Aer Lingus Flight Cancelled

Innervision

Hi,

Wondering if anybody has any first hand experience or knowledge on what happens when an airline cancels a flight you've booked? Aer Lingus has emailed me to say a flight I'd booked home from Miami in October this year has been cancelled. They've put me on a flight two days later which is far from ideal - two nights extra accommodation which blows the budget of the holiday a bit, plus two extra days annual leave which I might have trouble getting off! They've offered a full refund as well obviously but that's not much use to me given to book another (indirect) flight with another airline is now far more expensive.

When I called Aer Lingus they said there's nothing they can do - those are the two choices. I might be clutching at straws but is there nothing else I can do other than be out of pocket with either choice? Haven't yet booked travel insurance for this trip as my current annual multi-trip insurance runs until June 2017.

Thanks

Locker10a

Did you ask them if they can re-route you with a stopover anywhere ? I don't think they are obliged to do that but it's worth a try

Fred Swanson

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Innervision

Locker10a wrote: »

Did you ask them if they can re-route you with a stopover anywhere ? I don't think they are obliged to do that but it's worth a try

I did, no dice unfortunately!

Fred Swanson wrote: »

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Thanks, that's what I was afraid of alright.

Locker10a

Innervision wrote: »

Locker10a wrote: »

Did you ask them if they can re-route you with a stopover anywhere ? I don't think they are obliged to do that but it's worth a try

I did, no dice unfortunately!

Fred Swanson wrote: »

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Thanks, that's what I was afraid of alright.

That's really a pity, this happened to some of my family last year with Ryanair, dates/times changed and it messed up their car hire and accomdation in France.
It's annoying but they just readjusted things.
Hope you can find a way to work around it

Lima Golf

Was that a direct flight on a Friday? Just curious as I have one booked myself in October and wondering will I get a call...

To answer your question I had a similar experience a few years ago with their direct Washington DC flight. They cancelled the route and offered a refund or change to another destination and pay the difference in fare (but if the fare was cheaper they didn't give me the difference) so I took the refund, booked a much cheaper flight with them to to JFK, spent a few days in NY, then got an internal flight with American Airlines to and from DC.

Innervision

No it was on a Monday, so hopefully you're safe!

Thanks for that, I'll look into doing something similar.

fussyonion

I've had 10 emails since booking my holiday (booked in Sept 2016, going away in June 2017) from Aer Lingus changing the times of my flights.

The first email was to actually cancel the outgoing flight and they automatically put me on the flight leaving the following day, which wasn't suitable as my holiday and accommodation is for 10 nights and it would have messed up everything.

I rang them and they offered to put me on an earlier flight on the original day of departure which was grand.

Since then, I've had nine emails changing the time constantly.

I would ring Aer Lingus again, OP, and check again if there is a different flight available.

I know what they told you but they keep chopping and changing flights so there might be a new flight available.
Worth a shot.

Locker10a

fussyonion wrote: »

I've had 10 emails since booking my holiday (booked in Sept 2016, going away in June 2017) from Aer Lingus changing the times of my flights.

The first email was to actually cancel the outgoing flight and they automatically put me on the flight leaving the following day, which wasn't suitable as my holiday and accommodation is for 10 nights and it would have messed up everything.

I rang them and they offered to put me on an earlier flight on the original day of departure which was grand.

Since then, I've had nine emails changing the time constantly.

I would ring Aer Lingus again, OP, and check again if there is a different flight available.

I know what they told you but they keep chopping and changing flights so there might be a new flight available.
Worth a shot.

Wow that sounds crazy! You're sure it's not a glitch email or something ? Which route is this, I can't imagine how they could change their flight schedule 9 times!! That's mad

Fred Swanson

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Curb Your Enthusiasm

Fred Swanson wrote: »

BA did something similar to me. 7 or 8 emails changing the outbound leg by 5 or 10 mins each time back and forth. No real biggie but the "schedule change" emails did make my heart sink each time they came in.

Had the same happen with Aer Lingus from Dublin to Rome of all places. About 5 mins time difference each time.

fussyonion

Locker10a wrote: »

Wow that sounds crazy! You're sure it's not a glitch email or something ? Which route is this, I can't imagine how they could change their flight schedule 9 times!! That's mad

Dublin to Arrecife. Not a glitch email.
Aer Lingus said its common practice to change flight times but admitted 9 was a little unusual.

fussyonion

Fred Swanson wrote: »

BA did something similar to me. 7 or 8 emails changing the outbound leg by 5 or 10 mins each time back and forth. No real biggie but the "schedule change" emails did make my heart sink each time they came in.

Exactly the same.
Flight changing by ten to fifteen mins and like you, my heart sinks every time I see an email from them.

endofrainbow

I'm guessing that since this is a new route (commencing in September) there are bound to be hiccups with their scheduling.

I would try ringing back and hoping I might get a more sympathetic C.A. It might also be an idea to see what your travel insurers say.

Locker10a

endofrainbow wrote: »

I'm guessing that since this is a new route (commencing in September) there are bound to be hiccups with their scheduling.

I would try ringing back and hoping I might get a more sympathetic C.A. It might also be an idea to see what your travel insurers say.

Yeah it's worth a try calling back and being as nice as pie with the agent, explain your situation with honesty about cost of additional days being too much and it causing stress about holiday affordability, the phone agents are people too and the more you give them a chance to empathise with you the more help you'll get.
People really do treat front line representatives of companies like sh!t when they have a complaint/are unhappy and It really doesn't help. You'll catch more flies with honey than vinegar
Best of luck op, hope you find a straightforward resolution

irishbloke77

Another option is Orlando. Aer Lingus fly Dublin to/from Miami on a Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. They fly to Orlando the other days. I take it there is a flight to/from Orlando on the day that suits you, if there is no Miami flight. If thats the case, Orlando is about a 4/5 hour drive northeast of Miami, it might get you out of a tricky situation if the days suited you, if they moved your return flight to come back from Orlando. Probably only works provided you can get to Orland of course, such as if you were hiring a car??

Also, most car hire companies (especially the big reputible brands) dont charge any one-way car hire charges if its picked up/dropped off in 2 different places, as long as both are within florida.

Hope this helps

Innervision

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be an Aer Lingus flight from Orlando that day (a Sunday).
I'll give them another ring tomorrow and plead my case again, hopefully there's something they can do!

Savage_Henry

Any update ?

Innervision wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be an Aer Lingus flight from Orlando that day (a Sunday).
I'll give them another ring tomorrow and plead my case again, hopefully there's something they can do!

finbarrk

Could you ask them to put you on the BA flight to Heathrow?

Innervision

No joy when I rang them again, I asked about the BA flight but again they said not something they can do. Next step is to get the other half to ring as he's a much better negotiator than me!!