Aerlingus AerClub/Avios

alancostello

ironclaw wrote: »

Coil Kilcrea wrote: »

As many have said, AerClub is farcical and amateur beyond belief. I abandoned for BA Avios some while ago and am very satisfied with the programme.

I do not feel EI appreciate loyalty. Numerous examples of indifference drove me and many others away.

The whole airline, in terms of loyalty, is broken. On Lufthansa, I have countless examples of staff going the extra mile, with or without knowledge of my status. I've been upgraded a few times, without asking. I've flown legs on EI with a nigh-empty business class section countless times. It beggars belief why they can't either a) Upgrade frequent flyers or b) offer an upgrade to frequent fliers on the day (Points or Cash for example)

And thats before missing a rake of points for every flight I've taken :rolleyes:

This was the straw for me personally: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057824522

Of the 5 transatlantic EI flights I've had in the last year, 3 A330(2x YYZ and 1x ORD) and 2 757(2x IAD), the 757 cabins were half empty, and the A330s had at least 6 seats free, in one case to ORD it was half empty(used my Platinum upgrade on this one, not confirmable until the day before of course, even though half the cabin was unsold on takeoff). I get that they want to try and sell the seats through the bid to upgrade, and could even understand a priority for those over frequent fliers in terms of revenue, but when the plane is going out with empty business class seats and at least a dozen Concierge/Platinum down the back, something's not right! 

On that note, I moved to the US in January, & did a status challenge with AA, got to their Platinum, and I've already had 2 upgrades on 8 flights, let alone the complimentary Main Cabin Extra seats and extra baggage!

Tenger

I fully concur. At boarding time why not upgrade any Concierge pax into J Class. They cant process a paid upgrade at that point so any empty seats remain empty.

I can remember from my time in EI that there was a fanatical mgmt culture of never upgrading.

Contrast with the upgrade culture in the US aviation sector. On domestic sectors up to 50% of ppl seated in J cass can be FFP upgrades.

This thread could be used as an educational tool on how to destroy customer loyalty.
(A mate did a M.Sc in HR and Business about 12 years ago in DBS. One module which was entitled "How to destroy a brand" was based on the Willie Walsh dot.com era of Aer Lingus)

mx5ire

Of the 5 transatlantic EI flights I've had in the last year, 3 A330(2x YYZ and 1x ORD) and 2 757(2x IAD), the 757 cabins were half empty, and the A330s had at least 6 seats free, in one case to ORD it was half empty(used my Platinum upgrade on this one, not confirmable until the day before of course, even though half the cabin was unsold on takeoff). I get that they want to try and sell the seats through the bid to upgrade, and could even understand a priority for those over frequent fliers in terms of revenue, but when the plane is going out with empty business class seats and at least a dozen Concierge/Platinum down the back, something's not right! 

On that note, I moved to the US in January, & did a status challenge with AA, got to their Platinum, and I've already had 2 upgrades on 8 flights, let alone the complimentary Main Cabin Extra seats and extra baggage!

On similar topics - i have been chasing EI to use a couple of my Concierge upgrades for my other half for flights to the US in early May. I have been chasing them since late Feb when she booked. The message is the same each time - they refer up to Revenue, but the latest message back a week or so ago was to call back 10 days before departure to check again. And then again 10 days before the return leg too. I realise that we are coming into a busier time in May, but my spend on TA business tickets to get to Concierge (and surpass the 1000 odd Tier points easily) in the first place is very high, so this inability to actually use the upgrades is very, very frustrating. 

My other half also uses United quite a bit, and as a Silver member she always gets a Premium Economy upgrade on TA flights, and is always shortlisted for upgrades on domestic US flights. Doesn't always get them as there may be higher status people ahead of her - but the point is clear - United seem to fill the next cabins up with those qualifying members flying further down the aircraft.

On many of my EI TA trips there are also free seats at the front, its a pity that EI wont auto upgrade Platinum or Concierge people from Economy, assuming there are any on the aircraft, if seats are free.

mx5ire

mx5ire wrote: »

Of the 5 transatlantic EI flights I've had in the last year, 3 A330(2x YYZ and 1x ORD) and 2 757(2x IAD), the 757 cabins were half empty, and the A330s had at least 6 seats free, in one case to ORD it was half empty(used my Platinum upgrade on this one, not confirmable until the day before of course, even though half the cabin was unsold on takeoff). I get that they want to try and sell the seats through the bid to upgrade, and could even understand a priority for those over frequent fliers in terms of revenue, but when the plane is going out with empty business class seats and at least a dozen Concierge/Platinum down the back, something's not right! 

On that note, I moved to the US in January, & did a status challenge with AA, got to their Platinum, and I've already had 2 upgrades on 8 flights, let alone the complimentary Main Cabin Extra seats and extra baggage!

On similar topics - i have been chasing EI to use a couple of my Concierge upgrades for my other half for flights to the US in early May. I have been chasing them since late Feb when she booked. The message is the same each time - they refer up to Revenue, but the latest message back a week or so ago was to call back 10 days before departure to check again. And then again 10 days before the return leg too. I realise that we are coming into a busier time in May, but my spend on TA business tickets to get to Concierge (and surpass the 1000 odd Tier points easily) in the first place is very high, so this inability to actually use the upgrades is very, very frustrating. 

My other half also uses United quite a bit, and as a Silver member she always gets a Premium Economy upgrade on TA flights, and is always shortlisted for upgrades on domestic US flights. Doesn't always get them as there may be higher status people ahead of her - but the point is clear - United seem to fill the next cabins up with those qualifying members flying further down the aircraft.

On many of my EI TA trips there are also free seats at the front, its a pity that EI wont auto upgrade Platinum or Concierge people from Economy, assuming there are any on the aircraft, if seats are free.

Rant time.....
So i have called today about the Concierge upgrades mentioned in my last post above - and as expected its all fluff. Our corporate booking system shows 7 seats free on the outbound to the US but they still will not confirm an upgrade as"the seats might sell".  Ring back tomorrow. I will be amazed if its not the same message tomorrow.


On the return leg it shows 13 seats free - but no - still wont confirm. Its the old "upgrades subject to availability" line. Well 14 out of 24 seats on that aircraft strikes me as available seats. 


Very, very poor service again. Why give these upgrades to people if you cannot get them. It not like its a complete freebie, I've had 8 (i think) TA Business class trips in the last 12 months. That's a lot of revenue.

alancostello

mx5ire wrote: »

mx5ire wrote: »

Of the 5 transatlantic EI flights I've had in the last year, 3 A330(2x YYZ and 1x ORD) and 2 757(2x IAD), the 757 cabins were half empty, and the A330s had at least 6 seats free, in one case to ORD it was half empty(used my Platinum upgrade on this one, not confirmable until the day before of course, even though half the cabin was unsold on takeoff). I get that they want to try and sell the seats through the bid to upgrade, and could even understand a priority for those over frequent fliers in terms of revenue, but when the plane is going out with empty business class seats and at least a dozen Concierge/Platinum down the back, something's not right! 

On that note, I moved to the US in January, & did a status challenge with AA, got to their Platinum, and I've already had 2 upgrades on 8 flights, let alone the complimentary Main Cabin Extra seats and extra baggage!

On similar topics - i have been chasing EI to use a couple of my Concierge upgrades for my other half for flights to the US in early May. I have been chasing them since late Feb when she booked. The message is the same each time - they refer up to Revenue, but the latest message back a week or so ago was to call back 10 days before departure to check again. And then again 10 days before the return leg too. I realise that we are coming into a busier time in May, but my spend on TA business tickets to get to Concierge (and surpass the 1000 odd Tier points easily) in the first place is very high, so this inability to actually use the upgrades is very, very frustrating. 

My other half also uses United quite a bit, and as a Silver member she always gets a Premium Economy upgrade on TA flights, and is always shortlisted for upgrades on domestic US flights. Doesn't always get them as there may be higher status people ahead of her - but the point is clear - United seem to fill the next cabins up with those qualifying members flying further down the aircraft.

On many of my EI TA trips there are also free seats at the front, its a pity that EI wont auto upgrade Platinum or Concierge people from Economy, assuming there are any on the aircraft, if seats are free.

Rant time.....
So i have called today about the Concierge upgrades mentioned in my last post above - and as expected its all fluff. Our corporate booking system shows 7 seats free on the outbound to the US but they still will not confirm an upgrade as"the seats might sell".  Ring back tomorrow. I will be amazed if its not the same message tomorrow.


On the return leg it shows 13 seats free - but no - still wont confirm. Its the old "upgrades subject to availability" line. Well 14 out of 24 seats on that aircraft strikes me as available seats. 


Very, very poor service again. Why give these upgrades to people if you cannot get them. It not like its a complete freebie, I've had 8 (i think) TA Business class trips in the last 12 months. That's a lot of revenue.

I wouldn't be surprised if all these issues are intentional, so that in a few months they can say 'Oh well we tried but people are so unhappy and we're having so many issues we're just going to get rid of the whole thing'. It's been over 18 months since the programme launched, and even then it was delayed by over six months and is still plagued with issues. If they can't fix it in two years then what the hell are they even doing.

AndyBoBandy

Anything and everything to do with IT with Aer Lingus is nothing less than a shambles!!

They ran 1 off flights to/from Copenhagen for the recent World Cup play off's yet Copenhagen still shows as a selectable destination on their website!

Same with Cardiff (I mentioned to them that Cardiff still showed up on their route map on Twitter months ago and it's still there, despite them not flying to Cardiff)

goingnowhere

November 19 in for DUB - Copenhagen
November 6 or 7 in for DUB - Cardiff

There are flights

nsa0bupkd3948x

goingnowhere wrote: »

November 19 in for DUB - Copenhagen
November 6 or 7 in for DUB - Cardiff

There are flights

I'm guessing it would be September 6/7 for Cardiff.

They're one off flights for away Irish football matches.

Jamie2k9

They still fly 6 Nations Cardiff flights so it won't disappear.

L1011

The CPH one sounds like they know of a football friendly that isn't announced yet - that should still be in the November international break.

nsa0bupkd3948x

L1011 wrote: »

The CPH one sounds like they know of a football friendly that isn't announced yet - that should still be in the November international break.

It's in the Nations League.

L1011

Camdyn Colossal Geyser wrote: »

It's in the Nations League.

Forgot that existed. Gave up my season ticket after the FAI forgot to ask me to renew it during the Trappatoni era, he killed my interest that much!

mx5ire

Rant time.....
So i have called today about the Concierge upgrades mentioned in my last post above - and as expected its all fluff. Our corporate booking system shows 7 seats free on the outbound to the US but they still will not confirm an upgrade as"the seats might sell".  Ring back tomorrow. I will be amazed if its not the same message tomorrow.


On the return leg it shows 13 seats free - but no - still wont confirm. Its the old "upgrades subject to availability" line. Well 14 out of 24 seats on that aircraft strikes me as available seats. 


Very, very poor service again. Why give these upgrades to people if you cannot get them. It not like its a complete freebie, I've had 8 (i think) TA Business class trips in the last 12 months. That's a lot of revenue.

So called EI back again, and surprise, surprise - 'Revenue' haven't updated my request for upgrades so the lady on the phone has 'sent it back up to them'. Told to call back Monday as they are not staffed at the weekend. Still plenty of availability on the flights, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if 'Revenue' don't update the request at all and the flights go with unsold / unfilled seats up front and upgrade seeking passengers down the back. I've only been chasing this since the end of February....

jesus_thats_gre

mx5ire wrote: »

So called EI back again, and surprise, surprise - 'Revenue' haven't updated my request for upgrades so the lady on the phone has 'sent it back up to them'. Told to call back Monday as they are not staffed at the weekend. Still plenty of availability on the flights, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if 'Revenue' don't update the request at all and the flights go with unsold / unfilled seats up front and upgrade seeking passengers down the back. I've only been chasing this since the end of February....

You will likely be waiting for the upgrade up to just before you board.

mx5ire

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

You will likely be waiting for the upgrade up to just before you board.

That's exactly what i don't want to happen - its my wife flying but my upgrades being used, so on a Sunday she will have no way to get the upgrades put through i imagine as i will not be with her. If they don't confirm by Friday afternoon i suspect she will not get the outbound leg, even if there are free seats available.

CardinalJ

Has anyone here had success with getting points credit from bookings via the estore?

I used ebookers & Booking.com and one transaction is pending and the other hasn't turned up at all.

Jamie2k9

CardinalJ wrote: »

Has anyone here had success with getting points credit from bookings via the estore?

I used ebookers & Booking.com and one transaction is pending and the other hasn't turned up at all.

They take 2-3 months to show. Expedia is also 3 months.

I can't fully remember but the 3 months time may only take affect once your stay has been completed.

CardinalJ

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

They take 2-3 months to show. Expedia is also 3 months.

To even show up in 'pending'?

rio1

Why is it that inbound flights to Ireland never show in tier credits?
Pretty fed up with it - didn’t keep track last year, but am now - none of my return legs ever get tier credits automatically , I’ve filled in the form to get them added, but heard nothing. Is this the same for everyone?

Jamie2k9

CardinalJ wrote: »

To even show up in 'pending'?

They should show up as pending sooner. I edited above, it could be a case of not showing up as pending until you have taken the holiday/hotel stay. You should call them if you have completed both trips and both are now showing as pending.

Why is it that inbound flights to Ireland never show in tier credits?
Pretty fed up with it - didn’t keep track last year, but am now - none of my return legs ever get tier credits automatically , I’ve filled in the form to get them added, but heard nothing. Is this the same for everyone?

Different IT issues.

billy few mates

rio1 wrote: »

Why is it that inbound flights to Ireland never show in tier credits?
Pretty fed up with it - didn’t keep track last year, but am now - none of my return legs ever get tier credits automatically , I’ve filled in the form to get them added, but heard nothing. Is this the same for everyone?

Did you fill in the form to request the missing credits six times with three or four follow up emails to Aerclubmigration, two phone calls to the helpline in New Delhi, three DMs on the Twitter account, two requests on Facebook and a prayer to St Jude (the patron saint of hopeless cases)...?
That always used to work for me...

Diego Tristan

rio1 wrote: »

Why is it that inbound flights to Ireland never show in tier credits?
Pretty fed up with it - didn’t keep track last year, but am now - none of my return legs ever get tier credits automatically , I’ve filled in the form to get them added, but heard nothing. Is this the same for everyone?

Was same during the Gold Circle days, seems it's something to do with check in system at the airport you fly from.

For flights from mainland Europe, the only airport I know of that credits automatically is AMS.

For other airports your best bet is to keep a record of the ticket number, then after travel go to online form to claim missing Avios on the EI website using the Aer Lingus With Ticket Number option, and the points usually credit within a day or 2. I've had more luck with this method than the 'without ticket number' option anyway.

goingnowhere

Thats pretty much it

If you get a boarding card at the airport on aer lingus headed card the points should post within a week.

The IT problems pre date Aer Club

One very important fact to note is your name on the booking has to match the account, otherwise the system may not credit, I've seen this happen

rio1

I’ve filled in the form a second time now, fingers crossed it will work now...

AndyBoBandy

as a general rule of thumb with Aer Lingus, always keep a copy of your boarding card (or even a photo of it) with the 053 ticket number, until the points/Tier Credits show up!!

barman linen

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

as a general rule of thumb with Aer Lingus, always keep a copy of your boarding card (or even a photo of it) with the 053 ticket number, until the points/Tier Credits show up!!

The 053 number is always on the Bookings@aerlingus.com email you receive after a web booking. If you use a TA it may be more difficult.

goingnowhere

barman linen wrote: »

The 053 number is always on the Bookings@aerlingus.com email you receive after a web booking. If you use a TA it may be more difficult.

And it's always on the boarding card, but not the android mobile version

Aer Lingus Regional is where the fun starts

billy few mates

"Was same during the Gold Circle days, seems it's something to do with check in system at the airport you fly from.

For flights from mainland Europe, the only airport I know of that credits automatically is AMS..."

Ridiculous system, if Aer Lingus can't sort out their IT system to do this correctly then the default system should be for them to automatically credit you the flights for the tickets they've sold you until they can administer it properly.
I'm a member of several different loyalty schemes, airline, car rental, hotel etc, top tier on most of them and all of them work properly, I never have to chase them up. Some airline loyalty schemes send you an email as soon as you land to confirm your points, most hotels do it automatically on check in. In this day and age of modern technology there's absolutely no excuse for for not being able to administer the system properly, it's not exactly rocket science, they have all the information.
It really does take a special kind of stupid to come up with a loyalty scheme to encourage return customers that is so frustrating that it actually discourages them...

L1011

The only loyalty system I have had any major issues with other than EI is Supervalu.

Guess who happens to be a partner? :pac:

jesus_thats_gre

billy few mates wrote: »

I'm a member of several different loyalty schemes, airline, car rental, hotel etc, top tier on most of them and all of them work properly, I never have to chase them up. Some airline loyalty schemes send you an email as soon as you land to confirm your points, most hotels do it automatically on check in. In this day and age of modern technology there's absolutely no excuse for for not being able to administer the system properly, it's not exactly rocket science, they have all the information.
It really does take a special kind of stupid to come up with a loyalty scheme to encourage return customers that is so frustrating that it actually discourages them...

I have gone from being a big advocate of them who used to regularly recommend them to colleagues flying to the US in Business Class, to now telling colleagues not to bother when asked. To use language the the higher ups in Aer Lingus might care about - I have gone from being an advocate who flew with them 40/45 times a year to being a major detractor. And the sole reason for that is the introduction of AerClub.

One of the most annoying thing about the changes since the introduction of AerClub is their Customer Care. Under Gold Circle, you could be confident that an email or brief call would result in any issues being quickly resolved - Caitriona in particular solved so many issues for me. It's a disgrace that they made a conscious decision to make it harder to solve issues with the launch of AerClub given they appear to have made zero effort to resolve the long running issues that cause flights not to be credited.

Being frank, the willing acceptance of low standards and a lack of attention to detail on everything IT related leaves a bad taste in my the mouth given it's an airline.