My flight was from Birmingham to Dublin on Thursday the 4th September with airline Aer Lingus. I was travelling to Dublin for an induction with a charity that I had just started to work for. Straight after the induction I was to head off to the Turkish Syrian border to help people in Syria to get safe drinking water. As I was relocating for a year, a had a lot of baggage.
Prior to taking my flight to Dublin, I telephoned the Are Lingus reservations to add excess luggage. They informed me that it was not possible for me to add the excess baggage myself as my flight had been booked by a travel agent. I asked about the fees if I booked excess baggage in advance or just paid at the airport and I was informed that increasing my baggage allowance from 20kg to 40kg would be 35 Euro in advance or 40 Euro if I paid at the airport. I was a little cautious about paying for the excess baggage at the airport, so I contacted the travel agent who had book my flight to enquire about adding the excess baggage. They called Aer Lingus and were also advised that increasing my baggage allowance from 20kg up to 40kg would be 35 Euro in advance or 40 Euro if I paid at the airport. Considering that I had received the same information twice, I was comforted to know that paying at the airport would only be 40 Euro for an additional 20kg bag. To save the hassle of the travel agent paying and me reimbursing the travel agent I decided to pay at the airport.
My additional bag was 27kg, so I was prepared to pay the 40 Euro for the additional 20kg bag, plus 7kg excess luggage at £12 per kg. The charge should have been approximately £115. However, when checking in, Aer Lingus charged me £364! That was £40 for the additional bag and £12 per kg. This was of course not what I had been informed twice by Aer Lingus prior to the travel. I tried to explain to the people on the check in desk, but they were completely unwilling to do anything. The Aer Lingus reservations line who had advised on the excess baggage fees was also closed, so I had no choice but to pay the £364.
The day after the flight I telephone Aer Lingus to bring up the issue. Once more, they said that I should have only been charged 40 Euro for the 20kg excess baggage. I was advised to complete an online claim on their website and I would get my money back. The response time for claims is supposed to be 60 days, which is of course appauling. However, it has now been 126 days and I have not heard one word from Aer Lingus. I have called at least 10 times, spoken to the supervisors, and each time I have been told that I was grossly overcharged for my baggage and would get my money back. Each time they said they will prioritise the issue and I would receive a reply in a couple of days. I am still waiting…
