Aer Lingus review by J 2016-05-17

My daughter (and her roommate) were stuck in Dublin on March 20 when a French air traffic control strike forced Aer Lingus to cancel their return flight from Dublin to Barcelona. Aer Lingus told them they had to stay in Dublin for at least 3 more days before the airline would be able to get them back to Barcelona. As that was not acceptable (they are students and had to get back to classes in Barcelona), I booked them on an Aer Lingus flight next morning (March 21) from Dublin to London Gatwick airport at a cost of $400 (each), and then on a flight from London Heathrow (a $70 taxi fare from Gatwick) to Barcelona on Iberia, at a cost of another $278 (each). Despite Aer Lingus's website saying under "Flight Disruption Info" that if your flights are affected by a disruption, you can change your dates of travel free of charge and free of any fare difference, I have been unable to get Aer Lingus to refund any money at all. They offered to refund the unused portion of the round trip fare from Barcelona to Dublin (about US$120), but have not done so (it's been 2 months), and they offer no explanation why they will not honor the statement on their own website about allowing change in date