Our Aer Lingus booking claims we have no checked baggage allowance...
 

This should not be so.

I booked it on the phone (because we have a layover in Dublin) and purchased regular economy tickets. Over the phone I was given our checked bag allowance.

When I printed I noticed that it said no checked bags.

I called them back, because I knew that wasn't the kind of ticket (basic economy) that I had bought. And you can't even buy that kind of ticket over the phone.

Nice woman confirmed that we had regular economy, with checked bags, and not to worry about it.

I got the impression that it was a known issue, but now I'm worrying about it.

I do not want to get to the airport (we're doing PHL to BCN, and back again, both through DUB) and have an issue. I'm particularly worried about potential problems on the Barcelona end. We really can't go to Europe for two weeks without checked baggage, either.

I don't really know what I can do about this, though. Suggestions?

Is this a common thing that happens?

I would probably worry too, mostly because I don’t like something like that left open to question. Can you ask them to resend your ticket with a correction or a correction as an attachment that you can print out?
Perhaps someone else has had a similar experience with first hand information.

My guess is that what you read was some generic language about baggage. What does it say about your "fare type"? If it is "Saver" then no checked bag.

Take a look at what it says after you enter your info here: My Trips with Aer Lingus

Worst case is that you have to pay extra to check a bag. I think that link would tell you how much. In your case - with a "Plus" fare type - it might give you options for a 2nd checked bag.

Doesn't list fare type at all.

Says no checked bag. Does list carryon limits.

We do have assigned seats, which we selected, which aren't available with the Saver.

That's hundreds of dollars worth of worst case, especially since I'm quite sure I paid for the fare with the checked bag... If we absolutely had to pay to get those bags on the flight and then take it up with Aer Lingus I would, but that would put a significant dampener on the vacation.

I suppose I can call them again and see if I can get any kind of documentation.

you followed the link and that is where you saw the 'hundreds of dollars'?

EI website states that economy Smart & Flex fares already include 1 piece of checked luggage. Which fare did you book? When you check in online, you’ll see the allowance. Doesn’t the email confirmation state anything about fare type & baggage allowance?

No, because I can't add luggage online because I booked over the phone.

I checked Aer Lingus's website, and it appears to be 65 Euro per bag. Times by three people, each way, that's 390 Euro, or about 420 dollars. That's a lot of money, particularly since I shouldn't need to pay it, since it wasn't a Saver fare.

I bought Smart, and Aer Lingus did confirm that it wasn't Saver.

Confirmation does not list fare type. Baggage allowance is no checked bag.

When I called Aer Lingus to check, because that was not what I expected to see, I was told that I do have a checked allowance (single bag each) and not to worry about what it says.

It's not that I don't believe them, but I can see a gate agent being difficult about it.

Do this:
go to aerlingus.com and click on Manage Trip in the top right of the homepage.
enter your booking reference and last name and click
(booking reference = confirmation code = reservation ID)

You should see details about your tickets, change seats, enter passport numbers or KTN, etc.

See the previous post. You should be able to see your booking on the EI website even though it’s booked by phone. Just enter your booking ref & last name. You’ll need that info to do online check in when the time comes.

I'm going to have to call Aer Lingus.

I can see the booking online, but I can't do anything to it, and it sounds like it's not displaying the way they normally do. (The last Aer Lingus booking we had was over a decade ago, and while I'm quite sure we had a checked bag allowance, I have no idea what the booking looked like online.)

I'd been hoping that someone would say, "Oh, that's normal, looks like that all the time." Obviously not.

I can't do online check in yet (it does look like I'll be able to do that) so I don't know if my missing baggage allowance will magically pop up then or not. I could ask.

I'm figuring at the least I can have someone attach a note to the booking, which will hopefully give us a leg to stand on if there's an issue.

Our luggage should (I hope) check through on the way to Barcelona, but on the way back we'll need to collect it in Dublin, and recheck back to the US, since we've got an overnight. This is why I booked over the phone, because we wanted that stopover.

Don't worry about it. DO something about it. We had the same problem with Air France but first learned about our no bag allowance at the terminal. They said my ticket code did not allow a checked bag. Luckily I had a conformation that had the words "free bag. It took a half hour holding up the line and phone calls to supervisors etc. until they agreed to abide what was written in plain English rather than a code only known to them. The key was having it in writing. If the agent told you not to worry have them send it to you in writing including your booking number and then keep it with you through your trip. While away I was concerned if I would have to go through it again on return. Thankfully they changed things in their computer.

I called Aer Lingus. They did confirm that we have "smart". She claimed that the zero shows because we have no additional bags. She's not able to put a note on the booking, so I'm just going to have to cross my fingers.

We're planning to leave plenty of time to check in.

We are also trying to wangle a paid upgrade (they sent us an email). We'll see how that goes.

DH has an upgrade so he gets three bags, so I figure we can give ours to him, worst comes to worst.

I had to split the bookings, because I wanted to split tender, so DS and I are on a booking together, and we have not gotten a magic upgrade email. We'll see.

This still may make the way back interesting, but at least it's a start.

I hope you'll return to tell us how this went.

I just booked an American Airlines award ticket on British Airways, and when I went to the BA website to double-check my reservation, I had a little freak-out because their website says my ticket is "hand baggage only." Well, that's one thing on the way over, but after two years of not being able to travel, on the way back, I'm going to need a suitcase to haul home my favorite British groceries.

Having read this thread, I went to read my American Airlines email, and sure enough, it states that the first bag is free. Phewwww.

Thanks for posting this!

Sorry, haven't been on here much. It was fine, we had no issues with the bags.

DS and I did not get upgraded, but on the way back we did, and DH did not.

DS and I are soloing to London in December, on Aer Lingus again, and are crossing our fingers for that upgrade. We also plan to bring lots of goodies back.