I’m heading over to Rome next week to attend a friend’s wedding, but being a small bit disorganised I only got round to organising the trip in the last couple of days.
Rome is the capital of Italy. Dublin is the capital of Ireland. You would think that in 2009 the cost of getting between two capital cities wouldn’t be horrendous and that you’d have a reasonable number of “sane” options open to you.
Unfortunately that isn’t really the case, so I’ve ended up extending my trip to Rome in order to justify it. There’s no point going to one of the most important cities in Europe if you’re not going to get a chance to see anything and Irish wedding aren’t exactly renowned for being “dry” affairs!
So timetable wise …
There are several airlines that handle the route from Dublin to Rome. Unless you want to take a rather circuitous route, that won’t actually save you much money, your options are a bit limited. It’s basically down to Ryanair and Aer Lingus. The other airlines, such as Alitalia, Air France, KLM and Swissair aren’t really viable (I don’t really fancy being stuck in Zurich for four hours!)
So I opted for Aer Lingus.
Flight price, including taxes supposedly saved me 13.50 (not sure where they got that figure from). However it actually cost me a lot more …
The charming little stealth charges kick in…
First off there’s an extra 30 euro to check a bag. So unless you’re only flying with a carry on bag that 13.50 saving is already gone…
Now I don’t know about you, but I would have thought that a plane ticket gave me the right to sit down for the duration of the flight. Seemingly not .. When you go to choose your seat you’re then hit with another charge – 5 euro each way!
So I pay an extra 40 euro for the ability to carry clean clothes and sit down?
Presumably I’ve also been charged extra for credit card fees as well…
And if you don’t pay attention they’ll also charge you for travel insurance that you never asked for as well!
Lovely!
PS: Seemingly you can avoid the seating fee if you don’t choose your seat during booking, but that’s not made clear at all
Please Aer Lingus don’t go down the same path as Ryanair….. Maybe it’s too late. 🙁
Whenever I’ve flown with them, I’ve always been able to select a number of seats together at the check-in terminals. Lucky, I don’t know? The seat selector has always had plenty of options.
Is there not some european directive where the airlines had to come clean on stealth charges?
Anyway, enjoy the wedding, the break, Italian food & wine and the weather. Ciao capo.
Aer Lingus headed down Ryanair avenue a long time ago. They haven’t quite reached the end of the lane yet but they’re certainly getting there.
I was refused a ticket transfer in Heathrow recently. I arrived in London from Qatar earlier than expected one afternoon and asked at the ticket desk if I could change my flight (circa 6.30pm) for an earlier one (circa 2pm). Despite the 2pm flight having a huge number of seats free and the flight my ticket was for being overbooked, Aer Lingus wanted to charge me over £100stg. for the privilege of getting the earlier flight… even if it meant freeing up a seat that would inevitably be sold on at profit!
Rather than put the money back into Aer Lingus’ pocket, I stubbornly paid an extra few quid and flew back on an earlier flight with British Midland. I had a pleasant flight with them and was given a free sambo and coffee on the way home (it’s been a long time since I got that level of service on Aer Lingus!)
There were times when Aer Lingus gave enough of a damn about their passengers that they would at least make exceptions for the sake of their customers’ convenience if it didn’t cost them anything. It seems now that it’s policy to screw people out of money now matter how stubborn or counter-productive their logic is for doing so. Seems like skewed business/PR practice to me to be honest. As a regular flyer to Heathrow, I almost always opt for BMI now.
Unfortunately airlines all around the world have fallen to these levels of charging for everything and anything. The only positive with Aer Lingus is that most of their charges are lower than other airlines or can be avoided completely such as the seat selection fee, you can select your seat at check in free of charge. Baggage charges are harder to avoid but remain lower than Ryanair’s charges.
Also Aer Lingus don’t charge you extra just to check in for your own flight like Ryanair now do!
As you noted you don’t have to choose your seat when you book. I never do (I’m a regular Aer Lingus flyer, Gold Circle etc.), and just choose it when I check in online. If you check in early (i.e. just as online check in opens) you usually have no problem getting the seat type you like. 9/10 times I get my first choice (6D). If you wait to choose your seat at the airport at the self service check in you can sometimes get one of the seats you have to pay extra for, like the first 5 rows or emergency exit. If no one has pre booked these seats they release them for anyone to take.
Robin
The way the seat selection is presented to you does not give the impression that you can choose not to use it, which is why I used it
I only found out that it was optional when a more frequent user of Aer Lingus’ services told me on Twitter (after I’d already paid!)
Michele
Bloody hell. I just booked a flight to Dublin from London and at first I thought, this isn’t too bad, , all the extra charges were pretty straight forward (although they make up 80 per cent of the overall price!). Then came the seating plan. I tried to click away because I don’t care where I sit for such a short flight and I distinctly remember the site telling me I had to pay for my seat. Its only two quid but its galling and to find out now it was actually optionally I feel a little cheated. What happens if you don’t pay for a seat? Is it standing like on a bus?
I’ve flown many times with easyjet and they are so much more upfornt and honest.
So does anyone know how you can avoid the seat charge. We are a family of 5 travelling to Portugal, and the seat charge there and back is going to be 50 euros. We are travelling aer lingus because we get to arrive and depart at a more decent hour of the day than with Ryan Air, but paid 400 euros extra for the privilidge. Now when I go to print off the Aer Lingus tickets, it does not look as if there is any way around the seating fee. They already took an extra 40 euros for a suitcase, its getting out of hand. Can I just turn up at check in with the flight reference number and take what seats they have left? Would be great to hear from someone who has been in the same boat.
@Jo
If you don’t pay the fee when you book you can select your seat(s) when you check in at the airport.
So you don’t have to pay the fee if you don’t want to
Michele
Michel
Thanks for that information. Will put our 50 euro savings towards a lovely portugese meal. Jo
How do we check in on line without reserving and paying for a seat? Even though we pressed that we would sit anywhere we could not get beyond the seating arrangement to get the boarding pass without paying the extra 7 50 euros to the isle of Man. Anne.
If you don’t choose seating while booking you’ll be able to choose your seat at check-in for free. You’ll also have the option to buy a “premium” seat when check-in opens. If you try to choose a seat when booking you’ll be forced to pay.