Aer Lingus Reviews 

The absolute worst airline in operation today. If there’s one reason not to visit Ireland, it’s Aer Lingus. I paid for extra legroom for my family and they instead seated my children in an exit isle. Then separated by 10 year old daughter from us to where she would be sitting by herself. The staff, especially supervisor Kelly and Marco at Dublin Aer Lingus ticketing were so rude and unhelpful they finally ensured my daughter would sit with at least one parent when I reminded them it was illegal to sit a child alone without their guardian. They then changed all my seats to the last row of the plane. When I reminded them of my legroom upgrade I paid they laughed and told me to find someone to call on the website. “Find someone to call”. The customer service is unbelievably rude and flippant. They could care less about their jobs. A truly horrible experience and I along with many in line that were also having issues will NEVER fly Aer Lingus again. Find another airline, you will ultimately save money and aggravation doing so.

I booked a flight for my family from Manchester to America for the summer so we could go see my wife's family. Only two days later they said the flight wouldn't go ahead due to them stopping transatlantic flights from Manchester. So I booked an alternative flight through lastminute.com to fly with Aer Lingus to America via Dublin instead. Yet again my flight was cancelled by Aer Lingus after two days. This was at the beginning of February and I'm still waiting for a refund. Lastminute.com told me the delay was due to Aer Lingus cancelling their refund request. So over 2 months later I'm still waiting for over £2000 to be returned to me. I also lost money on a hotel I booked to stay at the night before our flights as we now can't fly from Manchester. Aer Lingus are a disgrace of a company. Happy to take customers money yet drag their heels to pay refunds. To still be waiting 2 months later for a refund is a joke. I'd give this sham of a company zero stars. They care nothing about customers. They are without doubt the worst company I've ever had the misfortune to deal with. They should be ashamed of how they treat their customers

Shocking customer service locked out my account 2 weeks now, I travel for work every week with Aer lingus and no one in customer services even understands there own system. its a joke I never realised how bad they had become until I experince there commicle customer service. Adios Aer Lingus our company have decided (8 weekly flyers to Europe) will be discontinuing to use Aer Lingus from June 31st. good riddance to rubbish customer service, what a hassle.

Awful experience with Aer lingus bank of Ireland credit card.
Almost impossible to redeem the earned flights. They just send automated messages saying it's not possible to redeem the flights. Stay away

They cancelled my flight without any prior notification and were then rude when I requested why they were going to do about it. They offered to fly me to a bordering country 8 hours after the original flight which was useless to me. Had to pay out of my own pocket to go to a different airport and fly with a different airline. Their complaints procedure is non existent and they failed to provide any compensation or refund despite emails being sent. These are the worst airline I’ve ever dealt with. Would happily pay more to avoid dealing with these ever again.

Aer lingus, the new Ryanair!

I had one of the most humiliating and chaotic travel experiences of my life with Aer Lingus, and I will never use this airline again.

My first trip from Belfast to Birmingham was already disappointing, with a return delay of 1 hour 30 minutes. I brushed it off, assuming it was just one of those things. That was clearly a mistake.

Last Friday, I travelled from Belfast to Manchester with no issues, using my UK driver’s licence as ID exactly as I had done before. No one mentioned anything about needing a passport.

But the return journey was an absolute disaster.

First, the flight was delayed by THREE HOURS. We were meant to depart at 19:55 and arrive at 20:55, but didn’t take off until 22:40. There was little to no communication, no proper explanation, and passengers were left frustrated and confused. To make matters worse, we were loaded onto a bus and left waiting there for an additional 30 minutes before even boarding the aircraft. Completely unacceptable and disorganised.

Then came the most disturbing part of this entire experience.

While boarding, an aviation officer spoke to me in an extremely aggressive and disrespectful manner, loudly demanding my passport and dismissing my valid ID simply because I was “not born in the UK.” Her tone was hostile, embarrassing, and completely unprofessional. I explained that this was a return trip and that I had travelled using the same ID without issue, but she continued to speak over me and blame me, saying it was “my responsibility” to know the rules.

I felt singled out, humiliated, and frankly discriminated against.

It took another staff member who actually showed some level of professionalism to step in, ask a simple question, and resolve the situation within seconds. This only proved how unnecessary and poorly handled the confrontation was.

And unbelievably, the chaos didn’t end there.

