Rights when using flight ticket aggregators (eg. lastminute.com )

makeorbrake

So I'm using lastminute.com right now for a long haul trip. It involves 2 flights with Copa Airlines and one with Aer Lingus. I bought the ticket from lastminute all together starting point to end point. Both airlines are members of Star Alliance. However Copa Check In staff have just told me that they don't have a relationship with Aer Lingus (even though they're both Star Alliance members) and that I'll have to collect my bags after flight 2 and check in with aer lingues all over again for flight 3.

Naturally, I'm not too happy about this but it raises bigger concerns. If there is a delay between that second copa flight and the aer lingus flight or the other way round for the return trip - do I have any cover? i.e. who would put me on an alternate flight? ...because it seems like nobody is taking responsibility for the overall trip.

On my last longhaul (booked through a different aggregator/ticketing agent) - Lufthansa took responsibility for the whole trip even though none of the flights were on Lufthansa planes ( they were on partner airline planes).

Would lastminute.com facilitate a passenger if there was missed connecting flight due to no fault of the passenger? If so, how in the world would you contact them ( as these aggregators/ticket agents are virtually impossible to contact)?

Caranica

Aer Lingus are not in Star Alliance.

Secondly, aggregators can be a nightmare to deal with when there are flight issues. It often depends on the agent you get too. I had an issue once before and book direct with the airlines ever since. The aggregator blamed the airlines and the airlines blamed the aggregator, it was very stressful.

Hope it all goes well and you don't have any issues.

89897

Im afraid Aer Lingus aren't part of star alliance so you're out of luck there.

In the event of a delay, last minute probably aren't going to be much help as they most likely have a stipulation about this. You will have to hope that Aer Lingus is very accommodating and help you out. In terms of money, hopefully your travel insurance can cover any losses or part there of for missing the flight.

makeorbrake

Thanks to you both. I could have sworn AL were part of Star Alliance...were they in it at one stage and came out of it?

I think I've left myself exposed here - hopefully nothing goes wrong...but I'll be watching out for this next time round.

The likes of lastminute shouldn't be allowed to package flights like this - unless they're going to take responsibility for things going wrong.

endofrainbow

Oh dear - a pity you didn't post before you purchased the tickets. Whether or not airlines are part of an alliance is irrelevant - it's whether or not they are code-share partners.

A lot of the online agents cobble together itineraries with separate flights and call it 'self connect' (Kiwi.com are famous for it) so effectively these are stand alone flights that are neither connected nor does either airline have any responsibility other than the flight you are booked on with them.

Good travel insurance is essential.

Caranica

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118865530#Comment_118865530

They were never in Star Alliance, they were in One World.