Aer Lingus admin charge

Cruisej

It would now seem there is no way to avoid the "admin" fee of 6 euro per person per flight when booking an aerlingus.com flight. So for those of you that have a visa electron card (few and far between I bet) this fee must now be paid when using ANY card. Well done Aerlingus.....you've almost become Ryanair. Bring on the fat charge.

daigo75

I noticed the same. I have a Visa Electron card that I use exclusively with Aer Lingus, and the "admin charges" (i.e. plain theft) are still there, even with that card. I seem to remember that there was a law forcing companies to provide at least one method of payment which didn't attract fees (that's why RyanAir launched their own credit card), but I can't see how Aer Lingus is respecting such rule (if it's still valid).

AxlF

I know this is an old thread but I have a question and this seems the place.
Is the admin fee for the processing of a credit card? Could one buy tickets for cash at an Aer Lingus travel desk and avoid the fees?

munchkin_utd

Most likely there'd be (rightly) a personal service ticket charge for dealing with them in person of multiples of what the automated internet process would cost.

Still, to charge a fee for administering a ticket, per person(and even if you're only a fecking 2 year old child), per leg, that costs them nothing to administer - is a wee bit over the top.

AxlF

I know - I understand a process charge but the 2 way charges on every ticket is crazy. Aer Lingus are not giving any rational explanations. So 7 of us flying to the UK return is a €98 charge for one credit card/debit card transaction.

I know this is old news and all the companies do it but I'd really like a work-around. I thought cash might be the answer but I can't find much info on purchasing the tickets by cash.

One other this - There is an admin fee for purchasing a Gift Voucher - does anyone know if the admin fees are applied to individual tickets aswell during a purchase, as in is there a double admin charge on vouchers. Once again, there's no answer on the website and I haven't received an answer from the company.

AxlF

Anyone know a number for the Aer Lingus ticket desk in Dublin? I've been trying to contact but there's very little info on the website and the DAA one was for a fax machine.

Toast4532

AxlF wrote: »

Anyone know a number for the Aer Lingus ticket desk in Dublin? I've been trying to contact but there's very little info on the website and the DAA one was for a fax machine.

Couldn't find a number for the ticket desk, found these though, not sure if they are any help to you.

http://www.aerlingus.com/help/contactus/

Hannibal6.0

Did anyone get to the bottom of whether you avoid these fee's or not?

munchkin_utd

Hannibal6.0 wrote: »

Did anyone get to the bottom of whether you avoid these fee's or not?

not possible.

I complained to aer lingus but was told (in other words) that that is the way it works so live with it.

mp3ireland2

AxlF wrote: »

I know - I understand a process charge but the 2 way charges on every ticket is crazy. Aer Lingus are not giving any rational explanations. So 7 of us flying to the UK return is a €98 charge for one credit card/debit card transaction.

I know this is old news and all the companies do it but I'd really like  a work-around. I thought cash might be the answer but I can't find much info on purchasing the tickets by cash.

One other this - There is an admin fee for purchasing a Gift Voucher - does anyone know if the admin fees are applied to individual tickets aswell during a purchase, as in is there a double admin charge on vouchers. Once again, there's no answer on the website and I haven't received an answer from the company.

Old thread i know but I have used a voucher in the past, no admin fee if you are using just a voucher, you just pay the fee on the voucher...so if you bought a voucher for exact value of flights and used it you could possible save, the admin fee is €7/£7...so if you bought a large voucher for a 2 flights save €/£7 (a return for one or a single for two) and an extra €7/£7 saving per addtional flight. Beware you have to start in UK if you buy £'s and start in euro country if you buy euro. I live in scotland and Dad got me € voucher couple of years back and it was awkward, had to book single flights from dublin back to scotland. to use voucher. if you combine the voucher with cash you still have to pay admin fee. I'll try it out again next time i book with them, would save £21 on return flight for me and gf.

coylemj

The reason it's called an 'admin' fee is so that they don't have to include it in the advertised price and neither do they have to refund it if you have to cancel. It's exactly the same as the scam behind the Ticketmaster 'handling fee' which they will not refund if the event is cancelled.

munchkin_utd

coylemj wrote: »

The reason it's called an 'admin' fee is so that they don't have to include it in the advertised price and neither do they have to refund it if you have to cancel. It's exactly the same as the scam behind the Ticketmaster 'handling fee' which they will not refund if the event is cancelled.

in fairness to Ticketmaster, their job is to sell tickets so you'd presume that the ticket price goes to the artist and then they get a fee for selling that.

With Aer lingus, you are paying them for a flight and paying them a fee to sell you their flight. It does not cost them €14 per return flight to process the transaction to give you a flight, or for a 4 person family €56 for making one credit card transaction and sending an email.
If the fee actually was something related to the cost of the flight to cover credit card fees or booking system you'd understand, or if it was a transaction charge, but its just an unavoidable integral part of an aer lingus flight cost so should be in their prices quoted.

Even Ryanair is more upfront about their charges, which is just perverse and bizarre.

coylemj

munchkin_utd wrote: »

in fairness to Ticketmaster, their job is to sell tickets so you'd presume that the ticket price goes to the artist and then they get a fee for selling that.

If I buy a carton of milk in my local shop, I want to see one price, I don't care (to a degree) how much money goes to the supplier or what margin the shop is making, I just want a single price.

Breaking a price up into several components is simply softening up the consumer to be ripped off. Firstly, it allows the promoter to artificially lower the price in advertising, even though everyone is going to be charged extra and secondly, they are now fragmenting the additional charges under multiple headings ('service fee' and 'handling charges') to make them seem less than they are.

By any standards of transparency, all those charges should be included in the advertised price.

mp3ireland2

Just saved €28 by buying a €300 voucher when i needed to buy 6 flights, I paid €307 for the €300 voucher (admin fee!), bought five flights in full with it, then in a separate transaction used the remaining €6.04 on the voucher to buy a ticket and paid the admin fee on that, any transaction which just uses a voucher doesn't pay the fee, but if you use a payment card at all you pay the fee for every flight. I live abroad so had a few trips home to plan, might come in useful for a family or somebody who flies a lot. Changed the name on the voucher (free) to use last €6.04.

The voucher can be used for multiple people (up to 7 i think or whatever max isn't a group booking) as long as voucher owner is travelling on that flight.