Aer Lingus nightmare!

[RobandLynsey]

Originally Posted by Cloverlady

We had our Sept flights cancelled last week (not that they bothered to tell us!) and we've since booked with BA for the same dates.

We DID see some flights £200 cheaper direct from Manchester to Orlando with Aer Lingus that we considered, but in the end we are sticking with BA. We trust BA , they've been fabulous.

It was a risk trying a new airline for us.
I would not now trust Aer Lingus if we'd rebooked the Manchester flights I'm afraid. Their lack of communication after the cancellation and boredom on the phone unable to suggest any alternative, and then the bad reports on here since make us think we are right with sticking with BA.

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BA have been fab for us, we had a short break booked to Dubrovnik when the pandemic kicked off and we had a full refund no problem at all, refunded very quickly as well. I trust BA as well and usually they are one of the cheapest when booking flights, hotels & cars. AL I'm afraid just need to work on their customer service a lot from my experience!

To put the OP's mind at ease more though, I am sure Disney will sort it as they usually are awesome at sorting things like this out and you never know you may get some extra pixie dust thrown in!

[lam]

Here's what I've written on another thread:

HI , having read all of this thread so far, it reminds me of exactly the types of difficulty many of us had (inc me) with aer lingus last year.

I am in Ireland & always travel with them. I prefer the 2x2 seating. Although more expensive than United, I need the extra room and privacy!

To put things in perspective, many of us were told last year, that flights were going ahead to MCO from Dublin or were scheduled or hadn't been cancelled, when the reality was that they were only operating a skeleton service from Dublin to the USA. Flights only to Boston, JFK and Chicago.

Because I didn't wait for the email cancellation, I took the voucher, even though they didnt CANCEL the flight at that point, they were only operating to those 3 airports, so knew the flights weren't going ahead to MCO.

When looking at the arrivals and departures for AL, for the WHOLE YEAR last year AND THIS YEAR SO FAR, they are still only flying to the same 3 airports in the USA.

dublinairport/flight...ive-departures

If anyone has booked a direct or indirect flight with AL via dublin or shannon this summer, I'd strongly advise you to check out different routes.
Theres no way they are going ahead.
The Irish govt has only recently allowed travel between counties. We've only just opened up non essential shops. Our bars and restaurants remain closed except for ltd outside dining and takeaways.

They are still trying to decide on EU travel so chances of allowing international travel to USA for this summer is remote.

Theres still a travel ban into the USA for non US citizens.

As a previous Dibber said, make a plan B.

I''m sorry if i've burst someones bubble. I too have suffered as I've had to cancel 3 trips so far and am trying tore arrange for summer 2022.

As an aside, United are flying to Newark from Dublin and American Airlines are operating to Philadelphia from Dublin but it seems only on certain days.

Oh and to add, the dibber whose flights for 3 bookings were cancelled, you DONT have to pay extra for the direct flights they have arranged as under aviation law, they have to arrange suitable comparable or better flights or a refund.if inferior flights offered (eg long layover) you can insist on hotel night, transfers to and from airport and even airport lounge!

[Cloverlady]

Originally Posted by tocpe321

Hi

How did you find out your September flights were cancelled?

Was that by you calling them?

Thanks

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Hi there
We just went on manage my booking by chance - and our flights weren't there!
Then hubby went on check-in to see which flights you'd booked were available and it was all gone from there as well.
Triple checked by looking on their website and out flights weren't available to book - then hubby phoned them up

[tocpe321]

Just spoke to AL. As of now most July flights are cancelled. When pressed re when in July, they said the 18th. Just said my flights are operating at the moment and to keep checking.

At the moment for me in early August it looks doubtful, but still possible.

I'm going to reconsider options, all set against background that we may not travel for other reasons anyway.

[lam]

They cancel in rotation normally but that didn''t work last year and there seemed to be no system in place. I think they may have learned from this and hopefully you'll get word soon.

Just keep contacting them every week via phone/f/b and twitter as eventually you'll hear something but if they offer a voucher, and you take it, you cannot then apply for a refund.

hang on the extra few weeks to get your email cancellation which entitles you to a refund witin 7 days of notification.

[Lea1992]

Originally Posted by tocpe321

Just spoke to AL. As of now most July flights are cancelled. When pressed re when in July, they said the 18th. Just said my flights are operating at the moment and to keep checking.

At the moment for me in early August it looks doubtful, but still possible.

I'm going to reconsider options, all set against background that we may not travel for other reasons anyway.

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Honestly this just gets worse by the minute.. So I was just on twitter & someone asked about flights being cancelled upto the 18th July as there was an article about it on Dublin Live.

This was AL's response was: Hi, this isn't correct. If your flight schedule is affected we will send you an email confirming this and the options available to you. If you can send us your booking reference we can double-check your flight status for you? t.co/h3SQABGAOz.

Then they go onto say that this person's flight on the 17th was definitely still scheduled!

[lam]

The MCO flights were scheduled last year too, but none of the flights actually took off! Only those going to the 3 USA airports I mentioned.

[Cloverlady]

If you can at all, I'd book a plan B just in case.
We've done that in effect, rebooked with BA, who are cancellable for a voucher, and we already know we are going next year so no biggie for us.
Depends on your plans for next (or within the 'use the vouchers within' period) year though, obviously.

So bad of them to keep people dangling in the dark though, in these most uncertain of uncertain of times.

[Cloverlady]

Originally Posted by lam

The MCO flights were scheduled last year too, but none of the flights actually took off! Only those going to the 3 USA airports I mentioned.

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Yes, When I searched flights on their website for August and September for this year I could only see Dublin indirect via BOS and JFK bookable

[Kawaii]

Thanks all. I've got to the point where I'll let Disney sort it as I can't do anything else, we had already come to terms with the fact that we may have to postpone till next year, which would be sad but gives us more saving/planning time. Thanks for all the advice, I'll make sure I'm clear on what is being offered before I accept anything. The whole thing about Aer Lingus cancelling/changing flights seems such a mess, I can understand why it has to be done, but surely there is a more straightforward way.