Aer Lingus - Booking Seats and OLCI

Ycryan · 14 Apr 21, 06:50 PM

Hi

We took the plunge today and rebooked flights for our September trip. For some reason our flights with United got cancelled last month.

We've booked with Aer Lingus via Dublin and booked this with Netflights.

I've logged into my booking on the Aer Lingus site and it says that I can't book seats online as I booked through an agent. It says I have to call them to book seats and it looks like you have to pay regardless of which seat you choose. Is that right?

Is it possible to choose seats for free at check in?

Also it said on their website that its not possible to check in online for flights to USA and Canada, is this also true?

Sorry for all the questions, not having flown with AL before I'm not sure how it works.

TIA.

kingstefan21 · 14 Apr 21, 10:31 PM

Not sure how helpful this info will be but we booked direct with aer lingus and they do offer a set amount of free seats near back or plane.

We have encountered similar issues in previous years booking with BA when a leg of our journey (Dub-LGW) was Aer Lingus we couldn�t check in/select seats but when we arrived at DUb we got seats allocated for both flights.

landandword17 · 14 Apr 21, 10:43 PM

They have free seats down the back and you can select those by ringing. The online check in is a covid thing as they now need to check at check in that people flying over have the required documentation to be allowed on. Pre-covid you could check in online and chose a free seat, usually is the last section of the plane. And finally while this will hopefully be gone by September it is worth being aware that Ireland recently introduced mandatory quarantine for US arrivals with no estimated end date. I would check what your options are with Netflights for changing your flights should that still be an issue closer to to the time.

Ycryan · 15 Apr 21, 09:18 PM

Originally Posted by landandword17

They have free seats down the back and you can select those by ringing. The online check in is a covid thing as they now need to check at check in that people flying over have the required documentation to be allowed on. Pre-covid you could check in online and chose a free seat, usually is the last section of the plane. And finally while this will hopefully be gone by September it is worth being aware that Ireland recently introduced mandatory quarantine for US arrivals with no estimated end date. I would check what your options are with Netflights for changing your flights should that still be an issue closer to to the time.

Oh gosh, that's for flagging that as I wasn't aware. I'm now wishing I had booked through BA and chosen the Aer Lingus codeshare flight for the outbound but BA Heathrow for return. At least then I wouldn't have a 5 hour stopover at Dublin on the way back.

princessmiya · 16 Apr 21, 07:06 AM

We have booked with Aer Lingus through Netflights, we wanted to book seats as early as possible, we've paid the balance in full and asked them to release the tickets early so we could book the seats(the only way you can book them), you also have to ring Aer Lingus to book the seats you can't do it online, I think he said they are free from row 26 or 29

landandword17 · 16 Apr 21, 02:43 PM

Originally Posted by Ycryan

Oh gosh, that's for flagging that as I wasn't aware. I'm now wishing I had booked through BA and chosen the Aer Lingus codeshare flight for the outbound but BA Heathrow for return. At least then I wouldn't have a 5 hour stopover at Dublin on the way back.

Yes it's one to watch. If you do need to change flights closer to the time or a change they make allows you to change I would avoid DUB completely. Hate saying it as I've been promoting the DUB route here since I joined as we've used it half a dozen times but I'm in Ireland at the moment and things are moving very slowly here with the vaccine, with the lockdown, with them introducing mandatory hotel quarantine so recently etc.. that I wouldn't be confident of September at this very minute. So keep an eye on what happens.

**lam** · 19 Apr 21, 03:45 PM

I fly with AL all the time.
They haven't had any flights to Orlando for over a year now.
They are flying ltd services to JFK, Boston and chicago.

Heres hoping netflights will get notification of a flight change and possibly a cancellation, enabling you to make other more favoruable plans.

EDIT TO ADD

They ARE timetabled to fly to MCO from April to October on tuesday, thursday and saturday BUT no guarantee.
I'd check the actual arrivals and departures info at dublin airport to get a better idea of what traffic there is to MCO.

**lam** · 19 Apr 21, 03:59 PM

Just checked and although timetabled for tuesday flight 20/4, there is no sign of the flight on the actual departures schedule provided by DAA.

Flights to USA from DUB are aer lingus chicago, boston and jfk BUT also newark with United and philadelphia with american airlines.

hope this helps a little.