A question for anyone with a similar situation and a vent :)
I just returned from a 2 week vacation in Ireland with a side trip to Amsterdam. Every travel portion of my trip was a nightmare!
The issue: I booked my flight (with miles) through Alaska on Aer Lingus. I flew Alaska for my US-side connecting flights. My to/from Dublin flights were on Aer Lingus. My flight to Dublin was cancelled (after sitting on the plane for 4 hours!), I was rebooked for the same flight 24 hour later, I was put up at a hotel. (side note: I left Seattle at 1pm, got into my hotel room in LAX at 2:30am!)
I did have trip insurance and I'm working through that for both ends of my trip and a letter provided to me from Aer Lingus states I am entitled to compensation through my travel agent. I just filled out the EU261 form on Aer Lingus's site and am crossing my fingers.
The whole travel part was a nightmare as EI kept saying AS needed to handle things since I booked w/them and AS was saying EI was responsible since it was their cancellation/delay.
Has anyone had any luck w/Aer Lingus & a EU 261 complaint? Have anyone booked through another airline and still been successful with EI? I am SO disappointed with EI I spent SO MANY HOURS on hold with them.
TANGENT: On my way home, DUB to SFO, the flight was delayed so I missed my SFO to SEA flight and while it was only 6pm and there were many flights still available, when we landed and an agent showed up AN HOUR LATER, she needed her supervisor's approval to a) book our hotel and b) rebook our flight, but none were available b/c it was nighttime in DUB, what kind of nonsense is this????? Our flight was schedule to leave DUB at 12pm so they had plenty of time to have the proper approval before we arrived. We were told everything would be sorted when we arrived at SFO and an agent would be waiting. Of course no one was waiting for us and she didn't even have our names! We had to write it all down!
4 hours later (10pm) we were all told to book our own hotels and we were free to book our connecting flights and we'd be fully reimbursed but she wouldn't provide this in writing! Since the flight was delayed only 2.5 hours and people have no proof of what she said I doubt anyone will get any reimbursement. Luckily I have family in SF so I was able to stay w/them and EI did rebook me so I only have transportation costs (which I am filing w/my trip insurance). Ironically, I woke up and read my email to find that AL booked me on a 6AM flight. How ridiculous is that? I went to bed at 12am after being on hold and dropped by EI 3x, figuring I'd just buy a ticket in the morning if I was in the same predicament. I was able to get AS to rebook me, since I was on hold w/EI for a total of 6 hrs to no
While I am certain that Alaska won't process this EU 261, I will call them on Monday. I have to talk to customer care, and they aren't open again until Monday. I will still call them to say that I did.
The lesson I learned is that for international flights: book direct. Or maybe, just stay home :)