Aer Lingus website mistake

bren2002 · 17-04-2008 2:14pm

JimmyO wrote: »

They are!!! www.ryanair.com

Where?

axer · 17-04-2008 2:17pm

bren2002 wrote: »

Where?

Lol - aerlingus don't know the meaning of PR.

JimmyO · 17-04-2008 2:19pm

bren2002 wrote: »

Where?

The big flashing £5 Guaranteed ad for flights to Ireland - Offer open till midnight.

Bluetonic · 17-04-2008 2:32pm

Beware of Aer Lingus Fakes! Only Ryanair Guarantees the Lowest Fares
100,000 €5 SEATS ON WWW.RYANAIR.COM

Ryanair, Europe’s largest low fares airline, today (17th Apr) announced that it will give away 100,000 €5 seats (including taxes and charges) on www.ryanair.com for travel in May and June and unlike Aer Lingus’ phantom €5 seats, Ryanair will honour them.

Aer Lingus, the high fares, way worse airline, this morning announced that it had ‘accidentally’ sold €5 fares on its website. Still reeling from the shock of having sold a few low fare flights, Aer Lingus contacted passengers and told them it was all a mistake before cancelling the flights! If Irish passengers are looking for the guaranteed lowest fares, there is only one place to find them and that is www.ryanair.com.

Speaking today, Ryanair’s Peter Sherrard said;

“Aer Lingus wouldn’t know a low fare if it jumped up and bit them - they only do high fares and fuel surcharges. On aerlingus.com a low fare is a ‘mistake’, on www.ryanair.com, it is guaranteed. Ryanair is today releasing 100,000 €5 seats on its website and will honour every single last one. You won’t find cheaper anywhere else, that’s guaranteed”.

http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/news.php?yr=08&month=apr&story=pro-en-170408

closifer · 17-04-2008 2:50pm

happens a lot apparently. Check out this
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2005-05-05-fare-mistakes_x.htm

MixedMuts · 17-04-2008 3:07pm

I wonder if anyone has updated the wikipedia entry for Aer Lingus yet? Lets have a look....nah nothing yet!

IsMise · 17-04-2008 4:23pm

Did ye hear the Last Word ?

Ann Fitzgerald, Chief Executive of the National Consumer Agency is a legend

Reporter · 17-04-2008 4:34pm

Ann Fitzgerald, Chief Executive of the National Consumer Agency said that Aer Lingus would appear to be in breach of contract in cancelling bookings of those customers who booked €5 seats to the US.

"Blaming a technical error in their booking system is not good enough," she said.

"Aer Lingus formed a contract with the consumer at the stated fare and cannot simply walk away from their obligations," she added.

The National Consumer Agency has been in contact with Aer Lingus this morning and is seeking a meeting with senior management in the company with a view to reaching a fair deal for those customers affected.

MixedMuts · 17-04-2008 4:34pm

Yep, its a case of

computer says...YES!
Airline says....No!

puss · 17-04-2008 4:45pm

MixedMuts wrote: »

Yep, its a case of

computer says...YES!
Airline says....No!

That's Brian Cowen dressed up as a woman. Lips Lips!!!
He will sort all this out.

Dougiehowlett · 17-04-2008 5:44pm

TheBigLebowski wrote: »

An economy ticket is still more than €5. Chancerism of the highest order is what it is.

The flight was still €180, most of which goes to the airline. There are no departure taxes in Ireland, and I am quite positive the US.

I hope you never have a human error when purchasing an aer lingus flight. I have, and they will charge you €35 per person each way to fix it. €140 per couple in my case.

I also booked flights a few weeks ago, and in the booking process the flights increased by €30+ euro and despite unticking the insurance box, they still charged me it.

faceman · 17-04-2008 6:06pm

Fitzgerald gave a good interview on TodayFM, i look forward to the outcome of her meeting tomorrow!

poppers · 17-04-2008 6:45pm

eth0_ wrote: »

Get over it, I don't for one minute believe you guys genuinely believed this offer was for real!

just got a flight with Ryan Airfor €0.00 plus taxes&charges to london, you could argue that this could not be for real. I know only a few seats will be sold for this so i assume people who booked these €5:00 plus charges tickets could assume they were one of the lucky few to get a cheap seat.
PAYMENT DETAILS

*********0.00 EUR Total Fare

********33.72 EUR Taxes, Fees & Charges

*********8.00 EUR Passenger Fee: CC

********41.72 EUR Total Paid

ateam · 17-04-2008 6:48pm

A barrister was on Drivetime with Mary Wilson (you can hear his full interview on the rte website). He was saying that Aerlingus's argument that customers should by common sense of realised that this was a mistake might not hold up in court because for many years flights have been going for €0.01 so people may have thought this was a similar offer.

