Pricewatch: When a reader called Lynda set off for Newcastle airport at the end of May she had no idea her destination was calamitous customer service, but within hours things started to go wrong
“We boarded the plane and after sitting for 30 minutes we were told that the flight was delayed due to problems with baggage. Sure enough, it was due to the error made at check-in and bag-handling staff boarded the aircraft to speak to me and my daughter, while we felt the full glare of the other passengers on the flight as it looked like it was all because of our mistake.”
She says that 30 minutes before boarding “an announcement was made that our flight was cancelled. There was no further information given so we went to the gate and found that there were no staff available. There was then a tannoy message to ask us all to collect our bags and proceed to the Aer Lingus desk if we required accommodation. We duly did so, but still no other information was forthcoming other than being shouted at with ‘wait for a text or an email from the airline’.
So, they travelled back to the airport. “As we approached the Aer Lingus information desk we were told the queue was now closed and couldn’t join it. We explained our situation and that we had waited two hours at the hotel and were told, ‘I don’t know what you want me to do about it. We have no further accommodation to offer you for the night.’”
She says there was no appreciation of the fact that if they had not been sent to the hotel to queue in vain then they would have been “on time” to join the queue. “This wasn’t just incompetence, it was a wilful failure to listen to our concerns because they all wanted to go home. After a few more hours of trying we managed to book into a suite [the only available room] in a hotel in Portmarnock. It was 8pm and still no text email from Aer Lingus about onward travel,” she continues.
“We arrived back at the airport the following morning with still no information from Aer Lingus and explained our travel agent’s instructions at the check-in desk. We were greeted by a wonderful girl who at least showed some compassion and confirmed that the travel agent was correct and we were booked on a flight to Amsterdam,” Lynda says.
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