€214 charge after child turned two before return flight

Aer Lingus has apologised to a father who was charged an extra €214 for a seat for his daughter because she had turned two between her outward and return flights.

Tue, 24 Mar, 2015 - 00:00

Joe Leogue

Mark Quinn from Longford was told at check-in for his family’s return flight from Dublin Airport that his daughter, who had her second birthday two days earlier, would need to pay for a child seat.

Mr Quinn’s wife and children were flying back to Frankfurt having spent nearly two weeks in Ireland. They had booked an infant seat for their daughter who was one year old leaving Germany, but celebrated her birthday last weekend.

Mr Quinn said he had provided his daughter’s date of birth when booking the infant ticket but was not prompted or warned by the booking system she would need to buy a child’s seat.

Aer Lingus said infants under the age of two who travel on a parent’s lap are charged a flat rate of €20 or equivalent per one-way flight on all short-haul routes or 10% of the adult fare on flights to the US.

“Children more than two years old must purchase a seat. If a child turns two years old during a phase of the journey, you must purchase a seat for the child, or alternatively, make two separate reservations, one for the outward journey and one for the return journey,” the terms on its website reads.

Aer Lingus confirmed that its booking process does not prompt customers to buy a ticket for passengers who turn two years old before the return leg, but said the terms and conditions are listed on its website.

“Aer Lingus provides information on infant bookings on its website. At each stage of the booking process there is a link on the top banner of each page to information titled, ‘Unaccompanied Child and Infant Information’,” a spokesperson for the airline said.

“If a baby turns two years old after the outward journey, but before the return trip, a seat must be purchased for the child. We apologise to the customer concerned for any inconvenience caused in this instance,” she said.

Mr Quinn said he was disappointed the site did not flag the issue when he entered his daughter’s date of birth.

“Terms and conditions are fine, but it’s not a very consumer-friendly website.”