Aer Lingus....the good/bad/ugly?

[gkrnjlr]

We're considering Aer Lingus but are unfamiliar with them. If we did fly AL it would be from MCO or RDU to LON.

 

Can anyone give me some insight on this airline? Or are we better off paying more and going with Delta?

 

Thanks!

Edited July 26, 2013 by gkrnjlr

[MATHA531]

We're considering Aer Lingus but are unfamiliar with them. If we did fly AL it would be from MCO or RDU to LON.

 

Can anyone give me some insight on this airline? Or are we better off paying more and going with Delta?

 

Thanks!

 

Assuming you are from the United States, be aware of the following...

 

Aer Lingus processes its visa and mc payments through a bank in Ireland. Therefore if you use a visa or mastercard that charges a foreign transaction fee, even if you book it with an on-line agency such as Orbitz or on the Aer Lingus web site, you will be nailed for a 3% foreign transaction fee by the credit card company; an unpleasant surprise many receive.

[gkrnjlr]

Assuming you are from the United States, be aware of the following...

 

Aer Lingus processes its visa and mc payments through a bank in Ireland. Therefore if you use a visa or mastercard that charges a foreign transaction fee, even if you book it with an on-line agency such as Orbitz or on the Aer Lingus web site, you will be nailed for a 3% foreign transaction fee by the credit card company; an unpleasant surprise many receive.

 

Ah...information good to know.

Yes, we are from the United States. So that would tack on the additional fee.

 

Thanks for the heads up!

[hubofhockey]

Yes, we use our Capital One card, which charges no such fees, when booking Aerlingus.

 

I would recommend booking directly through Aerlingus website to better control your booking.

 

Planes out of Boston are very big. I think the seating is in a 2-4-2 configuration for flights from US to Ireland, but 3-3 for flights within Europe.

 

The airport in Dublin is nothing special.

 

Aerlingus and Icelandair are two airlines which discount to Europe and offer free layovers in Reykjavik and Dublin respectively. Icelandair often offers better pricing and its planes are newer. It's airport is also much nicer.

[MeHeartCruising]

I flew Aer Lingus from Chicago (I think) to Dublin roundtrip a couple years ago. I had no issues whatsoever with them and would consider it a very comparable experience to the major domestic carriers here in the US. I did my entire transaction online using their website and I believe I paid extra for my bag as well as the ability to choose my specific seat at the time of booking. As a 6'4" big man, aisle seating is very important to me. But it was still less expensive than other options I had at the time.

Edited July 26, 2013 by MeHeartCruising

[Bob++]

As with all the cheaper carriers you need to take the booking right up to the point of paying to see exactly what you will pay. That's not to say they are bad value - just that they may not be as cheap as they first appear.

[dsrdsrdsr]

If we did fly AL it would be from MCO or RDU to LON.

For the benefit of people who don't know all the world's airport codes, where are these places please?

[hubofhockey]

For the benefit of people who don't know all the world's airport codes, where are these places please?

 

MCO is Orlando

LON is London

RDU I believe is Raleigh

[Sauer-kraut]

Bad on time averages. So bad that we missed our connection from Dublin to Southampton which was 3 hours after the publish arrival time. What a mess! Booked a last minute on another airline to get to a different airport (paid through the nose) and luckily the rent-a-car agent was able to get a car to the 'new' airport.

 

I don't know if I'd do Aer Lingus again if Dublin/Shannon was not my final destination.

[hubofhockey]

Bad on time averages. So bad that we missed our connection from Dublin to Southampton which was 3 hours after the publish arrival time. What a mess! Booked a last minute on another airline to get to a different airport (paid through the nose) and luckily the rent-a-car agent was able to get a car to the 'new' airport.

 

I don't know if I'd do Aer Lingus again if Dublin/Shannon was not my final destination.

 

We almost missed Dublin to Boston return flight after a delay in Barcelona. Aerlingus personnel escorted us to the connection after rushing us through US immigration. In fact, we lost our paid for upgraded seats and our luggage missed the flight. It got delivered a day later.

[scottbee]

Bad on time averages. So bad that we missed our connection from Dublin to Southampton which was 3 hours after the publish arrival time. What a mess! Booked a last minute on another airline to get to a different airport (paid through the nose) and luckily the rent-a-car agent was able to get a car to the 'new' airport.

 

I don't know if I'd do Aer Lingus again if Dublin/Shannon was not my final destination.

 

You sure it was EI/ Aer Lingus? Given they dont serve SOU/Southamtpon

 

However FlyBE do fly from DUB to SOU

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[bubblesqueaker]

Aer Lingus are fine. I have flown with them a few times. Dublin airport has massively expanded in the last two years and the airport is lovely now.

