Aer Lingus have changed the day of flight

AppleBottle

Hi guys,

I’m booked for a flight in May next year with AL.

The return flight home to Dublin has been changed to the following day! Same time, just the next day.

I rang AL on this and was given two options:
1) Refund - not the best option given that I then need to look for a return flight. We booked AL because it was direct to the airport we are going too and planned our trip around the flights also.

2) Stick with the new day - again, not ideal because then we’ve to book another night in a hotel.


Surely there has to be something against changing the day of a flight without contacting the customer first!! Any ideas what I could do here (other than the options provided by AL).

killbillvol2

They've given you 8 months notice and the option of a refund. It's obviously an operational matter.

Did you expect them to contact each passenger individually and ask if it was OK?

AppleBottle

killbillvol2 wrote: »

They've given you 8 months notice and the option of a refund. It's obviously an operational matter.

Did you expect them to contact each passenger individually and ask if it was OK?

Their refund option leaves me without a direct flight home (a reason we booked with AL).

Well, to be honest, I would have expected something to say that they would be changing it rather than just going ahead and changing the date without notice. It’s just going to mean we will either be out of pocket or need to rebook onto another airline.

We were also told that it’s possible the original flight may still run and to keep an eye on the website to check if it gets switched back!! That just seems ridiculous.

Locker10a

AppleBottle wrote: »

Their refund option leaves me without a direct flight home (a reason we booked with AL).

Well, to be honest, I would have expected something to say that they would be changing it rather than just going ahead and changing the date without notice. It’s just going to mean we will either be out of pocket or need to rebook onto another airline.

We were also told that it’s possible the original flight may still run and to keep an eye on the website to check if it gets switched back!! That just seems ridiculous.

They’re obviously still adjusting their summer schedule, not unheard of in the airline industry 8 months out

ED E

AppleBottle wrote: »

changing the date without notice.

Is English not your first language? Read your post back to yourself.

AppleBottle

Locker10a wrote: »

They’re obviously still adjusting their summer schedule, not unheard of in the airline industry 8 months out

So the costumer is the one to suffer who books their flight? I fully get that schedules may not be completed, but then why actually release those flight dates?

It wouldn’t matter to me if it was a couple of hours either side, but this is an entire day. You can’t honestly tell me you’d be okay with that if it happened to you.

AppleBottle

ED E wrote: »

Is English not your first language? Read your post back to yourself.

What I meant was giving people notice before they actually changed it to say they would be.

billybonkers

9.1.1 The departure and flight times shown in our timetables may change between the date
of publication and the date you actually travel. We do not guarantee them to you and they do
not form part of your contract of carriage with us.

9.1.2 Before we accept your booking, we will notify you of the scheduled departure time in
effect as of that time, and it will be shown on your Ticket or Itinerary/Receipt. It is possible
we may need to change the scheduled departure time subsequent to issuance of your Ticket or
Itinerary/Receipt. If you provide us with your e-mail address, we will endeavour to notify you
of any such changes. If, after you purchase your Ticket, we change the scheduled departure
time by more than two hours and this is not acceptable to you, and we are unable to book you
on an alternate flight which is acceptable to you, you will be entitled to a refund in
accordance with Article 10.2.

Aer Lingus terms and conditions

https://www.aerlingus.com/media/pdfs/Aer-Lingus-General-Conditions-of-Carriage-updated-effective-15-July.pdf

michellie

That's some nuisance OP, to be fair. You spend ages planning holidays. Ok if they change the time, but changing the day throws things off altogether

bucketybuck

AppleBottle wrote: »

What I meant was giving people notice before they actually changed it to say they would be.

What you said was notice, what you seem to mean is "permission". You think they should ask your permission before changing the schedule.

krissovo

It’s happened to me a few times now, they over advertise a few flights and then depending on the seat sales select the most commercially viable schedule. If it generally keeps seat prices lower then I am happy with the practice even if I am out of pocket or have to come back a day early.

hurleronditch

AppleBottle wrote: »

What I meant was giving people notice before they actually changed it to say they would be.

What would that notice have looked like?

An email saying “this is to notify you that in a few days/weeks/months we will be changing your flight date”

How is that any different to just telling you it’s moved?

I understand this is unbelievably frustrating and annoying, but they’re well within their rights and they have given you an incredibly long period to sort alternative arrangements so it’s not like you’ve been left in the lurch

ted1

Just book an extra nights accommodation. I suspect that if coveted it’d be below the excess of your travel insurance

Fiery mutant

I don’t really get the issue to be honest. You still have a flight home, its direct like you wanted, it’s on the return flight so hardly messes with any plans you had for you time over there.

So you have to book a night in a hotel. You have 8 months for this. Find somewhere close to the airport, where you can just relax on your last night, have a nice meal and a few drinks, and relax.

Innervision

One thing to note on this is to keep an eye on their schedule - this happened me a couple of years ago, same thing, our return flight was cancelled and they booked us on one the day after. Wasn't ideal from a work point of view as I had no more holidays to take. I kept an eye on their website and a couple of weeks later saw the original flight back there, albeit more expensive. I rang Aer Lingus and they switched us back to the original flight straight away when I did, so just something to look out for.