged to get you to London. But if there is a delay due to the strike, Aer Lingus are under no obligation to rebook you on a different BA flight. This part would be between ebookers and you. I would expect their booking terms to cover you for this and include free rebooking. But you should check. Also, if it is between ebookers and you, you may be able to convince them that making your way to London on your own and taking the original BA flight is in their interest as well as it saves them hassle and money.

You should probably call ebookers and get some clarification of what your situation is.

Ardennes1944

im flying to paris for the d-day celebrations in normandy, heading out 4th and back on 7th...hopefully ill be ok coming back

cooperguy

undo wrote: »

Missing one segment cancels all onward segments. However, this rule only applies to proper traditional airlines. When you buy tickets through the Aer Lingus website, you get separate tickets for each individual segment, at least within Europe. So there are two possibilities:

* If Aer Lingus have an interline agreement with BA, ebookers may have put both flights on one ticket. In that case, the airlines are obliged to get you there, start to end. If there is a delay, Aer Lingus will have to find you a different flight and if this means missing your BA flight, they will have to rebook you free of charge. They will also be required to provide you accommodation and subsistence while you wait. The downside is that you cannot just make your own way to London. You have to let the airlines sort it out for you.

* If ebookers got you two separate tickets, Aer Lingus will still be obliged to get you to London. But if there is a delay due to the strike, Aer Lingus are under no obligation to rebook you on a different BA flight. This part would be between ebookers and you. I would expect their booking terms to cover you for this and include free rebooking. But you should check. Also, if it is between ebookers and you, you may be able to convince them that making your way to London on your own and taking the original BA flight is in their interest as well as it saves them hassle and money.

You should probably call ebookers and get some clarification of what your situation is.

In the case of everything being on one ticket there is surely a way to cancel a leg of the journey before it starts? And therefore I would be able to turn up for my London flight.

mikedragon32

cooperguy wrote: »

In the case of everything being on one ticket there is surely a way to cancel a leg of the journey before it starts? And therefore I would be able to turn up for my London flight.

No. Cancelling one leg, means they cancel the entire intinerary and hit you with crazy charges to rebook.

undo

cooperguy wrote: »

In the case of everything being on one ticket there is surely a way to cancel a leg of the journey before it starts? And therefore I would be able to turn up for my London flight.

No. The reason is that airlines have very complex fare rules that make the price of each segment depend on other segments around it. Removing a segment would have to, at the least, trigger a reprice, in most cases increasing the cost of the remaining segments.

To give you an extreme example, I am flying Italy-Germany, Germany-Italy with Lufthansa later this month. I paid €60 for the return flight (€30 per flight). If I were to cancel the first leg and have Lufthansa reprice the ticket for the second flight only, it would jump to €800 (!).

If it's all one itinerary pnr booked by ebookers as is likely,theres no need to worry because if ei is cancelled or you are put on a later ei flight causing you to miss the onward BA flight,youwill be rebooked onto the next BA flight that you can make aswell as an alternative to London.

It is correct that you must fly the first segment or the rest is cancelled.
Thats a universal practice with airline tickets.

fonzy157

Cheers for that!
Hopefully, they'll have it all sorted out before i fly so I wont have to go down the route of chasing Aer Lingus for a refund!

!MAVERICK!

Book a flight with Ryanair theres no such thing as a strike in Ryanair.

Civilian_Target

!MAVERICK! wrote: »

Book a flight with Ryanair theres no such thing as a strike in Ryanair.

Or a hotel room, in the case of another Icelandic volcano

wallpaper12

!MAVERICK! wrote: »

Book a flight with Ryanair theres no such thing as a strike in Ryanair.

ryanair strike quite regularly!

ko4jm6y9iwv2lc

I have an Aer Lingus flight to London on Tuesday afternoon, and then a flight with Eithad from London to Bangkok later that night. Both were booked seperately so if I don't make it to London in time for the connecting flight will I have any cover?

none whatsoever I'm afraid if ethiad was booked separately.
You need to book a ryanair or bmi flight as a stand by asap and preferably for the night before your ethiad.

ko4jm6y9iwv2lc

Thanks for reply. Was just talking to Aer Lingus customer service and they let us change out flight from Tuesday afternoon to Monday night free of charge. It means spending the day in Heathrow but better that than risk missing our flights to Bangkok. Thats the last time I book flights seperately!

woodstock1708

My husband and booked (separately) return tickets on Aer Lingus from Dublin to Paris, leaving Tuesday, 7th June and returning Sunday, 12th June.

