Seems like I’m in the habit of getting airlines to pay me recently! Just the other day, Southwest paid me to fly the exact same flights I was already scheduled on, and now it’s Aer Lingus’s turn. If you’ve been following along, you may remember that back in September, I had booked 2 business class seats to fly from Boston to Dublin to start our trip to Europe. While we were sitting in our business class seats on the tarmac when the pilot announced that our flight was canceled!
We eventually got ourselves to Europe on a flight the next day, in economy class, but not before making some pretty dumb mistakes trying to get ourselves rebooked
(SEE ALSO: 3 mistakes I made when my flight was canceled)
(SEE ALSO: 5 things I did right when my flight was canceled)
EU 261/2009 regulations state that passengers on a canceled flight of this length are due EUR 600 in compensation. I have been trying to claim this compensation for quite some time now. Here’s a breakdown of the timeline so far
- Sep 2015 – Our BOS-DUB flight was canceled
- Oct 2015 – After reaching out to Aer Lingus on Twitter, they directed me to fill out a complaint form on their website – Submitting an EU261 compensation claim for a delayed or cancelled flight. This went absolutely nowhere 🙂
- Nov 2015 – After the complaint directly to Aer Lingus received no response, I discovered that the correct place to submit an EU261 claim for Aer Lingus was the Commission for Aviation Regulation (Still) Fighting for EU261 / 2004 compensation
- Jan 2016 – After hearing no response, I followed up with the Commission – 4 (!) months later, I’m still fighting on my EU 261 Aer Lingus claim
Finally a real response!
After I figured out that the Commission for Aviation Regulation was the correct place to submit an EU/261 for Aer Lingus, things have been proceeding according to plan. It’s taken awhile to work through the system, but it does appear that at least the wheels are moving forward. Finally after several months, here is the response I got by email this morning
I am pleased to inform you this office received a response from Aer Lingus in relation to your case this week.
The air carrier stated in their correspondence to us that their contract with you was in respect of travel from Boston Logan to Dublin International Airport and accordingly the applicable distance for the purpose of Article 7 are flights of greater than 3500 kilometres on foot of which EUR600 would be payable to the passenger.
Following our investigation, Aer Lingus have arranged for a cheque for EUR 600 (paid in the amount of $653.00) per passenger to be issued in your name and also in the name of Mrs. Carolyn Miller and their cheque payment will follow shortly and on receipt, I will forward this cheque directly to you at your confirmed address.
SWEEEEEEEEEEEEET! (emphasis mine)
Never have I wished that the USD had not been performing so well against the Euro!!! 🙂
- I'm (finally!) going to Europe
- Connecting flights on different airlines: When it's a bad idea
- The HUGE mistake I made by not booking my hotel early
- How I got us 16 extra hours in Rome... for FREE!
- Where I "wasted" my 2 IHG free night certificates
- Great customer service by the London Hilton on Park Lane
- Boston Airport Air France lounge review
- Do you go to church while you're on vacation? I do
- Aer Lingus Boston Airport lounge review
- Aer Lingus Business Class review to.... FLIGHT CANCELED?!?!
- 5 things I did right when my flight was canceled
- 3 mistakes I made when my flight was canceled
- Why Aer Lingus is paying me $1306
- Best way from Dublin airport to Dublin city center
- Everything's better... in MONACO!
- So... I just rode in a helicopter
- The best ways from Rome Airport to the city center
- Comfort Hotel Roma Airport Fiumicino review: The cheapest hotel turns out to be the best
- Rome Airport lounge review: Giotto lounge
British Airways refund
Now if only I could get the same sort of service from British Airways! I believe that I am also entitled to a refund of 25,000 Avios, because I paid 50,000 for 2 business class tickets from BOS-DUB, and only flew in economy class (which has a “value” of 25,000 Avios). The drama has been just about as long trying to fight with British Airways
- Oct 2015 – The saga of trying to get British Airways to refund my Avios
- Jan 2016 – Calling in again, I did finally manage to speak to a call center (centre?) agent who seemed to understand what I was trying to do, agreed with me, and told me she was going to “take ownership” of resolving this ticket – British Airways refund: I’m STILL trying to get my 25,000 Avios back
I did call back a few weeks ago and it was still processing, so I’m hopeful for a resolution and refund before too long
I hope that this saga gives anyone else who’s been on a canceled or delayed flight hope that sometimes the process DOES work. Also I hope I can give you some confidence that you do NOT have to pay a 3rd party to litigate your claim (and take 25% or more of your compensation!).
Have you had success trying to fight for your EU 261 / 2009 compensation rights?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
I had a BA flight from LHR to LAX get delayed about 3.5 hours due to a technical issue on the A380 we were flying that day. The pilot came out to the boarding area and explained in detail that the mechanical issue required contact with Airbus and that it could take awhile to resolve. Great communication through out the process. However, when I filed my compensation claim with BA they denied it, saying the delay was Air Traffic Control related. A quick form submission to the Commission for Aviation Regulation and I had a favorable response from BA within 2.5 weeks saying my claim was now approved!
I’ve learned that all airlines look for whatever excuse they can to deny the claim, but once the official regulating body gets involved, it usually happens pretty quickly
Very Cool and Congradulations!!!
Just make sure that you receive it, and report to us once you do. I had a similar case with my baggage delay on Etihad, and from correspondence were able to get $180.
But that is about it, never actually seen the check or the money in my bank account.
Will do!
Well, you should be getting 37,5k back from BA, since the downgrade compensation should be 75% as per the same EU261 regulation.
I’m not sure about that since I don’t know if BA is covered by the EU261 regulations since they were not the ones involved in actually FLYING the plane. At this point, I’ll be happy to get my 25K back 🙂
Tell Aer Lingus, through the Commission for Aviation Regulation, that you want 75% of the price of a one way BOS-DUB ticket for the downgrading pursuant to EU261 Article 10.2.c. Google flights are now showing that flight costing $3,600 on Aer Lingus any day in February. Out of the goodness of your heart, and without prejudice to your formal claim, you will settle for 75% of the AVIOS needed to get the same flight as an award, i.e. 37,500 AVIOS. Either way you would like your compensation within 7 days as set out in the Regulations. There is really no reason to not press this.
I’ll have to look in to that. But how is Aer Lingus going to give me Avios?
About a year ago I was supposed to fly ARN-AMS on KLM and then Delta from AMS-ATL and then ATL-FNT. Anyways, the flight was oversold and I was offered a rebooking into business-class from economy if I flew AMS-LHR on KLM and then LHR-DTW, DTW-MSP and MSP-FNT on Delta. I accepted. When I arrived in LHR, I was downgraded from business to economy for LHR-DTW. I threw a fit but didn’t get anywhere because KLM in AMS didn’t properly rebook me into business-class, which was full. A red coat felt sorry for me and gave me an entire row of economy-class seats, which was fine for a daytime flight to the U.S. Anyways, I wrote a complaint to Delta not about any compensation but about how I was treated and how KLM, which serves as Delta agents at AMS, should have done the rebooking correctly. About two days later, Delta responded and stated I was entitled to compensation not because KLM screwed up but because my rebooking caused delays in violation of EU regulations. A few days later, a check arrived in the mail. Needless to say, I was happy.
You shouldn’t need to have to file a complaint. If the rule is there the compensation should be automatic. I hope you send your story to the local news station so people know they can claim this. Assholes need to be taught a lesson.