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.
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…
