Aer Lingus Cancelled Flight Expenses Nightmare

Pythia

Hi Folks,

I was affected by the strong winds just after Xmas and my flight from CDG to DUB was cancelled on 27th December. I had no major issues with this cancellation as it was unsafe to fly and there was no plane at the airport to fly us home anyway.

The replacement flight was the next day, 28th December meaning I needed to get a hotel for the night and also buy dinner and breakfast. Aer Lingus said they would not provide me with a hotel but I could use my own money to book something reasonable and claim it back. As it was just after Xmas and I was also coming back from holiday, this was an unwelcome expense and prices were higher because I had to book this hotel at short notice.

I sent the expenses on the 31st to get refunded. Aer Lingus customer service assured me they would be refunded to my card by the end of the week after. I emailed to see what was happening on the 8th and got an email telling me the expenses were approved and a cheque was being sent out.

I was a bit annoyed at the cheque part as I needed to wait for post and clearing time but at least my money was coming. I sent an email on the 14th asking where the cheque was as I live in Dublin and it was coming from Dublin.

That email was unanswered so I emailed again on the 16th asking where my cheque was as I urgently needed the money.

I also tweeted Aer Lingus who confirmed the cheque was posted on the 8th.

My email was again ignored so I rang on the 17th asking when the cheque was posted, when can we agree it's lost and when can I get my money. They said they would contact their back office who would contact me later that day.

On the 20th, I rang again as I had received no response. They said they would 'email' headoffice as they have no other way of contacting them and they would contact me by Wednesday with the answers but sooner if possible. I am also not allowed speak to 'headoffice' myself.

This afternoon I have no answers so I ring again and ask to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor is 'busy' and will call me back after her call. No call happens.

Apparently the helpdesk cannot help me at all and 'headoffice' don't respond to them or me. No one can tell me when this cash is coming, despite it being authorised on the 8th. No one can even talk to anyone who can tell me.

The sum of money is not insubstantial and I need it back now. Even if I knew when I would get it would be a help. I feel like a stalker contacting them all the time but no one ever contacts me back so I have to contact again.

I fail to see what else I can do and feel like Aer Lingus are just going to give me the refund when they feel like it and ignore me til then.

Any advice? Thank you!

scudzilla

Send them a registered letter, detailing all correspondence, saying that you expect to have the cheque within 7 working days or you will take the matter further, if they ignore it then off to the small claims court

Five Lamps

scudzilla wrote: »

Send them a registered letter, detailing all correspondence, saying that you expect to have the cheque within 7 working days or you will take the matter further, if they ignore it then off to the small claims court

Wouldn't be covered by the Small Claims Court.

Did they have the right address to post the cheque to?

Mountjoy Mugger

I would suggest contacting the Regulator before proceeding with Small Claims Court. I would mention this in any future correspondence with Aer Lingus.

Pythia

Thanks folks for the replies. I also tweeted Aer lingus the link to this thread. It got a few retweets and suddenly they were a lot more interested in helping.

Funnily enough, they said yesterday the cheque had not been sent yet. Then this morning the cheque mysteriously arrived.

In future I will make sure not to shell out my own money on behalf of a company as they just don't keep their promises about timely refunds.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Are you saying you received the cheque in the epost this morning? In which case it was gone from them before you opened this thread?

Pythia

Everlee Wonderful Numismatist wrote: »

Are you saying you received the cheque in the epost this morning? In which case it was gone from them before you opened this thread?

Yep, so I was pretty confused as to why they said yesterday that it was not sent! They clearly have no idea what is going on.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

To be honest , I'd be quite happy to have applied for expenses on 31st Dec and to have the cheque in my hand on 23rd January.

pleasant Co.

Everlee Wonderful Numismatist wrote: »

To be honest , I'd be quite happy to have applied for expenses on 31st Dec and to have the cheque in my hand on 23rd January.

You'd be happy to first be told your expenses would be refunded to your card on X date, have that date pass and then be told they'd in fact be refund via cheque, then when that cheque didn't arrive in a timely manner to have your emails requesting an update on the situation go ignored, then start calling to find out what the situation was and again to be left none the wiser? as that's what the OP has laid out as the sequence of events, but heck if you're happy with that (and can afford to be happy with that) more power to you.

OP, glad you got it sorted, there's nothing more frustrating than poor communication, especially for something so straight forward.

Pythia

Everlee Wonderful Numismatist wrote: »

To be honest , I'd be quite happy to have applied for expenses on 31st Dec and to have the cheque in my hand on 23rd January.

Thanks, but that is only part of it. The appalling communication is the problem. If they had said 'cheques take 3 weeks' and that was that, at least I could plan for that. The person above me has explained it well I think.

