Aer Lingus website mistake

RTE.ie wrote:

Aer Lingus customers who booked flights to the US for just €5 have been told by the airline that their bookings have been cancelled.

The airline said the business class flights, which were advertised on the Aer Lingus website yesterday, were priced incorrectly due to a technical error.

Aer Lingus has apologised for the error.

Link.

I personally don't think you're entitled to anything btw.

LotusBlossom

Based on what, Sherifu?

MixedMuts

Umh! I think all affected should write a letter of complaint to Aer Lingus. If anyone has a good template out there please post.

Alternatively, here is the link to the National Consumer Agency….it is important to act quickly though.
http://www.consumerconnect.ie/eng/Working_With_You/Submit_a_Consumer_Complaint/

LotusBlossom wrote: »

Based on what, Sherifu?

Common sense.

Sherifu wrote: »

Common sense.

Based on you not getting a cheap flight.

I don't like to repeat myself but I thought it was a geniune offer.

I can fly to Paris for €0.01, why can't I fly to NYC for €5?

According to Google Earth it's approximately 485miles Dublin to Paris in a straight line.

It's 3180 to New York

Seems reasonable enough to me!

Absolutely amazed that someone would think that 100 people trying to reassert their rights in the law of contract would stop Aer Lingus offering sales.

Sales are part and parcel of how Aer Lingus and other low fare airlines do their business. They get people's attention and usually persuade people to go for a weekend away who may not otherwise have travelled. To think otherwise is just naive.

What should happen here is that Aer Lingus should honour the tickets but not in business class. People had a valid contract, becaue there was offer and acceptance, and rights are protected through the law of contract and the Distance Selling Directive, which governs trade over the web.

If Aer Lingus gets away with this can they now, they then will have freedom to change bookings at will. If you book a low fare flight to Rome, and subsequently it clashes witha rugby international, can they then cancel your booking on the basis of a technical eroor, and ask you again to book at a higher rate. Consumers will be worse off generally.

For information (and any further assistance members can give me):

I got an offer of a fare and I accepted this.
I was advised of the terms and conditions, and asked to acknowledge these to proceed.
I inserted my credit card details, and authorised Aer Lingus to debit my card.
I was then offered Hertz car rental for my destination, and asked to select seats, which I did.
I received my electronic ticket with seat selection advising me of passport, arrive in airport 3 hours before, asked to enter pre-flight information etc.
I have checked with my credit card company and there is payment pending on this, and therefore dont have access to this money.

How is this not a valid contract? Consumers are consisitently being treated badly by business, so why should we lie down and take it??

Apologies for double post

JimmyO wrote: »

Based on you not getting a cheap flight.

I don't care if you get it or not. It isn't much use to me tbh.

JimmyO wrote: »

I don't like to repeat myself but I thought it was a geniune offer.

I can fly to Paris for €0.01, why can't I fly to NYC for €5?

According to Google Earth it's approximately 485miles Dublin to Paris in a straight line.

It's 3180 to New York

Seems reasonable enough to me!

From the link I posted above;
"Enda Corneille, Director of Corporate Affairs at Aer Lingus, said anyone who booked a business class ticket, which usually retails at about €1,775, and got it so cheaply should know there was a mistake."

Seems reasonable imo.

Sherifu wrote: »

From the link I posted above;
"Enda Corneille, Director of Corporate Affairs at Aer Lingus, said anyone who booked a business class ticket, which usually retails at about €1,775, and got it so cheaply should know there was a mistake."

Seems reasonable imo.

At no point during the booking was I informed it was a business class ticket. This was only discovered after I had received email confirmation.

I bought a €5 seat.

TBH at this point it's about the bigger picture of consumer rights. I'd happily fly economy as that's what I thought I was buying in the first place.

LotusBlossom

I have checked the prices for Business class for the dates I booked yesterday, and they're actually €1545, not €1775 - I dont know why Aer Lingus are quoting this price on the radio when it's incorrect!!! And as you can get flights for 1cent, and the ad was for an exciting Summer Sale, it's reasonable to think this was a fantastic limited offer!

Sherifu wrote: »

I don't care if you get it or not. It isn't much use to me tbh.

From the link I posted above;
"Enda Corneille, Director of Corporate Affairs at Aer Lingus, said anyone who booked a business class ticket, which usually retails at about €1,775, and got it so cheaply should know there was a mistake."

Seems reasonable imo.

The law of contract still applies. Saying that Aer Lingus could have said that they would honour these in economy, and people would not have been on as strong a footing.

To clarify, the flights were not free. They were €180 approx each, and Aer Lingus does get the majority of this - there is no tax on flights out of Ireland.

bren2002

While I agree that Aer Lingus' T&Cs look somewhat lacking in clarity, no-one who bought a ticket on this deal is going to New York on Business Class. I think the best ye could hope for is a standby upgrade ticket if you buy the Economy Class ticket. The only way you'll get EI to honour this is to go through mu' learned friends and that'll cost you a lot more than the return flight.

Aer Lingus made a mistake and will not honour the deal. Everyone buying the tickets knew it was a mistake and you gambled on them honouring it. It's like ATMs giving 50's instead of 20's you still get debited the 50's when the bank does an audit on the machine.

I'll keep an eye on the thread to see what happens. I have yet to see a misprice go the way of the consumer.

bren2002 wrote: »

Everyone buying the tickets knew it was a mistake and you gambled on them honouring it.

