Aer Lingus cancelled a flight from Shannon earlier this week and used the aircraft to operate another service from Dublin.
The same plane was seconded to Dublin again yesterday (Thursday) however a replacement aircraft operated the Shannon to Boston service.
Customers due to travel on Tuesday’s EI-135 from Shannon to Boston claim the first they heard of their flight being cancelled was when they arrived at the airport.
While most passengers boarded the flight, they did not travel to their intended destination. Instead, they were flown to Dublin from where their aircraft was needed for another service to Toronto.
Passengers were accommodated on other flights with some flying from Shannon to Dublin and then onto London before getting a connecting flight.
Aer Lingus said: “Flight EI 135 (Shannon to Boston) was cancelled on Tuesday, 27th October due to a technical problem with an aircraft. There were 109 guests booked on the flight, all of whom were re-accommodated on alternative services. These included flights from Dublin to Boston and those with onward connections were rerouted via London and on flights from Shannon and Dublin to New York and onwards with partner airlines.”
While customers have claimed they were not notified of the cancellation, Aer Lingus said: “Guests for whom we had contact details (in their booking) were notified of the cancellation via SMS and email.”
One customer claimed however that the first he heard about the cancellation was when he is the check-in queue.
“I wasn’t contacted by email or sms. I wasn’t even told it was cancelled until I had queued for 20 minutes at check-in where a guy was discretely asking if people we on the Boston flight,” he said.
“My email details were in the system somewhere, I didn’t get the e-ticket by carrier pigeon. I’m also a member of the Gold Circle club so they have my details from that as my booking was certainly linked to membership,” he said.
“It seems like they sacrificed Shannon to Boston and ferried us up to Dublin on our own plane which they then used for Dublin to Toronto later. Most Shannon passengers were accommodated on EI-139 which meant they arrived in Boston five hours late. I was travelling to Phoenix and arrived there 13 hours later,” the passenger added.
In 2012, the same Boston flight was cancelled and 185 people left stranded in Co Clare overnight because their airplane was needed to take other passengers from Dublin to the same destination.
Flight EI-135 was preparing for boarding ahead of its scheduled departure from Shannon to Boston when passengers were told they would not be travelling.
The airline said at the time that flight EI-135 was cancelled because of “technical issues within the fleet’.