Aer Lingus - luggage allowance
 

With some trepidation I have included 2 EI flights on my reissued AONEWC intinerary. :eek: I am steeling myself for all its LCC ways - which grow more alarming as I delve deeper - but am particularly concerned about the luggage allowance.

Will I have to pay the EUR5 for every checked bag? And am I really restricted to 20kg as per their website and my (now paper) ticket? Or does the highest baggage allowance apply since it is part of a single first class ticket?

Apart from that, how scared should I be? I can live with buying my lunch and drinks and will almost certainly survive the short flight from BHX. But how bearable will 3 hours plus be for the DUB/DBV segment? I am not very experienced at Y travel any more and fear I may have become too soft to deal with such a hard-core economy product as EI offers. :o

Well let’s see now…………they are most certainly a LCC operation these days. I call it the “Ryanair-ation of Aer Lingus”

Leg Room is very tight if you’re anything over 6ft. More alarming is the narrowness of the seats, I find them getting tighter & tighter all the time.

Before they left OW on April 1st, they stated on their web site that on a single ticket with a partner airline (ie BA / AA) they would waive the baggage charge & apply the higher allowances typically in place if you’re travelling in J or F on another airline.

But I’ve since noticed that this is now gone from their web site.

I’ve a booking with BA to MIA later this year which was booked months ago under the OW agreements, with EI flights, albeit under a BA code share, so I’ll be interested myself to see what EI will make of the baggage allowances.

You know do you, that in addition to paying for hold luggage, that if you want to pre-assign your seats you are now charged for the privilege, despite this facility having been offered for FREE on their web site for months.

Needless to say they are promoting this as an “Enhanced Seat Selection Option”

You might also want to be ready for surly & un-helpful staff on the ground & “non-smiling” / “not really happy to be here” & “you the passenger are an inconvenience to us” cabin crew !!

Personally I detest EI, but stuck on this little Emerald Isle of ours, I don’t have any option other than EI to get me to LHR so I can continue on my way with a real airline.

It wasn’t always this way, EI was a pretty good airline once upon a time & it infuriates me to see how the rot has set in under the guise of “enhancing the experience for the passenger”

Sorry I’ve been ranting on & on…………………….just steel yourself for a LCC experience, expect nothing & that way you might, just might, be pleasantly surprised.

”Happy Trails”

About 18 months ago I flew CO to DUB and Aer Lingus from SNN to LHR on a separate ticket. The SNN flight was only about half full. I figured I was $100-$150 over weight. They took all of our bags without even glancing at the scale. Felt like I had just one the lottery. So you never know how you will be treated. Things may have changed since then though.

Good luck.

Slightly OT, but I bought a BA LHR-DUB return a while ago (economy); it was a code share with Aer Lingus. Aer Lingus made to pay about £40 for my golf clubs, even though my total baggage weight (no other checked bags) was well below the allowance.

BA did eventually refund the amount.

The baggage allowance is as printed on your ticket (presumably 20 kg though it varies by where you bought the ticket, don't think it is the piece system). Your post was unclear, but it sounds like your ticket specified 20 kg as the limit (note that EI short-haul tickets have 0 kg as the limit, EI charges for every bit of checked luggage on their own tickets). EI will honour that but staff might need to be reminded that you are not flying on an EI ticket and the normal baggage terms do not apply. EI is paying staff a commission for the baggage fees that they collect, so they have a financial interest to collect the max allowable from you. Expect lots of problems as they will not see your ticket type before (or ever again, as it can no longer be bought with EI as part of the ticket). Probably you will have to pay to get on the flight, and then apply for a refund later.

P.S. If you are intending to fly with more than 20kg checked on EI, best to read their rates (on the web site), it is quite high. I forget the amount, but it was something like 300 Euros to match the free AA limit (with 2 flights, that is 600 Euros, so pricey).

So how does that work with e-tickets?

The luggage allowance is also specified on an e-ticket. So it works exactly the same as for paper tickets, except at airports that aren't e-ticket capable and use a downloaded pax list; then they apply whatever baggage terms they want (as they cannot access your ticket's terms).

In the case of EI, it is kind of a non-issue; only tickets including NA have the piece system, and EI hasn't cut it's NA longhaul baggage alowance. The lower limits only apply for non-NA tickets -- like the OP has. Then the new EI terms vs. the old terms become important, I suppose. The bottom line is that buying add-on tickets for travel within Europe on EI is expensive if using the TATL baggage amount, and EI is more expensive for baggage than most of the legacy carriers; but about the same as other LCCs. So you have to consider the baggage cost as well as the ticket price when comparing prices.

Thanks for your help everyone.

Yes, my ticket says 20kg. I will insist on that at least. Now the question is: do I still need to pay the EUR8 per checked bag?

I won't have truckloads of luggage - but quite likely 25kg per person (unless they include cabin bags, and I have noted the size restrictions). I don't mind paying what is due - I just want to know what my rightful allowance is before I start digging my heels in. I expect the agents at DUB to be clued up but don't relish a fight at BHX at 7am on a Monday morning.

Cabin baggage is limited to 6kg and this appears to be enthusiastically enforced (perhaps due to the commision that agents are being paid for checked baggage). Expect to have your cabin bag weighed and if it is 7kg you must either check it or lighten it. Excess over 20kg is EUR 8 per kg (or EUR 40 if you really have 25kg).

The per bag fee applies to normal EI tickets but your ticket is exempt, however BHX is undoubtedly contracted and doesn't have access to EI systems, so I expect you will be charged the fee. One strategy would be to phone EI ahead of time and ask that a note be added to your PNR saying that the fee is waived for your ticket.