TEN thousand bookings were made with Aer Lingus on the first day of its winter flight promotion with the grocery chain, Quinnsworth.
However, Aer Lingus stressed yesterday that, while there are" plenty of seats left, availability is restricted to certain flights.
Yesterday Quinnsworth issued a statement pointing out that "given the exceptional nature of this offer customers preference for time and dates of flights cannot be guaranteed."
The statement acknowledged, that while many will be happy and satisfied with the flight arrangements, there will be others who "may be disappointed because Aer Lingus cannot meet "their specific requirements."
A woman who was unable to get a flight to Boston on a number of days was seeking seats on days when there was no availability, a spokesman for Aer Lingus said.
The woman complained to the Examiner and was also interviewed on RTE, saying she was unable to get seats on a number of days to Boston, even though she went to book on the first possible morning.
According to the head of Corporate Affairs at Aer Lingus, Mr Dan Loughrey, she was looking for seats at the time when the teams and fans of Notre Dame and the US Navy football teams would be travelling to Ireland for their football game.
Mr Loughrey said that when a similar promotion had been run last year, 95 per cent of those seeking flights had got their first choice. He said the promotion was "a balance between "good value and flexibility".
The offer allows two people to travel to New York, Boston or Chicago, for instance, for £379. Certain conditions apply, such as travelling mid-week and having the required number of stamps from Quinnsworth, Crazy Prices or Lifestyle Sports.
Mr Loughrey said that 18,000 return trips were available on the North Atlantic route, 35,000 to continental Europe, 45,000 to British regional airports and 50,000 to London.
He said that in addition to restrictions on certain days, there might be restrictions at certain times.
There were no seats available on the early-morning flights to London, for instance, which are business flights. However, seats would probably be available later in the morning, when demand was less.