After finally boarding, I discovered that my assigned seat (4A) had been given to someone else. How does an airline manage to double-assign seats? This is basic operational competence, and yet it was completely mishandled. I was then moved to an exit seat as a last-minute fix not even an apology that matched the level of inconvenience caused.

This entire experience was a complete mess from start to finish delays, poor communication, disorganisation, rude and confrontational staff, and basic errors that should never happen.

Aer Lingus has completely lost my trust and my business. I will not be flying with them again, and I strongly urge others to think twice before choosing this airline.

I will also be pursuing a formal complaint regarding the conduct of the staff member involved. No passenger deserves to be spoken to or treated in such a degrading and disrespectful way.
Absolutely appalling service!

If I could give less than 1 star I would! Aer Lingus cancelled my son's flight from the US to Manchester in January 2026. I have been waiting for a refund so I can rebook my son's journey home which is now only 6 weeks away. Aer Lingus must have worst customer service ever! I still have no refund, despite calls, emails and reassurances. I can't speak to anyone in the refund team apparently (they don't take calls!) and even though they say they have classed it as urgent nothing has happened. It is so frustrating, no response, no progress and my son is stuck in the US. Please don't use Aer Lingus unless you have no other choice.

Avoid, worst airline ever. Cancelled my flight and ruined our Xmas family holiday, still waiting for a refund months later, bunch of con artists

Lost our pram with this airline - wrong ticket on for starters - it had a luggage tag on and was circling the luggage belt even though we had a connect flight to JFK from Manchester. No one cared or felt they were responsible. Was told to get a temporary pram from another desk which was closed. Then they locked the connect door so had to walk all the way round upstairs and back down again. Stuck with 2 cases, 3 rucksacks and a 5 month baby to carry trying to get help and all I was told is “nothing to do with me” “ not my area” immigration especially so so rude said “I’m distracting her from doing her job” because I was holding a baby and bags with no pram asking for help! Outrageous spending 7 days in New York with no pram!

Honestly such a disappointing experience from start to finish, and I came away feeling really let down.

I paid extra to reserve a preferred seat because on a long haul flight comfort is important, and I wanted to make sure I was seated where I had chosen. During the flight, I then watched multiple passengers move themselves into the more expensive rows without being stopped or asked to pay anything. It was so frustrating because those seats are sold at a premium, and I had specifically paid extra for mine. It honestly made me question why customers are expected to spend more on seat selection when other passengers are seemingly allowed to take similar seats for free with no issue.

To make matters worse, I also paid nearly £35 for in flight WiFi, and it did not work at all for the entire journey. I ended up paying twice because the first purchase would not connect, and the second attempt failed as well. Despite being charged both times, I was unable to use the service at any point during the flight. For a long haul journey, this was incredibly disappointing, especially after paying for something that was completely unusable.

What made the whole situation even worse was trying to get help afterwards through customer service. The assistance help centre staff came across as rude, dismissive, and honestly quite unhelpful. Instead of feeling listened to, I felt like my concerns were brushed off and not taken seriously at all. After an already frustrating journey, the response I received afterwards only made the experience feel worse.

This level of service expected from an airline, this was really upsetting and not at all the standard I would have hoped for. Between paying extra for a seat and WiFi that never worked, and then receiving poor customer service afterwards, the whole experience left me feeling disappointed and quite annoyed.

I really hope this feedback is taken seriously because no paying customer should be made to feel like their concerns do not matter.

To ensure my family and I had great seats i spent an additional £200 on top of the flight costs. Flight was direct to JFK, two weeks prior to flight Aer Lingus announced that the were no longer flying direct, decided to stay with Aer Lingus on the non direct flight via Dublin. We were not allocated the same seats ( Avoid 40C, 50% leg room over other seats). Contacted Aer Lingus who said “sorry” ! waste of money and poor customer service. Boarding passes both ways at Dublin were incorrect on the App, 2 people on one seat, had to have them printed off both ways. Poor safety, customers had belongings on spare aisle seats and seats reclined for landing. Poor show.