Last night we went on the Aer Lingus website and cancelled the first leg of our flights, as the website allowed us to do it, and booked an outbound flight to Paris Beauvais on Ryanair. Not so cheap to do at the last minute, but hopefully with the Aer Lingus refund, it won't break the beak. I tried to access our flight information to see what it said, but the website only allowed me to view flights three days in advance, not five.

However, this morning, I got an email from Aer Lingus saying that both legs of my flight were confirmed, even though I had cancelled the first leg of the flight more than 12 hours ago by internet. Has anyone had this experience?

Also, last night when I called the Aer Lingus contact number around 7.00 p.m., the recorded message said the call centre was already closed. Why on earth wouldn't they keep the call centre open the day that they announce potential flight disruptions on their websites?

I prefer Aer Lingus to Ryanair. The customer service is infinitely better, the planes more comfortable and cleaner, the flight attendants are more professional...

However, the fact that now I'm not sure if the first leg of my flight really was cancelled (or not), is making me wonder about Aer Lingus. Why can't they get their website together and make it work to better inform their paying customers?

I'd be curious to see if anyone has had the same experience.

Sierra Oscar

I booked with American Airlines to travel between JFK in New York to Shannon this coming Monday evening. The journey consists of a flight between JFK and Heathrow and then there is a connecting flight with Aer Lingus to Shannon on Tuesday after lunch time. Just to emphasize that this was all booked through American Airlines.

I am just wondering which company the onus is on to ensure fulfillment of my journey? Should I be getting in touch with American Airlines or Aer Lingus in relation to a redress? Any chance American Airlines could put me flying with a different airline between Heathrow and Shannon / Dublin when I go to check-in on Monday?

Thanks in advance!

Amusicum

I am in the exact same position - due to travel with Aer lingus from Shannon to london Heathrow on Saturday 11th, then on to Bangkok and Chiang Mai with Thai Airways. I have booked with Trailfinders and am not exactly sure what my entitlements are yet. This feels like a disaster. i'm going volunteering in Thailand and don't want to miss a few days of this valuable experience. Hopefully Trailfinders can book me an alternative flight to London so that I could at least make the Thai Airways flight. Is this a possibility?

wallpaper12

Im in the same position and this is what I was told. Basically If Aer Lingus are striking and I miss my flight I have to wait until the strike is over and try and get booked on an Aer lingus flight and the connecting flight as soon as seats are available but could be waiting about a week for seats. Dont think there was any extra charges.
Its still a disaster, I dont want a week of my holiday gone

ixoy

mikedragon32 wrote: »

No. Cancelling one leg, means they cancel the entire intinerary and hit you with crazy charges to rebook.

Correct. I did this last year and re-booked the first leg of a flight. The cost was €150 per person plus the difference in the cost of the flight. I did it for piece of mind.
Oh and of course the reason was that the first leg was with Aer Lingus who were doing industrial action at the time. I'm never booking with them again, they don't deserve my custom.

kaerobe

cooperguy wrote: »

Ok so it looks like Aer Lingus could be on strike (again!) next week. Next Friday I am flying from Dublin to Heathrow with Aer Lingus and then on to Bangkok with BA. This was booked in one go on ebookers.

I was talking to an ebookers customer care person who said that if the flight was cancelled they HAD to provide an alternative. Is this true? Im pretty sure I remember people loosing out on flight during other strikes?

Secondly I asked would it be possible for me to buy an alternative flight to London and just turn up for my Heathrow flight. They told me I would be marked as a no show in Dublin and all my tickets would be cancelled. Surely there is a way around this? I would prefer to book an alternative way over to London for €50 if it saved me sitting through possible massive delays in Dublin and having to get a different onward flight (as I am meeting somebody on the onward flight).

