Online Booking Help

Aer Lingus website privacy policy

As a valued Aer Lingus customer, your personal privacy is very important to us. This page outlines our policy concerning personal information. By using the Aer Lingus website, you accept the practices described in this Privacy Policy. We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time to take account of changing requirements such as changes in technology or legislation, and request that you refer back to this Policy frequently to become aware of any such revisions. In addition, we recommend that you review the privacy policy of any website accessed through the Aer Lingus website as these sites may be subject to different privacy practices. Aer Lingus is not responsible for these websites or for the information made available thereon.

1. How do I know my personal details are confidential and safe when I purchase flights or access my personal profile through the Aer Lingus website?

   When you purchase flights online or access your personal profile you can do so through a secure server. The use of Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology means that all personal information, such as your credit card number, will be encrypted as it travels from your computer to the Aer Lingus Online Booking Engine. When received, the information is decrypted and processed in the same way as a normal credit card transaction by telephone.
   
   If your browser supports SSL, and if you entered our site via our secure server access, then transmission of any sensitive data will be protected. If your browser does not support SSL, we recommend that you upgrade to the latest version of any browser to enhance the security of further transactions, otherwise the transmission of your personal data may not be protected and Aer Lingus disclaims any responsibility in this regard.
   
   

2. What personal information does Aer Lingus collect when I visit the Aer Lingus website?

   We do not collect personal information about you when you browse the Aer Lingus website. However, if you wish to book a flight using the site's interactive services, we will require you to complete the Booking Form and provide us with certain information which may include the following:
   
   • Name
   • Postal Address
   • Credit/Debit Card number and expiration date
   • Billing address
   • Phone numbers
   • E-mail address
   
   In order to help us provide you with the best possible service, you may also choose to become a Site Member. Site Membership will save you time when you book a ticket in future by pre-filling your personal details in the online booking section. We may also send Site Members information on services and special offers which we think they may find of interest. Site Members will also be asked to provide us with certain information by completing the User Profile. This information is optional and may include:
   
   • Preferred / frequent destinations
   • Home airport
   • Opportunity to avail of e-mail notification of special offers
   • Seat and meal preference
   • Preferred class of service
   • Age Group
   • Credit/Debit Card Details
   
   Site Members may also join our frequent flyer programme (Gold Circle Club) online by completing the required form in the My Profile section of the website which may also involve providing the above information.
   
   

3. What are the benefits of creating and maintaining a User Profile?

   When you access and update your User Profile you enable us to optimise your time spent on the Aer Lingus website. Through the use of profile information provided we are able to personalise your website visit, ensuring that we can communicate details of special offers and other travel information that may interest you during your webvisit. If you are also a Gold Circle Club Member, you will be able to check your Gold Cirlce points balance and find out additional information about your Gold Cirlce membership. It will also save you time when you book a ticket by pre-filling the online booking section. If you wish, we can also send you directly information which we think you may find of interest such as information about services, products, special offers and promotions offered by Aer Lingus, other carriers and service providers.
   
   

4. How will Aer Lingus use my personal information?

   We use your personal information to identify you as a customer, to process your booking, to verify credit or other charge card details, to manage your Gold Circle Club Frequent Flyer Account (if applicable) and to deliver relevant information to you in connection with your travel and any ancillary services which you may wish to avail of. Your information may also be used for immigration and customs control (see further below), security, administrative and legal purposes. For these purposes, we may transmit your personal information to our own offices, authorised agents, other carriers and service providers, credit and charge card companies, data processing companies working on our behalf and to government agencies. Some of these entities may be located outside the European Economic Area. Your personal information and any records relating to your air travel will also be retained for audit functions.
   
   We may also use the personal information of Site Members to provide them with information which we think they may find of interest. This may include information about services, products, special offers and promotions offered by Aer Lingus, other carriers and service providers. We may contact you by any means of communication for which you have given us contact details, including by post, e-mail, pop-up window, fax and telephone. However, you may choose not to receive such information by so indicating on the booking form or on the Site Membership Information form.
   
