Aer Lingus Online Checkin: Must I pay?

af1020

I bought a ticket from Aer Lingus to London for which I'm supposed to travel in the next week.

Tonight I was trying to check-in online. When I got to the seat selection step, all options required me to pay. When I did not select any seat and clicked on continue I was not allowed to move on.

Do I have to pay to check-in online? Isn't there a free checkin online? I also tried my smartphone but same issue.

If I don't checkin online would I have to pay to Aer Lingus at the airport to checkin and print a boarding pass there?

Thoie

You're checking in too early. The mail they send makes it sound like you can checkin, but as you've seen, all you're doing is selecting a seat that you'll need to pay for. The "free" checkin and seat selection starts 30 hours before your flight.

2nd Row Donkey

I also had this problem 2 weeks ago. I had selected my seat (free of charge) when making the initial booking but when I went to check in online for return journey I had the same problem as you. Very frustrating ... I tried getting around it on the website but ended up in the same place in the end every time. Gave up in the end and just checked in at the desk before the flight home.

2nd Row Donkey

Thoie wrote: »

You're checking in too early. The mail they send makes it sound like you can checkin, but as you've seen, all you're doing is selecting a seat that you'll need to pay for. The "free" checkin and seat selection starts 30 hours before your flight.

Thanks. As I was going on a weekend stag I wanted to get that sort of thing resolved before departing instead of doing it with a monster hangover on the day of the return flight... Thought it was just me doing it are ways.

af1020

thanks for the quick info. they should make it clear in the email.

munchkin_utd

af1020 wrote: »

thanks for the quick info. they should make it clear in the email.

make what clear?

that checkin at a desk is free with aerlingus, just as it is with 100s of other airlines around the world?

Thoie

af1020 wrote: »

thanks for the quick info. they should make it clear in the email.

munchkin_utd wrote: »

make what clear?

that checkin at a desk is free with aerlingus, just as it is with 100s of other airlines around the world?

They send you a "travel advisory" a few weeks before the flight, and it has a link on the right for "Free check-in". However, nowhere does it mention that it's only free if you're within 30 hours of travel. So if, when you get the advisory, you click the "Free check-in" link, you progress a certain way through the process, picking seats etc., then suddenly it starts asking for money. That's what's a bit misleading.

Even on the site, it says that for certain airports, you can check-in 30 days in advance (http://www.aerlingus.com/travelinformation/knowbeforeyoufly/check-in/web-check-in/). There is a tiny mention in there about "You must assign seats before you can use advance check-in.". But again it doesn't tell you that to do that, you need to pay for the seat selection, so if you start the process you're again part of the way through before money is mentioned.

2nd Row Donkey

Nor do I recall it saying anywhere "you can check in for free at 100's of our airport check in desks" either.

Gatica

while most airlines do check you in for free at the airport, Ryanair, for example, does not.... one just needs to check the T&Cs of the airline they're travelling with.