Aer Lingus could have saved itself the cost of some hotel rooms, had it been more informative and flexible with passengers whose flight to Chicago yesterday was cancelled.
A number of passengers accommodated overnight at the Great Southern Hotel at Dublin Airport were not annoyed about the delay but said they could have had an extra day with family had they known about the cancellation.
Those who were aware expressed disappointment that they had to go to the airport in person to have their tickets re-issued for flights today.
Ms Martina Lambe and Mr Abdullah "Paddy" Jammal travelling to San Francisco via Chicago heard yesterday morning through a friend who works for the airline. "I rang American Airlines because I couldn't get Aer Lingus and they put me on to a 1-800 number," said Ms Lambe.
But she was told: "You had to apply in person at the airport to get new tickets issued. I'm not really annoyed but I could have stayed in Drogheda". The couple were home for a niece's wedding.
"I work for a PR company and it's the end of year and I do finances and it's an extra day I don't really have. I'm okay about it now although by Wednesday or Thursday I'll probably be cursing."
Mr Jammal, originally from Jordan, was happy as it was his first time in Ireland. "I got an extra day here and another pint of Guinness. And what can you do - Mother Nature was angry with us," he said of the freak high wind on Saturday that damaged two aircraft at Dublin Airport, resulting in at least 1,200 passengers being delayed.
The Chicago aircraft was not affected but yesterday's flight was diverted to accommodate passengers travelling to New York and Boston who had been delayed since the weekend.
Ms Michelle Dillman and Ms Wendy Baier from Chicago were not impressed with that. "I don't understand why they did that. Now more people are affected and everybody is being bumped back," said Ms Baier.
They heard nothing about the cancellation until they were at the airport, and even then they queued for 45 minutes before they realised. The check-in official "said the flight was cancelled as if we were already supposed to know. She said it was on the news but we had been watching the news because of the tsunami and there was nothing about the delay."
Ms Baier said they could have spent another day in the city had they known.
Ms Yvonne Hall only heard about the delay at the airport. "I could have spent a whole other day with my family in Kilkeel, but I didn't get that option." Originally from Co Down, Ms Hall was returning to Niagara Falls in Canada. "My husband reconfirmed my flight from Canada yesterday, and they never told him about the delay."
Ms Enda Hartnett and her husband, Mr Ken Stein, were due to travel back to Chicago from Shannon yesterday and needed to get a connection on to Denver, Colorado. Originally from Cork where she spent Christmas with her family, Ms Hartnett said they could not get anybody from Aer Lingus on Sunday when they heard about the delays on the news.