Any help appreciated!

Flying Cork>Heathro>Nairobi with AerLingus and Virgin on Thursday with ebookers. Im fooked! Looking up ryanair flights to Gatwick and then bus to Heathrow! If the 1st flight doesnt go ahead I dont know where Il end up! Hassle that I really dont need! Luckily Virgin flight is at 9pm so gives me more time to get over there incase I need to book elsewhere

ixoy

kaerobe wrote: »

Flying Cork>Heathro>Nairobi with AerLingus and Virgin on Thursday with ebookers. Im fooked! Looking up ryanair flights to Gatwick and then bus to Heathrow! If the 1st flight doesnt go ahead I dont know where Il end up! Hassle that I really dont need! Luckily Virgin flight is at 9pm so gives me more time to get over there incase I need to book elsewhere

Be careful with this. I asked about this too - could I not just book my own flight separately. If you're booked under one ticket and fail to check in for the first leg, the whole flight is cancelled. Don't go on the alternative backup flight unless you're absolutely sure the initial leg was cancelled and even then double check you're okay to do so.

Amusicum

So confirming for absolute sure: I cannot arrange my own flight over to London - have to fly the first leg with Aer Lingus, as Trailfinders have booked Shannon to London heathrow (Aer Lingus) and Heathrow to Bangkok (Thai Airways) and Chiang Mai (Thai Airways) for me?

ixoy

Amusicum wrote: »

So confirming for absolute sure: I cannot arrange my own flight over to London - have to fly the first leg with Aer Lingus, as Trailfinders have booked Shannon to London heathrow (Aer Lingus) and Heathrow to Bangkok (Thai Airways) and Chiang Mai (Thai Airways) for me?

I believe so yes. That's what happened to me last year when I booked with Trailfinders from Dublin->LHR->Tokyo. I was told that I had to fly the first leg of my booking (which was with Aer Lingus) and had to check in as otherwise the whole flight would be cancelled. I could not go over on my own and appear for the second leg, as ridiculous as that sounds. I checked this out with three different reps.
The way around it was to re-book the first leg through Trailfinders but take that cost on board myself.
I was told if industrial action had caused me to miss my flight, the airlines would be have been obliged to try and sort me out as quickly as possible but I wasn't going to risk it at the time and coughed up the cash.

It may be different for you but seeing as it's with the same company, and presumably under one ticket, then it's not likely to be.

Amusicum

Thanks for that. So it would be possible to re-book the first part of the journey through Trailfinders if it came to it? I actually wouldn't mind too much coughing up the bit of extra money if I got to Heathrow for the main part of the flight. I presume you only had to pay for the first part of the journey again? Was that covered by travel insurance? Sorry for all the questions - this is just really worrying me!

Amusicum

P.s. - yes, the journey is all under the one ticket.

undo

Amusicum wrote: »

So it would be possible to re-book the first part of the journey through Trailfinders if it came to it?

You have no right to rebook. Trailfinders are likely to offer you the option to rebook as it is good business for them. But they do not have to.

I presume you only had to pay for the first part of the journey again?

Entirely up to Trailfinders again. They may charge you for the difference in the first leg's price only. But if the airline reprices the entire ticket and the fare goes up, Trailfinders are unlikely to swallow the difference.

Was that covered by travel insurance?

No. Rebooking your flights is an entirely voluntary and optional thing that you can choose to do if you so desire. There is no need to act and thus nothing the insurance would have to cover you for. If you do not rebook anything and your Aer Lingus flight ends up being canceled or delayed, the airlines have to sort you out. Insurance does not come into play either way.

ixoy

Amusicum wrote: »

Thanks for that. So it would be possible to re-book the first part of the journey through Trailfinders if it came to it? I actually wouldn't mind too much coughing up the bit of extra money if I got to Heathrow for the main part of the flight. I presume you only had to pay for the first part of the journey again? Was that covered by travel insurance? Sorry for all the questions - this is just really worrying me!

It's not covered by travel insurance because, unfortunately, nothing has happened yet even if it looks like it might. As it's not a definite the insurance company will not pay for it.

