A reader called Emer ended up booking not one but two flights for herself and her family to the same destination at the same time through no fault of her own and has struggled for weeks to have the problem resolved.
“On Thursday, April 3rd I attempted to amend an Aer Lingus flight booking online,” her mail begins. “This was a flight for four people and I was amending the flight for us to fly a couple of days later than originally planned.”
The cost to amend the booking came in at €430 but, she writes, the transaction would not go through due to an error on the Aer Lingus website. She sent us a screengrab of the error message she was getting.
She authorised the payment with her bank several times but the Aer Lingus page kept stalling and no email came through to confirm that the modification had been successful.
“I rang Aer Lingus customer service [and] after a long wait I spoke to a member of their team who confirmed it had not gone through, and then charged me €530 to amend the booking as it cost more to do it over the phone.”
She did point out that the only reason she was making the booking over the phone was because of an issue with the Aer Lingus website but the representative said their hands were tied and there was nothing they could do.
She paid the fee and was less than impressed a day later when she saw two separate Aer Lingus transactions appear on her credit card – one for €430 and another one for €530.
She realised that – contrary to what she had been told by the Aer Lingus employee the online transaction had been processed as well as the phone transaction.
“I have spoken to customer care on the phone four times and have been promised a refund of €530, the double-charged amount. They said I could expect it in five days. I also have two complaints with Aer Lingus, both in early April, which I have quoted numerous times on the phone to customer care. The average wait time on the phone is 40 minutes so I can’t afford to ring daily as I work full-time. I’ve also tried their WhatsApp service but the bot said to contact customer service.
“So I am owed €530 by Aer Lingus since early April. I can’t afford to have that amount outstanding on my credit card and I can’t understand this lack of action on their side for their clear and obvious, and on record, error. I have also contacted the IAA, but honestly feel like I’m losing my mind.”
Her frustration is entirely understandable and when we contacted the airline it was quick to hold its hands up.
“Aer Lingus sincerely regrets that this customer experienced difficulties when attempting to modify their flights online,” a spokeswoman said. “While our website’s ‘Manage Trip’ function typically allows customers to make changes seamlessly online, we acknowledge that, in this instance, they were unable to do so and were inadvertently charged twice in error. We have processed the full refund for the duplicate charge and sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused.”