   
5. Advance Passenger Information - Notice for Passengers travelling to and from the United States
   

   Laws in force in the USA require Aer Lingus to collect certain information from all passengers travelling to and from the USA, prior to travel. This information includes information held in the machine-readable zone (MRZ) of your passport (passport number, country of issue, passport expiry date, given names, last name, gender and date of birth) together with other information which is not held in the MRZ of your passport (country of residence, citizenship, alien registration card number, destination address in the USA).

   In addition, under U.S. Law, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will receive certain travel and reservation information, known as Passenger Name Record or PNR data, about passengers flying between the European Union and the U.S. CBP has undertaken that it uses this PNR data for the purposes of preventing and combating terrorism and other transnational serious crimes. The PNR may include information provided during the booking process or held by airlines or travel agents. The information will be retained for at least three years and six months and may be shared with other authorities.

   Further information about these arrangements, including measures to safeguard your personal data, can be obtained on: www.europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/privacy/adequacy_en.htm and www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/CBP-DHS_PNRUndertakings5-25-04.pdf

6. Cookies, web beacons and pixel tags and how they can benefit your website experience?

   Cookies are very small text files stored on your hard drive. They uniquely identify your computer and allow us to store profile information, improve website security and help us to customise your website experience. A unique user identity is created which ensures that you are not required to re-enter login details as you move throughout the website. Time spent navigating the site is kept to a minimum. As is described in more detail below, they may also be used to assist us in making our website and our emails work more efficiently as well as to provide us with business and marketing information. For more detailed information on cookies, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

   (a)Technology used during your web visit

   We contract with online partners to help manage and optimize our internet business and communications and to help us measure the effectiveness of our advertising and how visitors use our site. To do this, we use cookies provided by our online partners on this site. By supplementing our records, this information helps us learn things such as what pages are most attractive to our visitors, which of our products most interest our customers, and what kinds of offers our customers like to see. Although our online partner logs the information coming from our site on our behalf, we control how that data may and may not be used.

   If you do not want to help us learn how to improve our site, products, offers and marketing strategy, you can "opt-out" of this website analysis tool. How you do this will depend upon the internet browser you use (for example, Internet Explorer 5, Netscape 4 or Opera etc). Please refer to the relevant internet browser manufacturer's website where you should be able to receive all the information required.

   (b)Technology used in our e-mails

   In addition, we may use e-mail delivery and marketing companies to send e-mails that you have consented to receive. Pixel tags and cookies are used in those e-mails and at our website to help us measure the effectiveness of our advertising and how visitors use our website.

   The following is a list of all the cookies that Aer Lingus or its third party contractors may use for this purpose:

   • "Email Opening Sensing": In order to understand how our readers interact with the emails and the content that we send, we use pixels in the text in order to understand who has opened the emails that they have been sent.
   • "Message Format Sensing": In order to provide our content in the most interesting way, we also use pixels to learn whether you can receive emails in text or html form.
   • "Click-Through Sensing": If you click on a link in the email, we may set a cookie on your browser.
   • "Response Analysis":If you click on a link in the email, we may set a cookie on your browser. If you visit our website as a result of clicking on a link, we are able to understand how you interact with the pages of our website through the combination of the cookie and pixels set on the pages of our website. This enables us to understand what interested you in our emails and what did not, and what interests you about our website and what does not. We can then try to send you more interesting information in the future. Please note that this information is for our use only - we do not disclose or share this information with any third parties. If you do not wish this to happen, you can change the cookie settings in your browser.

7. Is it easy to update and alter my personal information?

   You may access and update the information which we hold about you as a Site Member or a Gold Circle Club Member by logging in and accessing the relevant page in the My Profile section of the website.
   
   

8. Contact us

   If you have any other concerns, suggestions or questions about any issues relating to privacy on the Aer Lingus web site, please contact us via e-mail. See 'Need Help' - 'Help Inquiry' - 'Other'.

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