I’ll never fly Aer Lingus again

[Anonymous]

Your issue isn’t Aer Lingus, it’s booking 3rd party. Don’t do THAT again.

[Anonymous]

OP. I couldn’t check in online for some reason.
Maybe because one way ticket? I really have no idea. We go to England a lot via BA or Virgin and never had issues.
Anyway, contacted smart fares. They will refund original flight with an email from AL saying denied boarding.
At Dublin airport again now and went to AL ticket desk. Still very unhelpful, said they don’t have a customer service email it has to be done through website. Which I tried yesterday and it didn’t work because 3rd party
booking.
They’re just awful.
Will try and deal with it further tomorrow when I’m at home and can use a desktop.
Also… was at check in desk 85 mins before flight take off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I was doing 3 different legs. Was easier to use one website.
Don’t lots of people use Travelocity, Expedia, smart fares etc?

I never book thru third parties. I book direct only. For hotels flights cars etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. I couldn’t check in online for some reason.
Maybe because one way ticket? I really have no idea. We go to England a lot via BA or Virgin and never had issues.
Anyway, contacted smart fares. They will refund original flight with an email from AL saying denied boarding.
At Dublin airport again now and went to AL ticket desk. Still very unhelpful, said they don’t have a customer service email it has to be done through website. Which I tried yesterday and it didn’t work because 3rd party
booking.
They’re just awful.
Will try and deal with it further tomorrow when I’m at home and can use a desktop.
Also… was at check in desk 85 mins before flight take off.

Again, all of this is because of 3rd party booking. Can’t check in online = 3rd party booking. Have to use the 3rd party website for customer service = 3rd party booking. Couldn’t use the main check in line yesterday = 3rd party booking. You likely would’ve had a much different experience with AL had you booked through AL. It does suck but the main lesson is never go through 3rd party to book.

[Anonymous]

I missed a board meeting in Dublin thanks to Aer Lingus canceling all flights out of Dulles for three days in June 2023. It was chaos at their ticket counter at Dulles. After that terrible experience, I go out of my way to avoid flying AL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you were at the counter more than 75 minutes before departure then you have every right to be upset, and you could even pursue involuntarily denied boarding compensation. If you weren’t at the counter at least 75 mins before then I am sorry this is a giant learning experience.

This and a two day delay is massive compensation in the EU

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. I couldn’t check in online for some reason.
Maybe because one way ticket? I really have no idea. We go to England a lot via BA or Virgin and never had issues.
Anyway, contacted smart fares. They will refund original flight with an email from AL saying denied boarding.
At Dublin airport again now and went to AL ticket desk. Still very unhelpful, said they don’t have a customer service email it has to be done through website. Which I tried yesterday and it didn’t work because 3rd party
booking.
They’re just awful.
Will try and deal with it further tomorrow when I’m at home and can use a desktop.
Also… was at check in desk 85 mins before flight take off.

Record the interaction, pay whatever it takes to get home and then get a 261 lawyer

[Anonymous]

When we flew out of Dublin for a 6:30 am flight they said at the hotel 1000% get there 3.5 hours early. I'm like, for a 6:30 am flight?? We need to get there at 3:00 am? They said trust me, get there at 3:00 am.

We needed every minute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your issue isn’t Aer Lingus, it’s booking 3rd party. Don’t do THAT again.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WTH is the Dublin Preclearance? We were there last year and this is the first I'm hearing of it. Is this only out of DC?

It’s where you clear US immigration and customs at foreign departure point rather than at home. In my opinion, it’s the stupidest policy ever, but it persists in Ireland, Abu Dhabi, and certain parts of the Caribbean.

I would much rather wait in line prior to my flight than after. It's much easier to walk off the plane in a domestic terminal and get your luggage. It does require planning though because the lines are longer for preclearance and you have to get to the airport much earlier.

+1. It’s also much easier if you have to make a connecting flight when you get back to the US.

Do they accept GE? My guess is no…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WTH is the Dublin Preclearance? We were there last year and this is the first I'm hearing of it. Is this only out of DC?

It’s where you clear US immigration and customs at foreign departure point rather than at home. In my opinion, it’s the stupidest policy ever, but it persists in Ireland, Abu Dhabi, and certain parts of the Caribbean.

I would much rather wait in line prior to my flight than after. It's much easier to walk off the plane in a domestic terminal and get your luggage. It does require planning though because the lines are longer for preclearance and you have to get to the airport much earlier.

+1. It’s also much easier if you have to make a connecting flight when you get back to the US.

Do they accept GE? My guess is no…

They do
https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs/global-entry/airports-with-global-entry

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I was doing 3 different legs. Was easier to use one website.
Don’t lots of people use Travelocity, Expedia, smart fares etc?

OP this has already overwhelmingly been answered but No to the NO.
Nobody uses these any more. You do have to dig in and start opening tabs on the laptop. Don't even try to be booking on your phone. Travel planning is laptop business. You can go to expedia to see the carriers and then you go to the providers themselves.

Good? Go in peace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. I couldn’t check in online for some reason.
Maybe because one way ticket? I really have no idea. We go to England a lot via BA or Virgin and never had issues.
Anyway, contacted smart fares. They will refund original flight with an email from AL saying denied boarding.
At Dublin airport again now and went to AL ticket desk. Still very unhelpful, said they don’t have a customer service email it has to be done through website. Which I tried yesterday and it didn’t work because 3rd party
booking.
They’re just awful.
Will try and deal with it further tomorrow when I’m at home and can use a desktop.
Also… was at check in desk 85 mins before flight take off.

Record the interaction, pay whatever it takes to get home and then get a 261 lawyer

Uh, ok. Lawyer up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2.5 hours is a totally reasonable time to show up at the airport. I would also swear off an airline that did this to me.

Not for a flight that does preclearance to the US, like Ireland or Abu Dhabi. Then you need to add the usual 2.5 -3 hours and add at least an hour for the US passport and customs control.

I am AMAZED at the comments here. NO. People have connecting flights and often don't even get there in time to do this. And op had a ticket. Do you all work for Aer Lingus? I have also flown with them and pre-clearance occurs at the end and is very fast. It would be after security so irrelevant to op's issue at the ticket counter. If they closed the flight that early, they are in the wrong no matter how op booked her flight.

[Anonymous]

We were at the Dublin airport yesterday 8/11 and from arriving at the rental car return to sitting down at our gate it took 1 hour, including time buying sandwiches outside the US border crossing bc inside are few food choices.

Also, we downloaded the Mobile Passport App which is completely free and saved us at least a half hour in the US line (only 1 family in front of us). I'm not sure why that isn't advertised more.