Why can I not print boarding passes for a return flight?

rawn

My dad and his OH are flying to Bulgaria next week, with Aer Lingus. I printed their boarding passes for the outbound flight with no trouble, but I can't seem to print it for the return flight (it's greyed out). Does anyone know why? they're both computer-illiterate and would prefer me to sort it for them before they leave so they don't have to try to figure it out themselves over there.

ShaunC

some airlines will only allow you to check in up to 7 days before each flight, at least that's what Ryanair do, maybe Aer Lingus have a similar policy.

efb

Ryanair is longer, Aer Lingus is a very short timeframe

kiwiq

It's a trick to force you into paying more money. Basically in order to get your boarding pass printed you have to select where on the aircraft you want to sit and pay for the privilege. The next option is to wait until 30hrs prior to departure and you are automatically allocated a seat free of charge and can print it then.

rawn

kiwiq wrote: »

It's a trick to force you into paying more money. Basically in order to get your boarding pass printed you have to select where on the aircraft you want to sit and pay for the privilege. The next option is to wait until 30hrs prior to departure and you are automatically allocated a seat free of charge and can print it then.

That's what i was thinking, but it won't let me do anything for the return flight as it's greyed out. The only thing i can do is reprint the boarding pass for the outbound flight.

irish_goat

Use the AerLingus app and you don't need to print the pass out.

rawn

irish_goat wrote: »

Use the AerLingus app and you don't need to print the pass out.

Aer Lingus app won't even let me log in because it says my family name is incorrect! They need their boarding passes to book a quick pass through security, i really have no idea why i can't do it!

rawn

Sorted! Don't know what i did different this time but it worked. Thanks everyone

munchkin_utd

rawn wrote: »

Sorted! Don't know what i did different this time but it worked. Thanks everyone

you obviously paid for advanced checkin for both legs, but the problem is something else.

Aer Lingus's website is confusing as they have "online checkin" and "advanced checkin" (or something along those lines), one meaning checkin from far out till the day before and it costs something, and the other being free but only available from the day before.

The should really call one "Premium advanced checkin" and the other "Free 30hours before flight checkin" or something like that to make it obvious of the difference in the 2 separate checkin systems.

coylemj

munchkin_utd wrote: »

The should really call one "Premium advanced checkin" and the other "Free 30hours before flight checkin" or something like that to make it obvious of the difference in the 2 separate checkin systems.

Yes they should but that would instantly alert people to the fact that there was a charge, it would scare then off and Aer Lingus would lose money.

What happens at the moment is that several days before a flight they send out an e-mail encouraging you to check-in and select your seat, this e-mail makes no mention at all of the fact that if you wait until 30 hours before the flight you can do it for free so a lot of people fall for it and pay up.

Whatever your opinion of Ryanair, they're much easier and user friendly than Aer Lingus to check in online. Had the same problem as OP, but you had to check in separately for each leg which was a pain in the butt.