As per my post above and the posts of others, that's not a valid argument.

I didn't know it was a mistake based on deals offered by other airlines.

bren2002 wrote: »

While I agree that Aer Lingus' T&Cs look somewhat lacking in clarity, no-one who bought a ticket on this deal is going to New York on Business Class. I think the best ye could hope for is a standby upgrade ticket if you buy the Economy Class ticket. The only way you'll get EI to honour this is to go through mu' learned friends and that'll cost you a lot more than the return flight.

Aer Lingus made a mistake and will not honour the deal. Everyone buying the tickets knew it was a mistake and you gambled on them honouring it. It's like ATMs giving 50's instead of 20's you still get debited the 50's when the bank does an audit on the machine.

Poor analogy, as 20 euro is 20 euro, and flight prices constantly change.

Its like buying toothpaste in the supermarket for 5 cents, paying for it at the till, and then being stopped 100 metres down the road by the manager, who takes the toothpaste off you and hands you back the 5 cent.

MixedMuts

I still think that under contract law that the transaction cannot be recinded without mutual agreement. This was not an Invitation to Treat (whereby if the price displayed is incorrect this can be corrected as there is no acceptance involved). As I understand it there was offer by Aer Lingus that was accepted by those 100 people. The acceptance of the fare offer was (I'm sure) made in good faith by most people and when the individuals supllied their CC details and hit the submit button (receiving confirmation) this then gave rise to a binding contract.

az2wp0sye65487

I also just missed out on these by a couple of minutes yesterday. When I got their monthly email I checked the site and noticed the €5 flights, tried to book them straight away but the site kept freezing. So when I closed it and went back in again the prices had been changed back to the "normal" amounts.

At no time did it specify that these were business class seats.

I hope all of you who booked them get the flights and have a great time. Knowing that you got there for such a low price would make the holiday even more enjoyable!

Best of luck to all who are fighting this.

axer

I think people should bring them to the small claims court if aerlingus go through with this. They will deal with amounts up to €2,000. Make a claim for €1,775 as that is the price that aerlingus say the tickets are worth.

It will cost €9 to go through the small claims court. Aerlingus will have 15 days to respond to the claim. If they ignore it then it will be automatic win for the claiment.

masseyno9

I'm no legal expert at all, but from the facts it looks like aer lingus confirmed the acceptance of a contract.....is that not what a 'confirmation' e-mail does??

Personally, I hope everyone gets their flights. I'm sure Aer lingus wouldn't be so quick to Notify you if there was an error the other way...ie. flights were priced too high and you booked them.

MixedMuts wrote: »

I still think that under contract law that the transaction cannot be recinded without mutual agreement. This was not an Invitation to Treat (whereby if the price displayed is incorrect this can be corrected as there is no acceptance involved). As I understand it there was offer by Aer Lingus that was accepted by those 100 people. The acceptance of the fare offer was (I'm sure) made in good faith by most people and when the individuals supllied their CC details and hit the submit button (receiving confirmation) this then gave rise to a binding contract.

I thought it was genuine - they were advertising a sale.

And yes, there was offer and acceptance of a contract.

What they are doing is illegal, plain and simple. They are getting very poor publicity from this, and I wont treat them as airline of choice any more if they continue to act ultra vires.

macshaned

Bailee Scarce Treeless wrote: »

When I got their monthly email I checked the site and noticed the €5 flights,

So, not only was it a computer glitch to charge you €5 for a flight, but the advertising, put together by humans, was wrong also? And the third mistake of providing business class flights instead of economy?

For anyone impacted by this, go straight to the Small Claims Court online site and lodge a claim against Aer Lingus. The National Consumer Agency won't go up against their fellow government organisation Aer Lingus, and the Consumer Association can only provide advice.

The Small Claims Court will handle claims for up to €2000 (and therefore well within the scope of this issue) and a claim will only cost €9 or something. Well worth the money, and Aer Lingus will be forced to respond.

I'm not fully sure about the rights and the wrongs legally, but the SCC will be the one sure way of finding out, and at minimum cost. Everyone involved should do this.

bren2002

Dougiehowlett wrote: »

Poor analogy, as 20 euro is 20 euro, and flight prices constantly change.

Actually it's not a poor analogy, €20 is not €20 when you think it's €50. You pay for €20 from the bank machine (ie it comes from your account), but the machine gives you a €50. Initially you think, great I'm getting something that's worth €50 for €20. But when the mistake is noticed and corrected you are billed for the €50. Does matter what you spent that €50 on, it still costs you €50 not €20.

bren2002

Buy a share in Aer Lingus and send in a shareholders question or go to the next AGM!!

Although I don't think it's possible to buy 1 share, but if the 100 or so people involved all bought one then you could table a question directly to Mannion! Probably won't get you anywhere but it will cause them hassle and expense in dealing with you.

Dougiehowlett wrote: »

Its like buying toothpaste in the supermarket for 5 cents, paying for it at the till, and then being stopped 100 metres down the road by the manager, who takes the toothpaste off you and hands you back the 5 cent.

To strengthen analogy, customers were told there would be a toothpaste sale that day.

noelwpb

Hi all,

I booked these flights yesterday and im in the same situation as the other 100 or so customers.

I rang the NCA. They are taking names and phone numbers of the customers who had their bookings cancelled and ringing us back tomorrow when they have made a decision on taking action or not.

I think everyone should ring up and give their name and number, if they haven't already done so.

Let's keep our fingers crossed!