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Family trip going ahead despite problems getting newborn on flight to Ireland

A young couple in Richmond, B.C., is relieved their family trip to Ireland will go ahead as planned, despite the lengthy runaround they experienced trying to add their newborn daughter to flight reservations.

Andrea Scully received a phone call from a representative with Aer Lingus in Dublin Thursday morning telling her the issue had been fully resolved and a new ticket had been issued for the family's Feb. 6 departure.

"Everything is all sorted out, and we don't have anything to worry about now," said Scully.

The trip is more than a holiday. The newborn — named Fynn — is to be christened in Ireland, with overseas relatives meeting the baby for the first time.

Tickets booked in July

Scully was pregnant when she booked the holiday for herself, her husband and their two-year-old son Liam with FlightHub.com in July 2017.

Scully said she told FlightHub.com she would also need to book for her unborn child and was told that would be no problem.

She called Flighthub back shortly after the baby was born to add her name, gender and birth date to the reservation — but was told she would have to call the airline, Aer Lingus, directly.

A representative added Fynn to the London-Dublin portion of the trip but told Scully she must call code-share partner British Airways regarding the Vancouver-London portion.

When Scully called British Airways, she was told to call Aer Lingus.

On the phone for 23 hours

And, so it began — the back and forth between Aer Lingus, British Airways and FlightHub.com — Scully says she was on the phone trying to resolve the issue for a total of 23 hours.

"It was two weeks ago that I started calling," said Scully Wednesday.

'Not the passenger's problem'

"Aer Lingus has to sort it out with British Airways. It's not the passenger's problem," said air passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs, who spoke to CBC by phone from Halifax, N.S.

"It's a problem between Aer Lingus and its subcontractor, which happens to be British Airways."

International Airlines Group is the parent company of Aer Lingus and British Airways.

As of CBC's Wednesday deadline, FlightHub.com had not responded to two requests for an interview.

Shortly after CBC published this story, FlightHub sent an email asking for more details about the passenger to review the booking. They said that once they can investigate, they can reach out to Scully and rectify the situation.

Never again

The Aer Lingus representative that called Scully Thursday to tell her the problems had been ironed out explained there were technical issues between British Airways and Aer Lingus with regards to infant tickets.

Scully said she will never again book a flight through a third party. Instead, she plans to book directly with the airline.

"I haven't actually heard from FlightHub," said Scully. "No email, no phone call, no nothing."

With files from Belle Puri