Hagar · 17-04-2008 6:53pm

Dougiehowlett wrote: »

There are no departure taxes in Ireland,

I think there are, weren't they introduced a few years ago at £5 per journey? God only knows what they are now.

Dougiehowlett · 17-04-2008 7:01pm

Hagar wrote: »

I think there are, weren't they introduced a few years ago at £5 per journey? God only knows what they are now.

Abandoned many years ago. Trust me, they are €0

Hagar · 17-04-2008 7:06pm

[Incredulity bordering on near fatal shock]A tax abandoned? In Ireland ? [/Incredulity bordering on near fatal shock]

Fair enough so, I'll take your word for it.

Hylus83 · 17-04-2008 7:36pm

Dougiehowlett wrote: »

I also booked flights a few weeks ago, and in the booking process the flights increased by €30+ euro and despite unticking the insurance box, they still charged me it.

I booked insurance too by accident. I called the insurance provider for the flight & they said to reply to the insurance confirmation mail saying you wished to cancel the insurance policy.
They'll issue you a refund in 30 days.

17-04-2008 7:37pm

David@Bayard.co wrote: »

There is a fine line between offer and Invitation to treat!!!!

I think they could argue that point till the cows came home and lets be honest ....................; budget airline, they will!!!

Plus they must be covered for technical difficulties and web issues etc ....; there is some law somewhere that will cover there ass.

Its unfortunate but true!!!

Invitation to treat is in a valuation situation only afaik where a price is an offer subject to negotiation.It's an actual process in a cpo for instance.
It is not an aparatus under the sale of goods act so it doesn't and couldn't apply here I think where all the language used refers to a full and final price on the website and where it is common procedure not to negotiate the price quoted on the website.

MixedMuts · 17-04-2008 8:06pm

Hylus83 wrote: »

I booked insurance too by accident. I called the insurance provider for the flight & they said to reply to the insurance confirmation mail saying you wished to cancel the insurance policy.
They'll issue you a refund in 30 days.

Why would you cancel the insurance policy...surely if AL don't honour ticket than it would cover you for cancellation or curtailment?

Zzippy · 17-04-2008 9:46pm

Dougiehowlett wrote: »

The flight was still €180, most of which goes to the airline. There are no departure taxes in Ireland, and I am quite positive the US.

I hope you never have a human error when purchasing an aer lingus flight. I have, and they will charge you €35 per person each way to fix it. €140 per couple in my case.

I also booked flights a few weeks ago, and in the booking process the flights increased by €30+ euro and despite unticking the insurance box, they still charged me it.

Do Munster not pay for all your flights Dougie?

okidoki987 · 17-04-2008 10:30pm

there is no tax on flights out of Ireland.

You sure that's right?
I get charged taxes on Ryanair flights out of Ireland all the time?

jimd2 · 17-04-2008 10:43pm

JimmyO wrote: »

Well yes and no. I agree that I was stunned at the price when I saw it but if Ryair can fly me to Paris for €0.01 plus charges (as they often offer) then it seemed reasonable that Aer Lingus can fly me to New York for €5. I haven't measured the distances but you get my point.

To top that off, I've booked time off work when I received the confirmation. Not sure if I can have that undone. Plus my girfriend works freelance and she cancelled bookings she had made. She's never been to New York and that was the only reason why she cancelled them.

Aer Lingus offered to book us flights at the (as far as I'm concerned) increased price but that's well out of our price range.

My heart bleeds for you man. Why on earth were you on the website in the first place looking to book if you could not afford it FFS?

Accept the fact that you tried to pull a fast one and you expect us to feel sorry for you. Fair play if you got away with it but save on the violin please.

jhegarty · 17-04-2008 11:21pm

jimd2 wrote: »

My heart bleeds for you man. Why on earth were you on the website in the first place looking to book if you could not afford it FFS?

Accept the fact that you tried to pull a fast one and you expect us to feel sorry for you. Fair play if you got away with it but save on the violin please.

So you not allowed check prices on sites unless you are 100% sure you can afford them ?

maybe he was silly and believed the ads aerligus have all over the place about their summer sale...

Victor · 18-04-2008 1:54am

okidoki987 wrote: »

You sure that's right?
I get charged taxes on Ryanair flights out of Ireland all the time?

No, you get charged the other bits in the tax, and charges list.

There is no departure tax, no VAT, not even duty on the fuel.

JimmyO · 18-04-2008 7:52am

jimd2 wrote: »

My heart bleeds for you man. Why on earth were you on the website in the first place looking to book if you could not afford it FFS?

Accept the fact that you tried to pull a fast one and you expect us to feel sorry for you. Fair play if you got away with it but save on the violin please.

What?!?!

I'm not expecting you to feel anything. I was looking for a cheap break away and I found one. I could afford that but could afford the revised price. It's not that complicated.

Care to read my posts again? I deemed it perfectly reasonable for Aer Lingus to offer these fares.

DUB to CDG €0.01
DUB to JFK €5.00

Mile for mile the New York trip works out as the dearer of the two.

Fast one my ass.

Victor_M · 18-04-2008 8:27am

Greedy Irish chancers.

If the error was in the wrong direction i.e you were charged 1800 instead of 180 and hadn't noticed the mistake at the time, how many of you wouldn't want a refund because you hadn't noticed the mistake!

Aer Lingus are going to get shafted due to greed. Compo culture at it's worst

Jg1982 · 18-04-2008 8:30am

Compo culture???? Are you joking??? I just want what they sold me yesterday morning. They've given something and then taken it away. I don't want compensation....I want the product I purchased. It's called "consumer rights" and it's very rare that the consumer gets one over on Big Business. They're all to happy to shaft the consumer, so screw them....they made a mistake and we pounced.

Hagar · 18-04-2008 8:31am

Victor_M wrote: »

Greedy Irish chancers.

What has being Irish got to do with it?
You has racism?

closifer · 18-04-2008 8:39am

Wow i think aer lingus has infiltrated the website....

Victor_M · 18-04-2008 8:39am

Hagar wrote: »

What has being Irish got to do with it?
You has racism?

Hagar you can take you overtly pc response and shove it where the sun don't shine!

Racism - the most over used "change the subject" word used on boards.

As I mentioned in my example if the Aer Lingus billing system made a mistake in the other direction what would like to see happen?

As the saying goes "if it appears too good to be true, it usually is"

Victor_M · 18-04-2008 8:40am

closifer wrote: »

Wow i think aer lingus has infiltrated the website....

Why? Because I can accept that mistakes happen occasionally?

JimmyO · 18-04-2008 8:42am

Victor_M wrote: »

Greedy Irish chancers.

If the error was in the wrong direction i.e you were charged 1800 instead of 180 and hadn't noticed the mistake at the time, how many of you wouldn't want a refund because you hadn't noticed the mistake!

Aer Lingus are going to get shafted due to greed. Compo culture at it's worst

That's BS.

I've booked at least 3 flights with Aer Lingus to discover the price dropped after I booked it. Did Aer Lingus call to offer me a refund of the 'overcharge'? No!

If I went to the website and saw €1800 and booked it then fair enough. That's the price I opted to buy at. What you're saying is if I bought at €180 and they charged €1800 to my card. That's a different thing entirely.

This is more than just disgruntled Aer Lingus customers at this stage. This can set a precedent for the future of E-Commerce.

Jg1982 · 18-04-2008 8:43am

Most fares appear "too good to be true" though. Most people (myself included) who booked these flights, didn't know they were Business Class until long after we'd booked them. Therefore (as pointed out by Jimmy0 above) they appeared to be a cheap flight to New York in the same way that Ryanair offer cheap flights to Paris and Warsaw etc.

Byrner10 · 18-04-2008 9:02am

Victor M, you are talking trash. Or should we call you Victor Meldrew (doubt I'm the first to coin the idea).

If I walked into HMV today and got the Sopranos box set for €4.99 instead of the usual €79.99, I doubt they would come running down the road after me because of "their mistake", especially if it was priced on said box at €4.99 when I entered our agreement.

