Aer Lingus needs a #GE2011

PorridgeHead

Fianna Fail did wrong by the country, the people, and finally we had the opportunity to voice our opinion.

Isn't it about time that we had similar opportunity to do the same with the people who run our State and Semi-State (or state financed) organisations.

Point in question is Aer Lingus. Their customer care philosophy seems to be simply.... "Do what we like and make it difficult to them to organise complaints". Sounds a bit like Fianna Fail really.

We booked Aer Lingus flights to Scotland. No need for mortgaging the negative equity house to pay for booking in a bag, we had purchased carry-on bags based on the Aer Lingus cabin luggage allowance.

They make it almost impossible to check-in online, without first reserving a specific seat.... ching ching another €5 per person. If you don't pre-select a seat (and save the money) you don't get to see what type of plane you will be flying on, so they can put you on a Co-Share flight which has a much lower cabin baggage allowance, and then hold you to ransom at the airport.

Aer Lingus have references to how the passenger should check their baggage allowance, but it is burried in small print in some obscure document which is purposely designed in such a way that people won't read it.

Now that the Irish population have a bit of recent experience in dealing with opressive self-serving ruling elite classes, perhaps we should now be taking the opportunity to deal with all the other "Publically Appointed" professionals that do not have the public interest at heart.

Bord na Mona? Coillte? ESB? There was outrage over the wasteful shenanegans going on in FAS, but it was only PUBLIC outcry and PUBLICITY that made the elite react (and with a pay-off).

So, fellow citizens, this is not intended as a rally-call for anarchists, but an effort to promote greater publicity around the fact that we are being serially abused by our elected and non-elected officials.

We may have difficulty making the Bankers be responsible and accountable, but State Servants are people WE can influence..... they work for US. We pay their salaries.

PorridgeHead

PorridgeHead wrote: »

Their customer care philosophy seems to be simply.... "Do what we like and make it difficult to them to organise complaints".

Aer Lingus Customer CARE contact details.... COMPLIMENT.... I want to complain, but can't unless I have a Fax.
For a company that does everything it can to drive all bookings and changes via Electronic Communications, doesn't it seem fair to also contact "Customer Care" electronically?.....
If I want to spend money, it's easy.

Customer Relations

Pre flight:

Should you have a query regarding an existing reservation prior to departure, please contact your local Reservations Department. For contact details click here: Reservations Department.
Post flight:

If you have recently travelled with Aer Lingus and would like to compliment our service or if you wish to submit a claim or bring to our attention an aspect of service you were not entirely satisfied with please write (including a copy of your ticket/boarding card) to your nearest office. The details of which are below:
Ireland/UK
Aer Lingus Customer Care Unit
Aer Lingus Head Office
Dublin Airport
Ireland
Fax Number: 00353 1 8863832

mikemac

PorridgeHead wrote: »

I want to complain, but can't unless I have a Fax.

Write a letter.
Even if they had an email address, if you ever want to complain to a company then write a letter.
It shows you took the time to do it and you're serious

PorridgeHead

Letter sent. Just waiting for a "read the terms and conditions" reply.

The deck is stacked and they know it, and they use it.

Victor

PorridgeHead wrote: »

Customer Relations

Pre flight:

Should you have a query regarding an existing reservation prior to departure, please contact your local Reservations Department. For contact details click here: Reservations Department

How did you manage to change [no parse]http://www.aerlingus.com/help/contactus/#d.en.1201[/no parse] to [no parse]http://www.boards.ie/help/contactus/#d.en.1201[/no parse]

PorridgeHead

Victor wrote: »

How did you manage to change [no parse]http://www.aerlingus.com/help/contactus/#d.en.1201[/no parse] to [no parse]http://www.boards.ie/help/contactus/#d.en.1201[/no parse]

Hey Victor.
Not sure what the question is. I didn't change anything. Simply copied and pasted the text from the Aer Lingus website.

BrianD

PorridgeHead wrote: »

Fianna Fail did wrong by the country, the people, and finally we had the opportunity to voice our opinion.

Isn't it about time that we had similar opportunity to do the same with the people who run our State and Semi-State (or state financed) organisations.

Point in question is Aer Lingus. Their customer care philosophy seems to be simply.... "Do what we like and make it difficult to them to organise complaints". Sounds a bit like Fianna Fail really.

We booked Aer Lingus flights to Scotland. No need for mortgaging the negative equity house to pay for booking in a bag, we had purchased carry-on bags based on the Aer Lingus cabin luggage allowance.

They make it almost impossible to check-in online, without first reserving a specific seat.... ching ching another €5 per person. If you don't pre-select a seat (and save the money) you don't get to see what type of plane you will be flying on, so they can put you on a Co-Share flight which has a much lower cabin baggage allowance, and then hold you to ransom at the airport.

Aer Lingus have references to how the passenger should check their baggage allowance, but it is burried in small print in some obscure document which is purposely designed in such a way that people won't read it.

Now that the Irish population have a bit of recent experience in dealing with opressive self-serving ruling elite classes, perhaps we should now be taking the opportunity to deal with all the other "Publically Appointed" professionals that do not have the public interest at heart.

Bord na Mona? Coillte? ESB? There was outrage over the wasteful shenanegans going on in FAS, but it was only PUBLIC outcry and PUBLICITY that made the elite react (and with a pay-off).

So, fellow citizens, this is not intended as a rally-call for anarchists, but an effort to promote greater publicity around the fact that we are being serially abused by our elected and non-elected officials.

We may have difficulty making the Bankers be responsible and accountable, but State Servants are people WE can influence..... they work for US. We pay their salaries.

I've been able to check in online with no problems. It's easy. No seat reservation required. It seems that you have a difficulty in navigating the online system which is not entirely Aer Lingus fault.

The Irish have no "experience in dealing with opressive self-serving ruling elite classes" given that they voted the same crowd in 3 times in a row. Just because, as someone jokingly said, the passengers on the Titantic have voted in a new captain, does not and will not make these bodies more efficient. It will be huff and puff until they appoint their own friends.

There is a need for greater accountability for state owned bodies but this has been a need since the foundation of the state.

BenShermin

I've travelled Aer Lingus many times and never read the small print,

• I've never been over the baggage allowance, nor have I been confused about the allowance, 20kg on Aer Lingus, 15kg on Aer Lingus Regional. The allowances for either company are clearly stated during booking.
• I've never been roped into paying any money for selecting a seat, I simply click on "no" when the website offers me this service. In actual fact; I'm nearly 100% positive it's impossible to be charged for a seat at "check in online" level and that seats can only be pre booked before check in opens.
• You can actually see what type of plane you're travelling on by clicking on the "flight number" tab beside the flight time. This is before you even go into any of the nitty gritty of credit card details, how many bags you want etc.
• I think Aer Lingus as a semi-state actually does care about it's customers, the competition at Dublin Airport is cut throat. ESB and Bord na Mona have competition from Airtricity etc. If you want a semi state that shows contempt for the customer maybe you should take a look at C.I.E. Group of Companies!!

Also, I'd like to ask why you're claiming you can only complain by fax, when in the same post you give an address of the company. Ryanair is a company that only allows you to complain by fax.

Unfortunately we're living in an age when one has to be very careful of the terms and conditions, it's though sh!te if you don't. Sorry if I sound harsh, but I don't feel you have a complaint here. I think Aer Lingus are excellent and providing the customer with the info they need.

Vokes

BenShermin wrote: »

I've travelled Aer Lingus many times and never read the small print,

• I've never been roped into paying any money for selecting a seat, I simply click on "no" when the website offers me this service. In actual fact; I'm nearly 100% positive it's impossible to be charged for a seat at "check in online" level and that seats can only be pre booked before check in opens.

Yes, the OP's opening post regarding seats and online checkin needs clarifying. I have never had to pay for choosing a seat at checkin time online on the EDI and LHR routes. Perhaps its different for other routes, transatlantic?

PorridgeHead

BenShermin wrote: »

I've travelled Aer Lingus many times and never read the small print,

• I've never been over the baggage allowance, nor have I been confused about the allowance, 20kg on Aer Lingus, 15kg on Aer Lingus Regional. The allowances for either company are clearly stated during booking.
• I've never been roped into paying any money for selecting a seat, I simply click on "no" when the website offers me this service. In actual fact; I'm nearly 100% positive it's impossible to be charged for a seat at "check in online" level and that seats can only be pre booked before check in opens.
• You can actually see what type of plane you're travelling on by clicking on the "flight number" tab beside the flight time. This is before you even go into any of the nitty gritty of credit card details, how many bags you want etc.
• I think Aer Lingus as a semi-state actually does care about it's customers, the competition at Dublin Airport is cut throat. ESB and Bord na Mona have competition from Airtricity etc. If you want a semi state that shows contempt for the customer maybe you should take a look at C.I.E. Group of Companies!!

Also, I'd like to ask why you're claiming you can only complain by fax, when in the same post you give an address of the company. Ryanair is a company that only allows you to complain by fax.

Unfortunately we're living in an age when one has to be very careful of the terms and conditions, it's though sh!te if you don't. Sorry if I sound harsh, but I don't feel you have a complaint here. I think Aer Lingus are excellent and providing the customer with the info they need.

A bit harsh there Ben.
Flown Aer Lingus (had a preference over Ryanair) loads of times. Never ever knew "Regional" existed since they sold off their fleet of Fockers and Shorts.

The booking process and subsequent emails made no reference to "Regional" and there was absolutely no mention of a 15kg or further restriction on cabin baggage.

I don't check that every one of the tail lights on my car is working EVERY time I drive. A Garda may pull me over, but more than likely to inform me rather than issue an on the spot fine. Aer Lingus have a highly developed eCommerce and Booking system. It is more than capable of flagging the customer about the different baggage allowance during the booking process. But it doesn't.

But we digress from the point.

PorridgeHead

Vokes wrote: »

Yes, the OP's opening post regarding seats and online checkin needs clarifying. I have never had to pay for choosing a seat at checkin time online on the EDI and LHR routes. Perhaps its different for other routes, transatlantic?

My wife and I and our son tried to check-in online, twice. We could find no way to proceed without selecting seats, at a fiver a pop, so we decided to get the tickets from the self service at the airport.
It would also have been nice to be told which terminal the flight was leaving from. They have the email address, and the Booking confirmation didn't specify.

P.S. Everyone on the flight was similarly stung!

Vic_08

PorridgeHead wrote: »

A bit harsh there Ben.
Flown Aer Lingus (had a preference over Ryanair) loads of times. Never ever knew "Regional" existed since they sold off their fleet of Fockers and Shorts.

The booking process and subsequent emails made no reference to "Regional" and there was absolutely no mention of a 15kg or further restriction on cabin baggage.

I don't check that every one of the tail lights on my car is working EVERY time I drive. A Garda may pull me over, but more than likely to inform me rather than issue an on the spot fine. Aer Lingus have a highly developed eCommerce and Booking system. It is more than capable of flagging the customer about the different baggage allowance during the booking process. But it doesn't.

But we digress from the point.

What was the destination airport and flight number?

All Aer Arann operated "Aer Lingus Regional" flights are clearly marked as such from the first page of the booking process right through the checked/hand baggage page where it says:

"The carry on / cabin baggage weight limit is 10kgs on Aer Lingus flights. Partner flights may be different. Please read our Cabin bag / Carry on policy for maximum dimensions. "

The linked policy reads:

"> Aer Lingus Regional flights (Flight Nos 3000-4000 operated by Aer Arann)

Cabin baggage must weigh less than 7 kgs / 15 lbs in total carried in one bag per passenger and be small enough to fit in an overhead bin or under your seat.
The maximum dimensions for a cabin bag are 43cm x 28cm x 20cm or 17in x 11in x 8in.

These limits are strictly enforced. Passengers in breach of the baggage allowance policy will be subject to additional baggage charges at the gate or may be offloaded.
All cabin/carry-on bags are checked and weighed at the airport. Any bags exceeding size and/or weight will be checked-in and passengers must pay a fee of €20.00 or equivalent per bag per flight for their bags when checking-in."


Seems clear enough to me, as long as you actually read the conditions.

Oh and I have never had trouble checking-in online for free either.

Cookie_Monster

Simple solution, don't fly AL. They useless, flying with Ryanair is more fun at this stage.

ardmacha

Usual boards rant.

1. Flights are much cheaper than previously, even with the baggage charges.
2. Aer Lingus is not state owned, all this ranting about public servants is entirely gratuitous, but par for the course.

Cookie_Monster

ardmacha wrote: »

Usual boards rant.

1. Flights are much cheaper than previously, even with the baggage charges.
2. Aer Lingus is not state owned, all this ranting about public servants is entirely gratuitous, but par for the course.

it is partially state owned, enough to block anything important the union doesn't like...

highlydebased

What a load of hyperbole. People fly Aer Lingus, they whinge. People fly Ryanair, they whinge.

Snow Leopard

It's made very clear during the booking process when the flight is operated by Aer Lingus Regional. The baggage allowance for passengers travelling on flights operated Aer Lingus Regional is also made very clear on the website. It's up to the customer to ensure that they've familiarised themselves with these allowances prior to travel. If you've got a valid complaint, simply send a letter into Aer Lingus HR and they'll get back to you.