Travellers complain of being unable to rearrange flights

DUBLIN AIRPORT:AER LINGUS passengers queued for up to an hour at Dublin airport yesterday to purchase tickets after their flights were cancelled on Wednesday due to weather conditions.

Angry travellers complained they felt abandoned by the airline on Wednesday night and could not book online to rearrange their flights.

In all, 168 flights were either delayed or cancelled at Dublin airport on Wednesday as a result of snow.

Yesterday all flights to Gatwick were cancelled because the London airport was closed to incoming planes. Flights to Knock airport were also cancelled because of its closure.

Aer Lingus was forced to cancel 34 flights out of Dublin airport on Wednesday; Ryanair cancelled 26.

Overnight accommodation was not provided for passengers by any airlines, though passengers will be entitled to claim for reimbursement of hotel expenses under EU Regulation 261/2004.

But they will not be entitled to any compensation as the cause of the cancellations was beyond the control of the airlines.

Passengers queuing at the Aer Lingus ticket desk yesterday complained of how the airline handled the crisis.

Joan O’Hara from London said she spent two hours on board a plane on the runway waiting to fly to Gatwick on Wednesday.

“They gave us no help. We had to find our own hotel and they told us over the tannoy to change our flight online, but we couldn’t get on to the site,” she said.

Jamie and Caray Neville from Australia were due to travel to Paris on Wednesday and spent five hours on the runway.

When they disembarked they were told their flight might leave after 8pm. They waited and when it became apparent it would not leave, they tried to book a new flight in the airport but there was no one to take their booking.

“No one from Aer Lingus helped; we got on a bus and got a hotel. Then we tried to book online, but we couldn’t,” Mr Neville said.

Ryanair’s ticket desk was quieter yesterday. According to its ramp manager Tony Lowe, the airline re-booked most of its passengers on alternative flights before they left the airport on Wednesday or advised them of their options.

“People didn’t leave the airport without knowing what was available to them,” he said.

A spokeswoman for Aer Lingus said 3,800 customers changed their bookings online on Wednesday and a further 3,700 had their queries handled through Aer Lingus call centres.

At 6pm the change-for-free facility on the website developed problems, but these were fixed by 8.10pm, she said.