Aer Lingus "Evening Before Check-in" for Charter Flight

eddiem74

So if you have booked your flight via a travel agent e.g. Sunway and have no Aer Lingus booking reference as it is a charter flight, can you still avail of the "Evening Before Check-in"?

http://www.aerlingus.com/travelinformation/knowbeforeyoufly/check-in/check-intimes/

FAST 'Evening Before' Check-in

If your flight departs Dublin Airport between 06:00-08:00 in the morning, you can check-in at the airport between 16:00-20:00 the evening before.
This great service is available for both Aer Lingus and Aer Lingus Regional flights.

Each passenger needs to present themselves to check-in and drop off bags but if you are travelling with immediate family, one member of the family can check-in and drop bags for the group the evening before. Passports/ID cards are required for all passengers travelling, and must be presented the evening before.
While this facility will save you time by avoiding check-in the following morning, all passengers will still need to leave adequate time in the morning to get through security and to get to their gate. We would recommend that you come to the airport 90 minutes before your flight is due to depart.

highlydebased

What's the flight number? Is it actually Aer Lingus?

eddiem74

highlydebased wrote: »

What's the flight number? Is it actually Aer Lingus?

Aer Lingus departing Dublin July 18th @ 07:00 and returning July 25th departing Malaga @ 12.10.

Outward: EI584
Return: EI585

Sunway have said they just block book seats so cannot provide an Aer Lingus booking reference and I need to get seats assigned at Airport at check-in.

Question is - will early check-in the day before allow this?

Yamanoto

Call EI reservations on (01) 8868202 & see if they'll provide you with a PNR, though you'll likely be asked to refer all queries to your TA & also find yourself precluded from checking baggage the evening before travel.

Eponymous

It's not a charter flight, so I can see no reason for you not to be able to avail of the evening check-in facility. When you check in at the airport, you're not asked for a PNR. The self service check-in kiosks will just scan your passport or a credit/debit card for the name and then the process is fairly self-explanatory.

It is worth double checking with reservations to avoid a wasted trip though.

highlydebased

As above it's not a charter flight. You'll be on the list as like other pax therefore I see no reason why you can't use the evening-before checkin.

coylemj

What's the difference between a charter flight i.e. one where the entire flight is booked by a travel company and a flight where there is a block booking of (e.g.) 40 seats by a travel company?

I don't see that there is any difference from the OP's perspective. In both cases it's possible that Aer Lingus don't have the OP's name in the flight booking.

eddiem74

Aer Lingus say: as I have no booking reference I must contact TA to book seats. I also cannot avail of early check-in.

Travel Agent says: group booking/charter and they cannot prebook, I must do at check-in.

What is the difference between the evening before and the morning of - as the information I have will be the same? Is it the fact the evening before is not via a check-in desk? Any ideas?

We have not traveled in a few years and just booked via TA for convenience but this is becoming painful...:(

coylemj

eddiem74 wrote: »

What is the difference between the evening before and the morning of - as the information I have will be the same? Is it the fact the evening before is not via a check-in desk? Any ideas?

My guess is that there will be a rep. from the travel company at the check-in area on the day of the flight and they will give you some kind of a docket to present with your passport to the person on the Aer Lingus desk.

That's the only 'difference' I can suggest between the evening before and the morning of the flight.

eddiem74

So to close this out...

I tried on the Friday before travelling with the TA to see if they could allocate seats or do anything now we were in the 30hr window when you can select seats for free. I was told "No" they could do nothing, group booking, blah, blah, blah...

Did not bother going to the Airport on Friday evening to try the evening before check-in, so instead arrived around 4am the next morning to ensure I had the best chance of getting seats together. Luckily the airport was not as busy as I expected.

So when our turn came we walked up to the check in desk and handed over our passports and got seats issued together, all good. HOWEVER I was not asked during this process for anything from the TA, no proof of anything... So I asked the lady looking after us could I have come last night and done the evening before check-in and was told yes I could. :eek: She said they only needed our names and passport which they had. :rolleyes: