Does “sold out” mean sold out?

It's a tangent to your question, but what is the High Holy Day?- it's not a term I have heard in the UK. I assume it is Palm Sunday (for Christians), but in the Christian Calendar Easter Day is the highest of Holy Days.

It may help to contact Aer Lingus by telephone. If in the US 1-800-474-7424 (no purchase required for information). Other contact information/methods available on their website.

"High Holy Day" is St Patrick's Day where in the US, everyone claims to be of Irish descent, get drunk on green beer, puke all over themselves, make an absolute fool of themselves, then spend the rest of the year trying to regain some semblance of normalcy, only to do it all over again next March 17.

I have access to the actual, live, fare bucket inventory counts. What date are you looking at?

"High Holy Day" is St Patrick's Day

Are you serious? I've never heard this. I do know that in some dioceses, St Patrick's Day can be declared a "day off" from Lent.

It’s a bad joke. To me High Holy Day would be a Jewish Holyday.

The term High Holy Day(s) is not used in referring to Christian holy days. It is a referrence to Jewish holidays. And St Patricks day is not even a holy day of obligation in the US. The OPs characterization is also offensively exaggerated, although it may be the case within his circle. But perhaps the OP was attempting to be amusing?

In any case, monitoring the Aer Lingus website for a day or 2 may resolve the issue, or call the airline directly.

Searching for 'High Holy Day', this is among the results

https://www.xavier.edu/jesuitresource/online-resources/calendar-religious-holidays-and-observances/multi-faith-calendar---next-year

St Patrick did not make the list.

Would have been helpful had OP stated which date(s) from March 18 and March 30 he was looking at as 'sold out'

The usual term for the pre-Easter period is “Holy Week”. High Holy Days, usually expressed as High Holidays, generally refers to the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

With respect to airline pricing, sometimes “sold out” means seats at that particular price are gone and the others are more expensive.

Thanks to @CJean for clarifying what a High Holy Day is- Jewish terminology. We are at very high risk here of straying way too far off topic, but in the Church of England calendar of festal days Patrick is a 6th rank day (a Primary Greater Double) unless he is the Patron Saint of the Church when it is a 4th rank day (a Primary Double)- but nowhere near a Day of Obligation. Different calendars, different practices.
My condensed textbook on Saints (which has 2 pages on him) refers rather glancingly to the ancient contention of Glastonbury that Patrick is actually buried there, his supposed birthplace. Pages and pages could be taken up on that very complex question.

But what is really important here is the air fare question- where the exact proposed day of flight would be beneficial to other people far more informed than I in such matters bottoming out the matter. My 2 cents worth is that on the UK website of Aer Lingus there is economy class availability on each day of that two week period. RT fares (coming back 2 weeks later, as a random enquiry) with checked bag start at around $835 on our site- rather less with carry on only.

I've certainly heard of St Patrick's Day referred to as the High Holy Day, mostly said tongue-in-cheek by fellow Americans of Irish descent. (And the level of condescension and dismissal from some of these commenters who haven't is disappointing. Disappointing, but not surprising, knowing how people can be carelessly mean behind the anonymity of the internet.)

OP: Maybe there was a glitch that cleared out—I see those dates as wide open, on Google Flights, Aer Lingus' site, and ExpertFlier.

Come on, this ""High Holy Day" is St Patrick's Day where in the US, everyone claims to be of Irish descent, get drunk on green beer, puke all over themselves, make an absolute fool of themselves, then spend the rest of the year trying to regain some semblance of normalcy, only to do it all over again next March 17." is obviously meant as a joke/exaggeration. Obviously not everyone in the US does the things mentioned.
The reactions to the use of the term "High Holy Day" show that one has to be careful about assuming that everyone knows the meaning of certain phrases. I have heard of St Patrick's day referred to as High Holy Day a couple of times in California and New York but it did not click for me that this is what the OP meant until I saw the first response and reread the question. It might be worthwhile for people to think about whether a term they are using is universally understood. Think about how much easier this would have been if the OP had written "after March 17th and before March 31."

I tried various searches for "high holy day" and kept getting returns for Jewish holy days. Wasn't till I put in Irish high holy day that I got return for St Patrick. I think my Google search bar rolled its eyes at me.

March 17 is meh, it's just a run of the mill feast day. I'll keep November 23 as my feast day for St Clement, by hammer and hand all arts do stand!

So now re-reading the original post and with further explanation about the dates, and given that the airline is Aer Lingus, I understand the reference to St. Patrick’s Day. It is indeed a big drinking and partying holiday in the US—-here in Seattle we have “Irish Week” with a big parade, usually a visit from the mayor of Galway, our sister city, and events at Seattle Center. As one with legitimate Irish hermitage (3 of 4 grandparents) I loved attending the parade for many years while I worked downtime. But I have never heard it referred to as “High Holy Days”. Nor have I ever had a green beer.

I have been in Dublin on St. Patrick’s Day (in 1967) and it was fun to see the parade (mostlycommercial floats and schoolchildren in groups) but it did not seem like an important religious holiday. Nor a big occasion for drinking. And I cannot see why the date would cause a huge uptick in Aer Lingus bookings, unless things have changed a lot since I was last in Ireland.

Let's get back to the question.....what it could mean is that the seat is sold out at that price. You can get the same seat as a slightly higher price.

Next time you get on a plane, look at your seat. It has many prices depening on so many things. They may offer you that type of seat at the super duper cheap rate. But they only make three seats available at that price. They can still advertise that they offer super, duper cheap rates to entice you to look at their offers.

Once those three seats are gone, they are "sold out" and you may have to go to the next price level.

Ladies and gentlemen, my "High Holy Days" comment was a term frequently used in jest for St. Patrick's Day, in Chicago. It is only a jest and not meant to demean any religion nor to infer that it is an actual church sanctioned holiday or event. If I have offended anyone, please accept my deepest apology. For the rest of you, take it in the spirit it was intended.

The actual date I was looking at was 21 March and return 28 March.

FrankII’s comment is what I suggested in my first response to this question. The OP should try the booking again to see the cost. Or maybe they already have. No way to know unless they return to the thread.

So, back to the business in hand, travelling OUT on the 2105 direct flight on 21 March, and back on the 1350 direct flight on 28 March I see RT with checked bag and seat selection for $710.82- take it back to 10kg hand luggage and no seat selection it becomes $537.82- as of now (1501 GMT, 0701 PT, 1001 in Florida) 3 seats left at this price for both fare types- this is on the UK site of Aer Lingus.

So there must have been a computer glitch, unless it is presenting differently on the US site.

I am looking at the 20:40 outbound flight EL 124, and it shows "Saver" sold out and "Smart at $486.20. The return flight, EL 125, at 15:20 has "Saver" at $316 and "Smart" at $401. The total for "Smart" (checked bag & seat selection) both ways is $887. This is on the US site. If I could get it for the $710 that you see, I would book it now.

Our experience annually with many European exchange families is that their tickets are usually less, sometimes much less, than our US to Europe tickets. We don’t ever check the reverse pricing available to those coming from the UK and Europe anymore.

Ah! So you're seeing specific, discount fares as sold out—not the entire economy cabin, as your original post suggests.

Yes, it's absolutely possible that those fares are sold out three months out. Only so many are allocated, according to revenue management forecasts. Aer Lingus believes it can fill the plane at (or above) the fares now listed. (Though those forecasts are subject to downward revision.)

Op - Checking Aer Lingus right now for your dates shows available tickets for 288.70 out and 316.12 back.

P.S. loved your high holidays joke. As someone who has both jewish and Irish relations, we'd all get the joke and laugh.

Just checked and it is still the same. Perhaps checking from different cities gives different pricing?

It is not unusual for flights to be priced differently on the US and European websites for an airline. I have often found the British Airways prices much better on the UK BA website—-but there is no way I can get them, even using a VPN and saying I am in the UK. Once I enter my US credit card, it’s game over.

Perhaps checking from different cities gives different pricing?

The prices are the same regardless of city. Right now you can buy a Smart round-trip for $775, taking the 16:55 outbound from ORD, either flight returning. What are you waiting for?

travelling OUT on the 2105 direct flight on 21 March, and back on the 1350 direct flight on 28 March I see RT with checked bag and seat selection for $710.82- ( Posted by isn31c
Lake District, England
12/13/23 07:03 AM )..... no idea what isn31c is looking at

I do not see any Aer Lingus flights between ORD-DUB with those departure times on March 21 /28 combo OP is looking for.

ORD departure choice is 16:55 or 20:40

DUB departures are 11:30 & 15:20

Using the 16:55 ORD departure and either return time, the total "Saver" fare is $605

Happy hunting

I am not going to waste more of my time re-checking. What is not in doubt is that the OP's original comment that

I see the economy seats listed a# “sold out”.

seems not to be correct.

Nor has the OP anywhere stated whether he is or is not travelling with checked baggage. What seems not to be in doubt is that there is around $100 to be saved if travelling on the earlier outbound flight as opposed to the later, and even more money to be saved if just travelling with hand baggage. And that everyone roughly concurs that the return flight is between $600 and $775 if judicious choices are made. It is for the OP to determine what steps to take within those parameters to get the best possible fare for how he prefers to travel. But up to $280 to be saved if certain choices are made.

As others have pointed out UK to US return is often cheaper than the other way- less than two weeks ago I was quoted £590 return on BA in economy with checked bags for LHR to SEA travelling 2 days later outwards. Less than this fare to DUB in 3 months time for a much greater distance, and I think a very good last minute fare. As it was life intervened hours later to make that trip unviable. From what I have heard SEA to LHR return at that price on BA would be even more unusual.

Just to clear things up. I am ticketed on the two flights with one of my daughters. Another daughter just expressed that she too wants to go. I would like to book her on the same flights and also allow her a checked bag. Therefore I want to book their "Smart" fare. To this end, I bit the bullet 45 hours ago and booked the flights at a cost of $887.30 Today, the flights are $775.07 I called Aer Lingus to see if I could get a refund or credit for the difference, they said No.

I could cancel the previous booking and get a credit which would not show up for "several days". Then I am back in the same place I was before- hoping the fares would be at the lower price.