The final legs of my extended trip were Aer Lingus from London to Los Angeles via Dublin, but my journey at Heathrow began with a major snafu.
Downgrade? Aer Lingus Claimed I Was In Economy Class, But My Ticket Showed Business Class
I showed up to the counter to check in for my flight and was told that I was in economy class for my first segment from London to Dublin. That made no sense at all based on what I had booked:
In fact, I originated in London (where I had to pay a hefty UK Air Passenger Duty) only because I was able to book business class on the first segment as well, which was operated by an Airbus A321neo with lie-flat seats. The flight from LHR-DUB is only 280 miles, but I figured the extra ~$250 was worthwhile so 1.) my entire journey home was on one ticket, 2.) I would not have to spend more miles/USD for the flight to Dublin, and 3.) so I could review both the A321 and the A330 (that would operate my flight from DUB-LAX).
I was not about to accept a downgrade on the first segment. Thankfully, both Aer Lingus and United Airlines operate out of Terminal 2, and I arrived early enough to deal with it. First, I went to the Aer Lingus desk and explained that my United booking showed I was in business class on the first segment. The agent was rude and unsympathetic, saying it showed as economy class in her system.
So I went over to the United ticketing desk just a hundred feet away, where another apathetic agent took a look at the ticket and said, “This is an award ticket. We can’t touch it.”
Thanks…
I returned to the Aer Lingus desk and asked what booking class it needed to be booked in such that I could be seated in business class on this first flight, and was told “I like India” class.
Once more, I returned to the United desk and asked if they could move me to I-Class, and was told no.
So I called the Premier 1K desk, where I reached a gem of an agent. She listened to my summary of the problem, acknowledged that she should rebook me in I-Class, put me on hold, and within five minutes came back and said the itinerary had been updated.
She insisted on staying on the line with me, where I returned to the Aer Lingus check-in desk. The agent saw the updated booking (oddly, the ticket was never reissued) and handed me a boarding pass with a seat in the business class cabin (what Aer Lingus calls “AerSpace”).
Kudos to the amazing United agent…it’s what I will miss most when I lose 1K status next year.
The Fault Appears To Lie With United
Looking back, here’s what I can gather:
- United has a coding error on intra-Europe Aer Lingus segments – it books into “U” class, charges business class prices, shows business class on united.com and the United mobile app, but in the Aer Lingus system, U-class is not business class on intra-Europe segments
- Aer Lingus actually does not have a formal business class on its intra-Europe flights, but instead offers an “AerSpace” section that offers seating in the front of the plane (in this case on the A321neo, in a “real” business class seat), plus a complimetnary beverage and snack from the buy-on-board menu
So it seems that United needs to clean up its coding on Aer Lingus to avoid such confusion and wasted time in the future. Thankfully, my snafu turned out okay…
It seems like this could be ripe for compensation under EU laws.
True. He should stick it up their arse.
By the way, this was a major issue on SAS until it re-launched its intra-Europe business-class product. SAS before and after joining Sky Team had connecting flights on business-class itineraries marketing as business-class even though it was something called SAS Plus.
“The agent was rude and unsympathetic, saying it showed as economy class in her system.” And, “This is an award ticket. We can’t touch it.” Classic. A deeply sarcastic “Thanks…” really is the only response for us passengers.
Good on that 1K agent saving your day. Would Premier Platinum really have meant you get screwed? Like, status or not, United should make the fix on this, either way. Not everyone is gonna be as capable as Matt Klint.
This actually represents the reality of lack of customer service in the overall travel industry. Matthew has a top status with United and all he gets is “This is an award ticket. We can’t touch it.” ? Imagine someone that has no status. I mean, even if they could not touch it, the minimum expect would be for them to make a call to United on his behalf and try to help. Customer service used to be a proactive thing and now you are lucky if you don’t get arrested because they call the police on you.
This sounds like a Josh Cahill situation aon his flight from Paris to West Africa where so many seemed to criticize him but your situation is just proof that third party situations (whether it be a Booking.com as was the case with Josh or United Airlines as with yourself) shows it can happen to anybody!
The difference is that United told me “it shows up as business class in our system,” while I think with Cahill the OTA reached out and said there had been a coding error and he was booked in economy class, yet he decided to ignore it and play it up, blaming Air Côte d’Ivoire. Here, I did not blame Aer Lingus, nor would I have had grounds to do so. Big difference, wouldn’t you say?
I’ve had this happen as well. I was flying IAH-LHR-DUB on a UA ticket with a connection to EI. Same issue upon arrival at LHR and same lack of sympathy from the LHR based UA agent and EI agent. My connection time was short, so I would up just flying in Y. This happened to me in 2021, and I’m surprised they’re still doing it. I was only offered 1,000 MP miles when I complained after the fact.
Still weird to me that a member of the AA/BA/IB JV still has the relationship with UA, especially after they “ended” their partnership in late 2023? Not that I care if UA and EI end their partnership or not, but you’d think IAG would prefer that inventory within their own JV (much less having people credit EI flights to MileagePlus) and you’d think UA wouldn’t want to give income to a competing JV… ?
I get that it’s award booking but it still seems surprising since I thought most of this had ended in late 2023 but I suppose it was just the actual codeshare