I paid Aer Lingus for extra luggage I didn’t need. Can I get a refund?

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By Christopher Elliott

Krista O’Brien accidentally pays $449 extra for her checked luggage on an Aer Lingus flight. Why won’t the airline help her undo the mistake?

Question

I recently booked tickets through the Aer Lingus website. When I did, the site only listed a carry-on as included with the fare rather than both a carry-on and one checked bag before final purchase. 

I was confused, and I unknowingly added three extra checked bags, which was unnecessary. So I overpaid Aer Lingus $449 because it included an additional checked  bag for each passenger on my itinerary.

I called Aer Lingus twice on the same date of ticket purchase, and filed an online request that it return the luggage fee. But I kept receiving messages that the fee was nonrefundable. 

I believed Aer Lingus’ online booking was very confusing and deceptive, so I also filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). I received no further information from the DOT other than acknowledgment of my complaint.

I want my $449 back. Can you help me get it? — Krista O’Brien, New Haven, Conn.

Answer

Aer Lingus should have been clear about what was included in your fare. Most longer international flights include a checked bag, so maybe it assumed everyone knew — but everyone did not know.

Your case raises several important issues. First, there’s the issue of an airline intentionally making its booking interface confusing in a way that benefits it. This is most common with seat assignments. If you have an airline ticket, you have a seat. The airline will try to sell you a seat assignment — meaning you get to select where you sit. But it sometimes leaves you with the impression that you don’t have a seat at all. That’s a deceptive booking interface.

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Did Aer Lingus have a deceptive interface? I couldn’t check because doing so would require that I buy a ticket, which I don’t need. But I believe you when you say you were confused. I don’t know if the confusion was intentional. It might have been, and maybe that’s something for the Department of Transportation to investigate.

The second issue is the refundability of fees. Already, the DOT says your airfare must be refundable if you cancel within 24 hours, unless you are a week or less before your trip. So why not apply the same rule to fees?

These fees are wrong

And finally, there’s the fee itself. Every plane ticket should include a seat, a checked bag, and on longer flights, something to eat and drink. And if you think the latter is a luxury, you should have been on the budget airline flight from Madrid to Buenos Aires where they tried to sell us breakfast and drinks at the end of a 13-hour flight. I’m surprised there wasn’t a riot on board. (Related: She wants flight refund help, but Aer Lingus refuses.)

Remember, if you can’t make progress with the lower-level contacts at an airline like Aer Lingus, you can always take your complaint to the top. I list the names, numbers and email addresses of the customer service executives of Aer Lingus on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org. You can also try using the Elliott Method for fixing your problem. (Here’s how to get a refund a nonrefundable airline ticket.)

I contacted Aer Lingus on your behalf. A representative responded to me. “We have reviewed Ms. O’Brien’s case,” she told me. “Our terms and conditions for baggage fees are nonrefundable. However, as a gesture of goodwill we have refunded her luggage fees.”

I’m not sure I would call that a gesture of goodwill. More like the right thing to do.

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Christopher Elliott

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that empowers consumers to solve their problems and helps those who can't. He's the author of numerous books on consumer advocacy and writes three nationally syndicated columns. He also publishes the Elliott Report, a news site for consumers, and Elliott Confidential, a critically acclaimed newsletter about customer service. If you have a consumer problem you can't solve, contact him directly through his advocacy website. You can also follow him on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn, or sign up for his daily newsletter. He is based in Panamá City.

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