Aer Lingus apologises over cheap flights error
[18th April 2008]
Aer Lingus is offering economy class seats to customers who booked business class flights to the USA for just 5 euros following a technical error on its website on Wednesday.
Originally Aer Lingus refused to honour the bookings claiming customers should have realised it was an error. But the airline now appears to have bowed to pressure from the public and the Consumers' Association of Ireland.
"Following a full investigation of the booking error undertaken yesterday evening by the company, it appears that some customers may have genuinely believed that they were making a booking in economy class. Aer Lingus are currently contacting passengers that have been affected in order to rebook their travel arrangements," Aer Lingus says in a press statement.
The Irish airline says it has also met with the National Consumer Agency to inform them of their approach. "It is regrettable that this technical error occurred and Aer Lingus recognises and accepts that customers were upset and inconvenienced. Aer Lingus apologises unreservedly to all customers," the company adds.
However, this may not be the end of the story. Once they made the booking customers had a contract with Aer Lingus and it seems unlikely the airline would be able to cancel this contract on the basis that it made a technical error. If customers are not prepared to accept the economy seats offered they have the option of asking Aer Lingus to honour the booking they made.
The business class seats sold for 5 euros normally sell for more than 1,700 euros and several hundred people are believed to have made bookings at this price. The website glitch could end up costing Aer Lingus thousands of euros.
Written by: Nick Purdom
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