The consumers in this case are being ripped off. If you get off your high horse (unless you are Dermot Mannion in disguise) and get down to the simple logistics of it, you can see it for what it is and not through tinted eyes. In simple legal terms:

1) An offer was made by Aer Lingus to the consumers
2) This offer was accepted by the consumers
3) Consideration was paid by the consumers

These are the basics of contract law (though there are additional parts), and no doubt Aer Finglas will attempt to have some loophole in place to protect themselves for such exposures. In my eyes though, the consumers did nothing wrong.

Consumers 1 - 0 Big Corp

bill_ashmount · 18-04-2008 9:05am

I'm in two minds about this.

On the one hand, I say fu*k Aer Lingus, I've booked with them before and they went on strike and I missed out on a holiday.

On the other hand if I booked something and they came back and said it was a mistake, I'd say fair enough, genuine mistake. Move on. I personally wouldn't expect to get the flight for the wrong price, I don't care what the rights and wrongs are in legal terms.

For the people going on the news and radio about this, get a life, you just look sad.

craichoe · 18-04-2008 9:13am

jimd2 wrote: »

My heart bleeds for you man. Why on earth were you on the website in the first place looking to book if you could not afford it FFS?

Accept the fact that you tried to pull a fast one and you expect us to feel sorry for you. Fair play if you got away with it but save on the violin please.

I fly to the UK regularly with work, the company paid 650 euro for a return flight to Birmingham with KLM, i KNOW KLM are a ripoff but alot of Irish people wouldn't have a clue. So how are people supposed to know how much a flight to the states cost, Aer Lingus are supposedly a low cost carrier.

Again, a business saying "The customer is a retard" is bullsh*t, booking systems are booking systems, they relied on a system to take out the manual labour, if they screw it up then they have to accept the consequences.

I truely hope they get their flights.

Remember aswell, your talking percieved loss not actual, those seats might not even be filled on the flight, even if they dont give them to them.

Byrner10 · 18-04-2008 9:13am

Maybe you would be better off moving to Burma or Tibet, where you actually don't have any rights whatsoever. As opposed to mere consumer rights Bill?

Those people complaining to the media are really sad for standing up for something. Ur dead right.

I think not

bill_ashmount · 18-04-2008 9:17am

Byrner10 wrote: »

Maybe you would be better off moving to Burma or Tibet, where you actually don't have any rights whatsoever. As opposed to mere consumer rights Bill?

Those people complaining to the media are really sad for standing up for something. Ur dead right.

I think not

lol, don't let the bitterness eat you up.......

Victor_M · 18-04-2008 9:17am

Byrner10 wrote: »

Victor M, you are talking trash. Or should we call you Victor Meldrew (doubt I'm the first to coin the idea).

If I walked into HMV today and got the Sopranos box set for €4.99 instead of the usual €79.99, I doubt they would come running down the road after me because of "their mistake", especially if it was priced on said box at €4.99 when I entered our agreement.

The consumers in this case are being ripped off. If you get off your high horse (unless you are Dermot Mannion in disguise) and get down to the simple logistics of it, you can see it for what it is and not through tinted eyes. In simple legal terms:

1) An offer was made by Aer Lingus to the consumers
2) This offer was accepted by the consumers
3) Consideration was paid by the consumers

These are the basics of contract law (though there are additional parts), and no doubt Aer Finglas will attempt to have some loophole in place to protect themselves for such exposures. In my eyes though, the consumers did nothing wrong.

Consumers 1 - 0 Big Corp

They didn't advertise E5 flights, that is what appeared when the website went to check the filght availability and prices - due to a typo, glitch, error what ever.

Amazingly all you eagle eyed bargain hunters noticed everything except the fact that they were business class seats, because to admit this would reinforce what most honest people think - you were chancing your arm!

This is the third time I have asked this:

If you booked a flight, it was priced on the website at E1800 accidentally but you didn't notice the decimal place & thought it was E180 which would be the more realistic price for such a flight, what would you do? Just take it on the chin becasue it was an honest mistake?

Hagar · 18-04-2008 9:20am

Victor_M wrote: »

Hagar you can take you overtly pc response and shove it where the sun don't shine!

