Aer Lingus

Jimmy Bottlehead

Hi All.

Had a flight from London to Dublin recently, the third flight of a three stage journey from the Philippines - long trip!

Anyways, on the flight, I was sitting in the window seat beside my colleague (it was a business trip), and there was a girlin the aisle seat beside him.

I usually keep my bag under the seat in front when flying, and I'll put it overhead if asked, no bother. The air hostess asked me to do so on this flight, so I said I would. I went to get up, but the girl in the aisle seat said "sure just give it to me, and I'll pop it up there" which she did. I thanked her, and sat down.

The air hostess then walked over and told me that wasn't how things were done, and told me to take it out of the overhead bin and put it back in myself. I was pretty pissed off at this, but I smiled and said "sure it's just an excuse for you to see me up and about" and did as she asked.

I just found this incredibly rude, and would like to make a complaint about it - but Aer Lingus only have a postal address as seen here

http://www.aerlingus.com/help/contactus/#d.en.1204

Am I over-reacting, or should I press ahead? I just feel it was so unnecessary, as did both my colleague and the girl involved.

Oryx

You happened on a jobsworth. Imo, not a big deal, but if you want to point it out to Aerlingus so they can be aware when training staff (if they so choose), then by all means do. You can fax your letter to them and they will respond to you in writing. Afaik they only deal with complaints by old fashioned written correspondence.

Jimmy Bottlehead

Oryx wrote: »

You happened on a jobsworth. Imo, not a big deal, but if you want to point it out to Aerlingus so they can be aware when training staff (if they so choose), then by all means do. You can fax your letter to them and they will respond to you in writing. Afaik they only deal with complaints by old fashioned written correspondence.

Yeah I used to work in customer service, and our company (very large and well known games company) only handled customer complaints through mail, as people are quick to call or email, but will re-think things more often when writing

Think I will pop off a letter though, the woman was just being an arse for the sake of it. It would also be interesting to see if she would order a woman to take a case out and put it back up, if a man had offered to put it overhead in the first place. Can't help feeling that it was slightly sexist.

keithclancy

If anything you made the Air Hostess look like a complete tool in front of passengers by complying with her reqeust.

Letter in writing with the Flight number, date and time of the incident. She was probably just having a bad day but it needs to be pointed out to her otherwise she'll do it again

maxer68

If one of my staff did something like this to a customer I'd want to know about it as would any other comapny that prides itself in service, particularly Aer Lingus.

Please do write to them - plenty of customer focussed people on the dole who'd love that job.

ShooterSF

If anything you under reacted I'd have had a hard job not telling where she could put the bag.

Jimmy Bottlehead

ShooterSF wrote: »

If anything you under reacted I'd have had a hard job not telling where she could put the bag.

At the end of the day, she was some mediocre-looking, fake blonde, middle-aged power-drunk air hostess. If the highlight of her day is making herself feel good ordering a young guy about, well I wasn't gonna be a dick about it and make it seem important to me.

*wipes tear*

the groutch

maybe they're being told to make sure people only handle their own luggage, so that nobody tampers with it or puts anything illegal in it.

ShooterSF

the groutch wrote: »

maybe they're being told to make sure people only handle their own luggage, so that nobody tampers with it or puts anything illegal in it.

They were on the plane already. No illegal objects should be on it as they will have already passed through security.

Badgermonkey

Jimmy Bottlehead wrote: »

At the end of the day, she was some mediocre-looking, fake blonde, middle-aged power-drunk air hostess.

Best leave the description out of your correspondence so.

Did you get her name?

Sounds like an Imelda to me.

Diddler1977

the groutch wrote: »

maybe they're being told to make sure people only handle their own luggage, so that nobody tampers with it or puts anything illegal in it.

If this was the case, surely the attendant should have explained this.

Laphroaig52

Jimmy Bottlehead wrote: »

At the end of the day, she was some mediocre-looking, fake blonde, middle-aged power-drunk air hostess.

Why bring her appearance, hair colour or age in to it?

By describing her like that you cede what ever moral ground you might have had in the first place.

Or perhaps she picked up on the contempt in which you obviously held her and responded in kind?

Jimmy Bottlehead

Flyer28 wrote: »

Why bring her appearance, hair colour or age in to it?

By describing her like that you cede what ever moral ground you might have had in the first place.

Or perhaps she picked up on the contempt in which you obviously held her and responded in kind?

I'm not ceding any moral ground, no matter how much of a white knight you want to be.

And I hadn't noticed her prior to her rudeness, so she couldn't have picked up on my feelings when I didn't have any at that point in time.

Good try though,

Laphroaig52

I think you misunderstood:

I am not making any apologies for the individual or for Aer Lingus staff in general. Indeed I have been on the receiving end of appalling customer service from Aer Lingus on several occasions and I would agree that a deterioration in level of service and the professional demeanour of cabin crew is evident.

But you started this thread with what appeared to be a reasonable case for customer complaint and then you throw in some irrelevant insults about the individual's personal appearance.

You might feel that doesn't cede any ground but in my objective view - as someone with no dog in the fight - is that at best those remarks don't help your arguement....

Anyway back on topic:

I have seen several similar - though probably less confrontational - cases to what you describe.

A few years ago I had some duty free on the floor in front of me at the window seat- two bottles of perfume which really weighed nothing at all. I was asked to put it in the overhead bin. So I made to hand it it to the air hostess but she made it clear that I was expected to do it myself and crawl over the two people beside me.

I suspect that there is an Aer Lingus policy -maybe H&S or insurance related -that passengers and not the staff put their bags in the bins.

Was she being over-zealous and maybe even a wee bit ridiculous in making you take it out and but it back in again?
Probably but airlines are fond of enforcing policies and procedures. And that is part of what keeps flying safe!

Is it worth making a complaint about?
Only you know that answer to that. Flying is a stressful business nowadays - for both passengers and crew. Things happen from time to time - but flights are short and you will probably never see the individuals who irked you again. For the most part, I just let it pass.

dublin daz

I would suggest writing to Aer Lingus if you wish to follow up the complaint. Aer Lingus take all complaints very serious and will follow up.