Aer Lingus cancels routes but slow to refund.

yalders5

Can't see this on the forums, so forgive me if already done.

I booked flights to Nice last November and paid in full, including extras such as seat reservations etc.

In jan I received an email saying they were no longer flying this route and would therefore be cancelling my tickets and issuing a refund to be received by 23rd Feb (today} I did try at the time to actually speak to someone, but everywhere is automated calls as expected.

Today, or course, no refund, so off I set with various numbers, pressing this option and that and still nobody but recorded messages and then cut off. So I tried a different tack and called into make a reservation and lo and behold there was a real live voice at the other end ready to take my money!!!

I told the woman that I had not received my refund yet and she said 'oh you have to apply for a refund' . What??? They cancel my flight, tell me via an email infront of me, that my money will be credited back by 23rd feb, but nowhere does it say that I must 'apply' for it.

Anyway, she said she would start the process of refund today and that it should reach me within 10 working days. Not happy. I am waiting to book flights with another airline but need the money back in order to do so.

I have written a complaint to head office in Dublin, but thought I would warn others that if you are expecting a refund, then it wont come automatically without you going through the myriad of telephone numbers to get through.

Long and the short of it is, they took my money3 months ago, then cancelled my flights, then wait for me to ask for my money back. What bugs me is they never said to apply. To quote the email.

"We are contacting you as a result of a revision to the Aer Lingus schedule and would like to advise you of a change to your previously confirmed itinerary.

Aer Lingus has suspended its service to your planned destination. All bookings for this route have been cancelled.

We will refund your booking in full by 23rd February 2010.

We sincerely regret the inconvenience this may cause.


We would like to thank you for your co-operation and understanding.

This email is for information purposes only and cannot be responded to.

Kind Regards"

Note the fact that one is unable to respond to the email.

Rant over

bap98189

Aren't they owned by Ryanair now? Sounds like the customer service is about as good.

yalders5

ooh not sure about that one. Shame though, because up until now I had always rated aer lingus as one of the better budget airlines.

hazey31

Phew, they're not. I refuse to fly Ryanair and we were thinking of heading over to Ireland in a few months with them.

"The airline is 29.4% owned by Ryanair and 25.4% owned by the Government of Ireland. It was floated on the Dublin and London Stock Exchanges on 2 October 2006, following prior government approval (the government previously owned 85% of the airline)"

The European Commission has blocked them form buying more. Good.