PC? Me? Are you serious? Get a grip on yourself. Maybe you already have, let go, you'll go blind.

I constantly get bombarded with spam emails from Aer Lingus offering flights at very low prices, a flight for a fiver is not unusual, very common in fact. I strongly suspect that they intended to advertise and sell a small number of flights at the low price but I think where they made the mistake was to forget to put a limit on the number of €5 flights. When they saw what they had done they welched on the whole deal including the genuine bargain flights that they intended to sell.

Byrner10 · 18-04-2008 9:21am

I'll answer ur question. Any idiot that hits "confirm" on a website before checking the amount they are paying deserves to be ripped off.

That's just plain silly.

You as a conusmer will take careful note of how much you are paying before purchasing. At least 99.999% of people will

JimmyO · 18-04-2008 9:22am

Victor_M wrote: »

This is the third time I have asked this:

If you booked a flight, it was priced on the website at E1800 accidentally but you didn't notice the decimal place & thought it was E180 which would be the more realistic price for such a flight, what would you do? Just take it on the chin becasue it was an honest mistake?

I gave you my answer about 7 posts ago!

If I didn't notice a decimal point that was clearly posted on a website then tough luck on me. I'll give you that. Would be My bad.

For the 2nd time. That's not the case here.

Victor_M · 18-04-2008 9:31am

JimmyO wrote: »

I gave you my answer about 7 posts ago!

If I didn't notice a decimal point that was clearly posted on a website then tough luck on me. I'll give you that. Would be My bad.

For the 2nd time. That's not the case here.

You didn't answer my question, you gave a example similar to mine but chanced the scenarios around to suit you're argument.

JimmyO, just to make sure I understood your last reply. If you booked a flight which you thought you were paying 180E for but due to a technical glitch in the system the price appeared at 1800, even though it was a mistake and on the screen in front of you, but you hadn't noticed it, you wouldn't complain or look for a refund?

pug_ · 18-04-2008 9:33am

Byrner10 wrote: »

The consumers in this case are being ripped off. If you get off your high horse (unless you are Dermot Mannion in disguise) and get down to the simple logistics of it, you can see it for what it is and not through tinted eyes. In simple legal terms:

1) An offer was made by Aer Lingus to the consumers
2) This offer was accepted by the consumers
3) Consideration was paid by the consumers

These are the basics of contract law (though there are additional parts), and no doubt Aer Finglas will attempt to have some loophole in place to protect themselves for such exposures. In my eyes though, the consumers did nothing wrong.

Consumers 1 - 0 Big Corp

There's 10 pages here and I haven't read them all so forgive me if this has been pointed out already, but under consumer law the consumer is not allowed to profit from a genuine mistake in pricing made by the retailer.

It's pretty clear that AerLingus did not intend to sell these seats at the price they were purchased at, it was a mistake. After the mistake was realised they were obliged to either honour the agreement, or offer a full refund to the customers affected. Considering it would cost AerLingus somewhere in the region of half a million Euro to give these tickets away (price I heard on the radio yesterday, so may not be accurate) it's hardly surprising they opted for the latter, and gave out a refund.

The only thing AerLingus did wrong was mistakenly offer the tickets at the cut down price in the first place, everything else they have done was perfectly within their rights.

JimmyO · 18-04-2008 9:38am

Victor_M wrote: »

You didn't answer my question, you gave a example similar to mine but chanced the scenarios around to suit you're argument.

JimmyO, just to make sure I understood your last reply. If you booked a flight which you thought you were paying 180E for but due to a technical glitch in the system the price appeared at 1800, even though it was a mistake and on the screen in front of you, but you hadn't noticed it, you wouldn't complain or look for a refund?

You haven't read my answer.

If it appeared on the system at 1800.00 and was clearly on the website as 1800.00 and I opted to buy at 1800.00 then fair enough I would pay 1800.00.

I obviously pay more attenetion when buying on line than you do. I check and cross check everything before I select confirm so there's no possibility I would not notice something.

If it appeared on the system at 180.00 and was clearly on the website as 180.00 and I opted to buy at 180.00 and was then asked to pay 1800.00 then of course I complain and look for a refund.

Victor_M · 18-04-2008 9:46am

JimmyO wrote: »

You haven't read my answer.

