The disastrous June/July pilots' strike caught Aer Lingus unawares; however, many of the horrors I faced, stranded in Toronto, trying to get home from Vancouver (to Dublin) were due to IT deficits and a shortage of staff on the ground. What little communication there was with HQ was effected by ground staff USING THEIR MOBILES PHONES! And I mean their personal mobiles. Also, those supporting them were outsourced, and none-too-bothered, call centre staff. There was no system to ensure that any one person, let alone an Aer Lingus person, was dealing with the issue. I wrote to Lynne Embleton, and several of her fellow directors (in the airline and in parent, AIG), in early July; but no acknowledgement, let alone a reply. I'm currently on hold for twenty minutes on their complaint line. Not holding my breath.
Posted by
OP
5 posts
I should have added that, at one point, Aer Lingus issued code numbers linked to flights that would take us from Toronto to another Canadian airport — one hop away from Dublin, my destination. When we went to redeem them, we were told that Aer Lingus had requested these tickets but FAILED TO PAY FOR THEM! Extraordinary. I was out $1000+ on hotels, etc, by the time I got home. I vowed not merely an Aer Lingus boycott, but I am quite seriously NEVER flying, anywhere, ever again.
I have just written to them saying that I'll see them in the High Court. Will prob be petty sessions, cheaper.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33818 posts
I hear your anger - did you file a claim before calling in the big guns and making threats?
Posted by
OP
5 posts
Yes and no. I DID file a claim, in the way I described above. believing that the online claims run by AL were inadequate and, in addition, believing that, based on IT experience of the airline thus far, would skew the data I gave them, ask for details spurious to the claim, ignore others that were material, etc etc. Current law says that AL should contact ME unilaterally, without action on my part; and I doubt if any court, including petty sessions, would indulge a defence based on, "But you didn't fill out the online form."
Heaven knows I gave them enough detail in my letter.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33818 posts
so, no - no EU261 or UK261....
Posted by
OP
5 posts
If you read the EU rulings on this matter, notification is all that is required.
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10621 posts
Horrible situation.
Their lack of response would lead me to believe that you do need to fill out the online form even if you don't think it works. That's their protocol.
Posted by
OP
5 posts
To tickle the internal IT mechanisms in Aer Lingus, yes, you're probably right. It's just that the standard forms are so constrained, and appear to have been designed with the airline industry in mind: hence "trap" questions, limited cause of action, etc.
Posted by
Used to be Steilacoom, now it’s Las Vegas
2296 posts
Have you reached out to the Aer Lingus forum on Flyer Talk? I am so sorry that this happened to you and understand the frustration with lack of communication. We’ve been through something similar with British Airways and understand the stress that comes with uncertainty. I would think you need to decide exactly what you want from Aer Lingus and then use that in a post on FlyerTalk. I know the experienced BA posters on FlyerTalk always advise being brief and concise in communicating with the airlines and ticking the proper claim boxes moves things forward.