Aer Lingus nightmare - check your passenger names!

[GroovyYvee]

So, I went to add API to my AL booking (booked via BA) and discovered that they had pasted my husband's title to his name, to form a very strange 'name' on the passenger info section. This needs to match with passports and ESTAs, so I tried to contact AL to change it. I couldn't do this on their website because I had booked via a third party (BA). No problem, I thought, I'll give them a call... after waiting for someone to pick up the phone for over an hour, I checked on google and saw the possibility of contacting them via Facebook. Oh my word... the notion of 'type your comment here and we'll get back to you' seems ludicrous: there are hundreds of people's comments on there, all needing assistance and seemingly getting nowhere fast.

I solved my issue by calling BA and asking them to change my flights from AL to BA, which they did with ease. I had to wait about half an hour in the call queue, but the lady I spoke to was absolutely lovely and super helpful. I am so relieved to have got this sorted. We can still travel on the same days and at almost the same times, so it has worked out well thankfully. I think the small upcharge is worth it to alleviate the stress!

The moral of this tale: check your passenger details carefully if you book via a third party - the details might not transfer across in the same format as the original and could cause you problems further down the line.

[Andysaurus]

I have a flight with Virgin coming up and my passenger name is 'AndrewMr', I contacted them and they said it's fine, I still asked them to change it and the lady said she had but still showing online as the original. I'm not too worried.

Confused as to why you changed your flight because of a name issue, which according to Virgin, doesn't matter as long as the name itself is spelt correctly.

[GroovyYvee]

Not just the name issue, but the inability to contact anyone to check/resolve the issue. It worried me that so many people were/are struggling to resolve other issues such as lost baggage - totally destroyed my confidence in AL!

[lizzie145]

Sadly I doubt BA will be stress free with baggage and strike action

[casper_gutman]

Our names are like that with Virgin. The same has happened in the past on Singapore, ANA and American. It's a common thing and it doesn't seem to matter.

It's a shame Aer Lingus didn't respond to your attempts to contact them about this though. And it's a shame airlines keep doing this! I can only assume they don't realise how much it stresses people out.

[duchy]

With BA threatening to strike I’m not sure I’d have switched a flight from another carrier to BA , especially for more money.

[Quensabob]

We spoke to air lingus via messenger we pre booked seats and added api that way ,they were brilliant and really helpful,they responded instantly! We booked via Thomas Cook through BA codeshare with airlingus,I have spoken to all 3 via messenger and to be honest BA were the inly one who took 4 days to reapond!