If you are to re-book, Trailfinders charged an administrative fee of €150 per person per leg re-booked. So if there's two of you that's €300 to re-book the DUB-LHR route. From what I recall the airline charges them €110 or something and their own fee is then put on top of that to get to €150.

In addition then you'll have to pay the difference in the cost of your first flight and the cost of the new flight with whoever you book with. In my case the prices were the same as I went the night before but that may not apply with you so it could be more than €150 for each person.

I stomached the costs because it was a dream holiday and I didn't want an industrial dispute messing it up. It's up to you whether you want to take this approach or not - it will cost you money for something that may be averted. I've no regrets doing what I did to ease my own stress levels and I've learnt to never book with Aer Lingus again.

Amusicum

Thanks for the replies everybody! I am relatively green when it comes to such matters so it is good to know from people who have experiences similar worries. I have just heard from Shannon Airport that Aer Lingus pilots are to resume talks at 7 pm this evening to try and avert the strikes, so have your fingers (and toes) double crossed for me!

davork

Amusicum wrote: »

Thanks for the replies everybody! I am relatively green when it comes to such matters so it is good to know from people who have experiences similar worries. I have just heard from Shannon Airport that Aer Lingus pilots are to resume talks at 7 pm this evening to try and avert the strikes, so have your fingers (and toes) double crossed for me!

So hopefully we'll all be okay for any flights this week!

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0606/aerlingus.html

"It is understood the LRC made suggestions acceptable to both sides.

Talking went on throughout the night and involved a series of separate and face-to-face meetings of airline and union representatives.

Pilots and Aer lingus representatives agreed some interim changes to the way pilots are rostered and also a new pilot roster for the winter, the details of which will be worked out by 1 July.

However, while the threat of industrial action in the Republic of Ireland has been postponed, action is still threatened at Aer Lingus Belfast and Gatwick hubs"

tizz

Hi all

I am in France with my 4 year old on our first holiday abroad. We were due to fly home tomorrow with Aer lingus. My mum called me on Sunday and told me about planned strike. As aer lingus only flys from Perpignan twice a week, she advised cancelling and rebooking a ryanair flight from Girona, rather then waiting here and trying to get home later in the week.

I did as she advised, total cost of flights, loss of one night stay, loss of pre paid taxi and new transport to Girona, over 460 euro.

Is these any hope of my travel insurance covering any of this, or should I have waited until nearer the time and not been so hasty. This is going to have been a very expensive lesson to learn, I don't have 460 euro to spare after the holiday.

Any advice appreciated.
Thanks

mikedragon32

Mods, if you want to fire this over to Travel, we have sticky thread for strike-related posts.

Basically, OP, you're not entitled to anything. If the strike had gone ahead, then the onus was on the airline to get you home and accommodate you in the meantime. Taking precautionary measures like this is a step taken at your own risk.

The lesson, I guess, is don't always listen to your mother! Sorry to see you out of pocket.

Amusicum

This is great news - the strike is called off!!!

pclancy

Don't have permission to merge with the sticky so i'll just move it this far

bungaro79

has this been totally resolved or is there going to be strikes from the 1st of july??? supposed to be flying out on the 9th so hopefully we won't have to book with ryanair to get to london for my connection at heathrow!

kelle

There's been nothing on the news about this, I'm flying out on the 7th so I'm worried too!

nd001

I have in the last couple of days received my refund from aer lingus after I cancelled my flight from barcelona back to dublin before the threatened strikes. As you are all probably aware aer lingus advised passengers to cancel their flight or re book on a different date. I chose to cancel my return flight and book with ryanair which cost €262 for myself and my girlfriend. Aer lingus refunded me €178 which leaves me out of pocket €92. Have I a case in claiming my €92 euro back off aerlingus. Thanks in adavnce

undo

nd001 wrote: »

Have I a case in claiming my €92 euro back off aerlingus. Thanks in adavnce

I cannot see a legal basis for any claim. They may have given general advice that if you want to be sure, you should cancel and look elsewhere. But unless they promised you in writing to pick up the price difference, you will be the one stuck paying for it.