DEAR TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER: I just lately booked tickets by the Aer Lingus web site. Once I did, the positioning solely listed that a carry-on was included with the fare, relatively than each a carry-on and one checked bag earlier than the ultimate buy.
I used to be confused, and I unknowingly added three further checked luggage, which had been pointless. I overpaid Aer Lingus $449 as a result of it included an extra checked bag for every passenger on my itinerary.
I referred to as Aer Lingus twice on the identical date of the ticket buy and filed an internet request that it return the baggage charge. I stored receiving messages that the charge was nonrefundable.
I believed Aer Lingus’ on-line reserving was very complicated and misleading, so I additionally filed a criticism with the U.S. Division of Transportation (DOT). I obtained no additional data from the DOT aside from acknowledgment of my criticism.
I would like my $449 again. Are you able to assist me get it?
— Krista O’Brien, New Haven, Connecticut
ANSWER: Aer Lingus ought to have been clear about what was included in your fare. Most longer worldwide flights embrace a checked bag, so perhaps it assumed everybody knew — however everybody didn't know.
Your case raises a number of vital points. First, there’s the problem of an airline deliberately making its reserving interface complicated in a means that advantages it. That is commonest with seat assignments. You probably have an airline ticket, you've a seat. The airline will attempt to promote you a seat task, that means you get to pick the place you sit. But it surely typically leaves you with the impression that you simply don’t have a seat in any respect. That’s a misleading reserving interface.
Did Aer Lingus have a misleading interface? I couldn’t examine as a result of doing so would require that I purchase a ticket, which I don’t want. However I imagine you if you say you had been confused. I don’t know if the confusion was intentional. It may need been, and perhaps that’s one thing for the DOT to research.
The second problem is the refundability of charges. Already, the DOT says your airfare should be refundable for those who cancel inside 24 hours, until it’s every week or lower than every week earlier than your journey. So, why not apply the identical rule to charges?
And, lastly, there’s the charge itself. Each airplane ticket ought to embrace a seat, a checked bag and, on longer flights, one thing to eat and drink. And for those who assume the latter is a luxurious, you must have been on the funds airline flight from Madrid, Spain to Buenos Aires, Argentina the place they tried to promote us breakfast and drinks on the finish of a 13-hour flight. I’m stunned there wasn’t a riot on board.
Bear in mind, for those who can’t make progress with the lower-level contacts at an airline like Aer Lingus, you possibly can at all times take your criticism to the highest. I checklist the names, numbers and e-mail addresses of the customer support executives of Aer Lingus on my client advocacy web site.
I contacted Aer Lingus in your behalf. A consultant responded to me. “We've got reviewed Ms. O’Brien’s case,” she advised me. “Our phrases and circumstances for luggage charges are nonrefundable. Nevertheless, as a gesture of goodwill, we've refunded her baggage charges.”
I’m unsure I'd name that a gesture of goodwill, extra like the best factor to do.
Christopher Elliott is the founding father of Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit group that helps customers clear up their issues. E-mail him at chris@elliott.org or get assist by contacting him at elliottadvocacy.org/assist/.
(c) 2023 Christopher Elliott
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