Neil and Michele Travis from Cheshire splurged £6,000 on business class flights with Aer Lingus as a special treat for themselves and their 20-year-old daughter, Georgia. Their plan was to visit friends in Fort Lauderdale, who they hadn’t seen in five years. However, their excitement turned to shock when they arrived at JFK International Airport on June 16, only to discover their connecting flight with Jet Blue, Aer Lingus’ partner airline, did not exist.
Despite the availability of a fully booked connecting flight that evening, Aer Lingus was unable to secure an alternative flight for the Travis family for another two days. In a stroke of luck, Michele, an accountant, managed to find them seats on an American Airlines flight from Newark the following day. The airline assured them they would be reimbursed for the additional cost incurred, however their “catastrophic experience” wasn’t over.
Their flight from Newark to Fort Lauderdale was disrupted by a storm as the pilot attempted to land. After waiting in the hope the storm would pass, the pilot made an announcement the plane would have to divert and land at Palm Beach due to running out of fuel. This unexpected detour added another hour to their already extended journey.
Although they eventually arrived at their destination, the Travis family couldn’t shake off their anxiety about similar issues on their return journey. Both Neil and Michele sought assurances from the airline, with Neil even visiting the airport a day before their departure to ensure their names were on the system.
To his relief, he saw their names and believed everything was in order. However, their hopes were shattered the next day when Neil’s ticket was deemed “invalid,” and his wife and daughter were not even on the system.
Jet Blue managed to arrange seats for Neil and Michele, but their daughter was left without a ticket. Fortunately, there was another flight available 40 minutes later, but the family had no choice but to pay for it using their credit card. The entire ordeal left them deeply frustrated and demanding reimbursement from Aer Lingus for the original flights as well as the additional expenses amounting to around £4,000 for extra flights, taxis, and food.
Michele said: “It was nightmare from start to finish. It was like something off Fawlty Towers. We’ve had absolutely nothing back so far – not even a reply from them.”
“My daughter was in tears when we were trying to get home. I said to them do you expect us to leave her here with no way to get home? You couldn’t write it.
“We’re lucky we had a credit card we could use – my daughter said to me ‘what would I have done?’ The stress they’ve caused, it’s disgraceful.”
Neil has now referred his complaint to the Civil Aviation Authority after not hearing back from the airline. He said: “This whole catastrophe was an appalling start to our holiday and caused significant anguish.
“The stress and impact to my wife and daughter’s mental health ruined what should have been a fantastic experience of flying business class.”
Neil said: “We took the train to the Jet Blue terminal and could not see our flight on the departing flight list. We joined a queue to speak with a Jet Blue agent and after many attempts to find out what had gone wrong we were informed that the flight number we were given on the confirmation did not exist. The ticket had not been confirmed by Aer Lingus.”
A spokeswoman for Aer Lingus confirmed they “escalated” the issue to its customer relations team who “have since been in touch with the customer and resolved the issue”.
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