If it appeared on the system at 1800.00 and was clearly on the website as 1800.00 and I opted to buy at 1800.00 then fair enough I would pay 1800.00.

I obviously pay more attenetion when buying on line than you do. I check and cross check everything before I select confirm so there's no possibility I would not notice something.

If it appeared on the system at 180.00 and was clearly on the website as 180.00 and I opted to buy at 180.00 and was then asked to pay 1800.00 then of course I complain and look for a refund.

So you checked and cross checked and still didn't notice they were business class?

or

you did see they were business class (which is perfectly visable on the confirmation page) and won't admit that you chanced your arm, it didn't work out but you are hoping that if enough chancers make enough moise that Aer Lingus will be bullied/embarrased into letting you away with it.

You knew it was a mistake, come on admit it.

TheBigLebowski · 18-04-2008 9:47am

JimmyO wrote: »

This is more than just disgruntled Aer Lingus customers at this stage. This can set a precedent for the future of E-Commerce.

Ah C'mon Jimmy. This was a genuine mistake. You chanced your arm and they copped it. Your world didn't fall apart like you're trying to portray. Any employer will allow you to change your holidays under the circumstances. Get over it.

Lets say you were selling your car for €5,000 but when putting the ad in the paper, you mistakenly put in €5 and don't realise it. You then get a call from someone saying they'll take it asking price. You say great. They say great. Later that day they come and put the car on the back of a truck and the guy turns and gives you a fiver and starts heading off. You agreed to sell the car at asking price and he agreed to buy. Would you feel aggrieved? Would you feel you are being ripped off or even robbed by this person? Of course you would. Would you say "well I put the ad in for €5 and agreed to sell for asking price so I guess I have to sell it for €5, oh well". Damn right you wouldn't. You would probably be on here moaning about how you were ripped off and how your world has fallen apart.

Jg1982 · 18-04-2008 9:53am

TheBigLebowski wrote: »

Ah C'mon Jimmy. This was a genuine mistake. You chanced your arm and they copped it. Your world didn't fall apart like you're trying to portray. Any employer will allow you to change your holidays under the circumstances. Get over it.

Lets say you were selling your car for €5,000 but when putting the ad in the paper, you mistakenly put in €5 and don't realise it. You then get a call from someone saying they'll take it asking price. You say great. They say great. Later that day they come and put the car on the back of a truck and the guy turns and gives you a fiver and starts heading off. You agreed to sell the car at asking price and he agreed to buy. Would you feel aggrieved? Would you feel you are being ripped off or even robbed by this person? Of course you would. Would you say "well I put the ad in for €5 and agreed to sell for asking price so I guess I have to sell it for €5, oh well". Damn right you wouldn't. You would probably be on here moaning about how you were ripped off and how your world has fallen apart.

Eh, but your missing the point here. If, before I gave your man the car, he says to me "I'm giving you a fiver for the car, is that ok?", I would say "NO! The price of the car is €5,000". Aer Lingus took our money and agreed to the deal.

avantarklu · 18-04-2008 9:57am

Victor_M wrote: »

If you booked a flight which you thought you were paying 180E for but due to a technical glitch in the system the price appeared at 1800, even though it was a mistake and on the screen in front of you, but you hadn't noticed it, you wouldn't complain or look for a refund?

I would complain. I would demand a refund. But how far do you think I would get?
AL would simply,& quite rightly, rely on the integrity of their booking systems & all the prompts they give you to tick this box and tick that box etc before proceeding.
They would rely on the 'Fare Rules' which you must confirm you have read which states absolutely no refunds.
If that wasn't enough, they would possibly start quoting contract law and how the transaction constitutes a valid and enforceable contract.
All this they could quite happily and quite rightly do because depsite your claim that you made a mistake and didn't realise you were paying an incorrect price, they had no way of knowing that and therefore it could not be claimed that they attempted to profit from such a mistake.

Please remember that simply by being made aware of such a mistake, after the key steps in entering into a contract have been completed, does not invalidate that contract.
For the defence of mistake to be claimed, in your example, you would have to prove that AL were consciously aware that as you were proceeding through the booking process and confirming your acceptance of an €1,800 fare which is normally €180.

So, if I made such a mistake, I could whinge and moan and stamp my feet all I like but I would not have a legal leg to stand on.

Aer Lingus website mistake

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