We had to wait for over 30 minutes after boarding the plane to leave due to “technical” problems and the boarding was even delayed by atleast 15-20 minutes. As well as super last minute gate change like it was announced that it was moved like the minute it was boarding. We were watching a downloaded movie and right as we were about to take off this flight attendant tells us we’re not allowed to have it out grabs it from us and puts it in the overhead bin. Not once have I had a flight attendant be so rude grab my shit and put it away… it’s an iPad in airplane mode I’ve flown thousands of times I have never had to put my iPad away for take off and the manner in which she grabbed my shit was so rude! We also weren’t allowed to keep our items in the emergency exit row which I also have never experienced before and the seats in the emergency exit row were like leaning forward, it was the most uncomfortable seats I’ve ever experienced on on airplane!! Aer lingus was definitely one of the worst airlines I’ve ever had the experience of no wonder they only have 1.5 stars

What a joke of an airline! Delay after delay with zero communication regarding this. Wasted 4 hours of our time with no reason whatsoever. Will never fly with these again. Cannot believe they are still in business considering how bad they treat their customers.

Basically if you have any problems ,, your on your own … pay cheapest with them , get the worst service possible

We recently went to and from Europe and I will never use another air line. On the way there, we had the friendliest attendants. On the way back… let me say. The pilots were great. COLM!! He was so friendly. Great talking with him. He made us feel extra safe since we sat next to the emergency exit. He gave us so many ideas for our next adventure. It was honestly the best way to end our trip and come back to the states especially in such a tumultuous time.

*edit: They made sure everyone was accounted for and during our layover we rushed to the gate. They were happy and waiting for us with the gates open. In the past with other airlines we had been turned away and our names not called. Again… truly great experience.

I am extremely disappointed with how Aer Lingus has handled a straightforward baggage damage claim.

My suitcase was irreparably damaged during a flight on 5 November 2025. I provided full documentation, including purchase invoice (€296.76), photos and all requested details.

Aer Lingus acknowledged the damage but refused to reimburse unless I purchase a new suitcase and submit a receipt. This requirement is not compliant with the Montreal Convention.

Despite multiple follow-ups and a formal notice, no resolution has been provided.

At this point, I am left with a damaged and unusable item and no compensation.

This level of customer handling is unacceptable.

Honestly can’t get my head around how poor AerLingus are.
Flights booked Oct ‘25 for travel April’26. Then start of Feb told our outbound flight cancelled and automatically rescheduled to a later flight. We are bringing our 2 young girls to Disneyland and a later flight meant missing one of our days at Disney, on a short trip.

Rang and asked to be moved to the flight that was leaving 25minutes before our original booking - ‘no, the seats are more expensive’ - which I am pretty sure they can’t do. Or they tell us we can take a refund. After 3 calls we say we will go with the rebook option and book to leave the night before original travel. Means we have to spend more money on an extra hotel night but works best for Disney.
Now yesterday we got an email to confirm that our outgoing booking was cancelled and refund on the way. After long calls with customer care we were told a bot cancelled our flight in error and we could rebook the flight for an extra hotel night €200 or so. Even though we did not cancel it. They said because we never said the words ‘we do not want a refund’ on the call that there two seperate systems are not linked and did not realise we rebooked. So because we didn’t say that specific phrase their system cancelled our booking. We were offered 2 options - rebook or refund - we picked rebook and I even asked for specific seats on the new flight, but because I didn’t specifically say ‘I do not want a refund’ their system messed up and they are trying to make us pay more. I cannot get over how poor they have been. We are still waiting for an update. We travel in 30 days and still no flight out. They have really tainted what was meant to be a lovely surprise for our 2 little girls.

We recently took a flight from Dublin to Los Angeles with a 13-year-old child that was 3 hours delayed. To describe the food served on this 12-hour flight was not fit for human consumption would be an understatement. The first meal service consisted of a small starter of couscous mixed with red peppers, followed by a main course described as chicken curry with rice. This meal was, without exaggeration, the most unappetizing food I have ever been served on a flight. Serving a hot curry on a long-haul flight is highly questionable, and the quality and presentation were extremely poor. Both items were left uneaten.
Prior to landing at LAX, a cardboard box containing a vegetable wrap was placed on our tray table. The box was soaked with grease and dripping through the cardboard. The contents consisted mainly of peppers and onions. Once again, the food was left unopened.
The same or worse was presented on the return flight.
These are long-haul flights, which are very expensive, and I would reasonably expect the airline to provide passengers with properly prepared, edible meals. When I submitted a complaint to Aer Lingus, I received a response only after two months, which simply stated: “Thank you for bringing this to our attention.” This reply feels dismissive and does not address the issue or demonstrate an understanding of the inconvenience caused, they simply could not care less.

Appalling customer service after the airline treated me poorly - no apologies just excuses - then he had the nerve to hang up On me because I used the phrase “goddamn
Form” about their online forms which meant he could bail without resolving my query - snowflake