Some Aer Lingus customers whose flights were canceled during the airline’s major IT outage four weeks ago say they are not being fully reimbursed for expenses they incurred when they had to reorganize their travel plans.
The airline says it is compensating and reimbursing passengers for all reasonable expenses in addition to their rights to compensation under EU law, but it says any customers with outstanding issues should contact them.
Dublin’s Mark Averill got stranded in Corfu on September 10 and booked Easyjet flights to Belfast for the following day.
He claimed just over €900 for the flights, hotel and taxis he took, but Aer Lingus said they would cover just over €300, leaving him almost €600 out of pocket .
“It’s not reasonable. I don’t think it’s fair to people who were stuck and I don’t think it’s the right thing to do,” Mr Averill said.
“I would accept a certain amount but I don’t accept it being out of pocket. That’s their problem, they should carry it themselves and they should be ready to take care of people who have flown with them. “
Matt Taylor from Manchester and four friends were traveling via Dublin to Los Angeles for a holiday when the computer system crashed.
They spent one night at Dublin airport and another in a hotel before rebooking new Aer Lingus flights to their destination.
Their claim was for more than €7,000 but they were offered just over €2,000 in compensation.
“We arrived 48 hours later in Los Angeles, lost two days of our vacation, but we’re about $7,000 short at this point and that’s obviously quite frustrating,” Mr Taylor said.
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“The delay in itself is excusable, things are happening, but obviously financially we are significantly short of resources.”
Since Mark and Matt spoke to RTÉ News, Aer Lingus has contacted them to say they will now be fully compensated.
Several other passengers told RTÉ News they had been offered less than they demanded from Aer Lingus.
One woman, who did not want to be named, said she had spent €1,500 on flights only to be offered €119 in compensation.
Another US-based passenger said he claimed $3,311 after being stranded for two nights in Amsterdam, but said he received $864 with no explanation as to why other expenses weren’t covered .
Many other passengers told RTÉ News they had submitted substantial complaints to Aer Lingus and had yet to receive a response.
Read more: 7,500 compensation claims after Aer Lingus IT outage
Aidan Smyth of Navan in County Meath says his return to work in Orange County, California was delayed by the computer outage and he had to rearrange flights from Dublin to Los Angeles.
He said his request for €3,000 had yet to be answered and he was not optimistic about getting the money back.
In a statement, Aer Lingus says passengers are compensated and reimbursed for all reasonable expenses in addition to their rights to compensation under EU law.
But it says all customers with outstanding issues should complete a post-travel inquiry form online or contact Aer Lingus customer services directly.
It says it has processed 91% of the approximately 7,500 compensation, reimbursement and expense claims it received following the September 10 outage and pledges to process the rest by the end of the month.
The airline has apologized to customers for the inconvenience and wanted to reassure customers that Aer Lingus is committed to resolving all complaints as quickly as possible.
EU Regulation 261 obliges airlines to compensate passengers when flight delays or cancellations result in passengers reaching their final destination more than three hours later than originally scheduled when the delay or cancellation was under their control of the airline.
EU 261 obligations require compensation payments to passengers of €250 on short hauls and €600 on long hauls.
Passengers are also compensated and reimbursed for all reasonable expenses.
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