I also feel that it is unfair to expect people to effectively advance a big company money and then stringing them along in this manner to get a refund.

Anyway, I am just glad to have it now and can close off this chapter.

beauf

Five Lamps wrote: »

Wouldn't be covered by the Small Claims Court.

Did they have the right address to post the cheque to?

Why not covered by SCC ?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

pleasant Co. wrote: »

You'd be happy to first be told your expenses would be refunded to your card on X date, have that date pass and then be told they'd in fact be refund via cheque, then when that cheque didn't arrive in a timely manner to have your emails requesting an update on the situation go ignored, then start calling to find out what the situation was and again to be left none the wiser? as that's what the OP has laid out as the sequence of events, but heck if you're happy with that (and can afford to be happy with that) more power to you.

OP, glad you got it sorted, there's nothing more frustrating than poor communication, especially for something so straight forward.

Again, being perfectly honest if I had been stranded like that I would be quite happy to have gotten all my expenses back in 3 weeks. So yes I would be happy. I would have just submitted the claim and assumed at last a month before I got the money. But to each their own I suppose. I'm quite chilled when it comes to dealing with businesses and money, but that may just be me.
Glad OP is sorted anyway.

Five Lamps

Pythia wrote: »

Thanks folks for the replies. I also tweeted Aer lingus the link to this thread. It got a few retweets and suddenly they were a lot more interested in helping.

Funnily enough, they said yesterday the cheque had not been sent yet. Then this morning the cheque mysteriously arrived.

In future I will make sure not to shell out my own money on behalf of a company as they just don't keep their promises about timely refunds.

Hang on, it only took them 23 days to refund you the money for an event that was completely outside of their control??

Please state the nature of your complaint!

Bepolite

Five Lamps wrote: »

Hang on, it only took them 23 days to refund you the money for an event that was completely outside of their control??

Please state the nature of your complaint!

Bad weather is outside of an air lines control but certainly not unforeseeable. What if this was a young family back from Holiday with no money. The airline should have arranged for hotel accommodation for everyone on board.

Failing that a prompt refund is not much to ask for. I don't understand why it takes three weeks to look at a receipt and transfer some money.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Bepolite wrote: »

. I don't understand why it takes three weeks to look at a receipt and transfer some money.

I take it you don't work in a large company. 23 day (15 working days) from op posting claim to having cheque in hand is good going.

Five Lamps

Bepolite wrote: »

Bad weather is outside of an air lines control but certainly not unforeseeable. What if this was a young family back from Holiday with no money. The airline should have arranged for hotel accommodation for everyone on board.

I don't agree at all. The passenger should also reasonably forsee the chance of bad weather as well and either have a cash reserve for this occasion or buy insurance. It's certainly not the airlines fault.

Failing that a prompt refund is not much to ask for. I don't understand why it takes three weeks to look at a receipt and transfer some money.

Three weeks is not an unreasonable length of time for a refund. If the OP paid by credit card they would have 56 days credit before having to pay.

Bepolite

Everlee Wonderful Numismatist wrote: »

I take it you don't work in a large company. 23 day (15 working days) from op posting claim to having cheque in hand is good going.

I do work for a very large company. I also work for a very small one. Small one take forever as they've one person doing a hundred things. Large one will get it done there and then if needed. Bureaucracy is no excuse.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

A man cannot serve two masters!

Just consider how many passengers Aer Lingus had to deal with as a result of the dreadful storms over the past month. All I'm saying is I, as in me personally, would not be at all uptight if I had had to wait three weeks to be refunded these expenses. You can feel differently and I accept that but I'm equally entitled to say I find no fault in a three week turnaround on this.

Bepolite

Everlee Wonderful Numismatist wrote: »

I take it you don't work in a large company. 23 day (15 working days) from op posting claim to having cheque in hand is good going.

A man cannot serve two masters!

Just consider how many passengers Aer Lingus had to deal with as a result of the dreadful storms over the past month. All I'm saying is I, as in me personally, would not be at all uptight if I had had to wait three weeks to be refunded these expenses. You can feel differently and I accept that but I'm equally entitled to say I find no fault in a three week turnaround on this.

Of course, if there were not different points of view I'm not sure boards would be very interesting.

What I don't get is I was also affected and I have to say Aer Lingus handled it very well. I think the difference creeps in when there is a delay rather than a cancellation. Seems one's rights are very different in each.

PadelCreekMan

This all sounds like good publicity for Aer Lingus. I would think the result was more than acceptable? There must've been a large amount of passengers to be sorted out with flights and compensation. Remember the Code Red weather warnings over the festive season. Well done EI in my view. Glad you got sorted btw

No Pants

I'm still awaiting a response to an email I sent SAS on the 25th of November! :mad: All they can tell me is that they will respond.