[janina]

Aer Lingus are fine. I have flown with them a few times. Dublin airport has massively expanded in the last two years and the airport is lovely now.

 

I totally agree. Nice airline good planes and better food than US airlines.

[sustyse]

The airport in Dublin is nothing special.

 

What "Speciality" are you looking for in an airport?

 

As far as possible we always travel Aer Lingus and find them to be a very good air line. Maybe we are biased because we are Irish. :)

[librarylady19]

I totally agree. Nice airline good planes and better food than US airlines.

 

Flying aer lingus to London in 10 days! Do we want to upgrade the dinner or is it satisfactory ?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BCA13]

Flying aer lingus to London in 10 days! Do we want to upgrade the dinner or is it satisfactory ?

Hi,

 

Never fly longhaul to LON with aer lingus before. and don't know what kind of food you like to eat. but hope this can give you an idea.:)

 

I don't have experience with upgrade dinner.

But on our way back last week from ORD (Chicago O'hare) to DUB (Dublin), a couple in front of us ordered this.

 

What I noticed with upgrade dinner:

- you'll get your food first before others (at economy class of course).

- if you like wine, it is included http://www.aerlingus.com/inflight-experience/inflight-dining/longhaul-economy/sky-dine/

- and you don't hv to worry if the choice you want will be finished before your turn of getting your dinner.

(example: without upgrade, menu choices are chicken or pasta. usually chicken finish quick enough. and you like chicken. bummer.. on your turn get your dinner, they only hv pasta.)

- other than those 3 above, i think the portion just a... little bit more. well, the tray is bigger because they're using plates,bowl,spoon etc i/o plastics..

 

This is our first time using aer lingus to and from USA.

We admit, the portion of the meal is less than what we used to get when we fly with other airline.

 

Back to your question: is it satisfactory?

For us: Nope. :D

Lucky, we ate at the airport before boarding.

 

Elsa

[sustyse]

Hi,

 

Never fly longhaul to LON with aer lingus before. and don't know what kind of food you like to eat. but hope this can give you an idea.:)

 

I don't have experience with upgrade dinner.

But on our way back last week from ORD (Chicago O'hare) to DUB (Dublin), a couple in front of us ordered this.

 

What I noticed with upgrade dinner:

- you'll get your food first before others (at economy class of course).

- if you like wine, it is included http://www.aerlingus.com/inflight-experience/inflight-dining/longhaul-economy/sky-dine/

- and you don't hv to worry if the choice you want will be finished before your turn of getting your dinner.

(example: without upgrade, menu choices are chicken or pasta. usually chicken finish quick enough. and you like chicken. bummer.. on your turn get your dinner, they only hv pasta.)

- other than those 3 above, i think the portion just a... little bit more. well, the tray is bigger because they're using plates,bowl,spoon etc i/o plastics..

 

This is our first time using aer lingus to and from USA.

We admit, the portion of the meal is less than what we used to get when we fly with other airline.

 

Back to your question: is it satisfactory?

For us: Nope. :D

Lucky, we ate at the airport before boarding.

 

Elsa

 

 

The only way to be guaranteed great airline food is to upgrade to Business Class.:)

[BCA13]

The only way to be guaranteed great airline food is to upgrade to Business Class.:)

 

in this case, with aer lingus, yes indeed. i do agree with you. :)

[sweetsleep]

London has 5 (maybe 6?) international airports:

Heathrow is LHR

Gatwick is LGW

Stanstead is STN

Luton is LTN

London City Airport is LCY

 

Sometimes LON is used to describe all area airports but the IATA codes are needed for a particular airport.

Good to know this so you get to the correct airport as they are not close to each other at all!

[Cotswold Eagle]

True, but LON is an IATA metropolitan area code (same as NYC or WAS) and is useful for assessing all options, if you don't need to fly to a particular airport.

[Sauer-kraut]

You sure it was EI/ Aer Lingus? Given they dont serve SOU/Southamtpon

 

However FlyBE do fly from DUB to SOU

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

The flight was ORD-DUB we paid for a Ryan Air from DUB-SOU which we missed. Ended up snagging 2 seats on FlyBE to another airport on the coast as we needed to drive to Bridport.

[Underwatr]

I would recommend booking directly through Aerlingus website to better control your booking.

100% agree with this recommendation. We saved a bit of money by booking via Orbitz but was unable to change my reserved seats on the Aer Lingus website or the Orbitz website (I was able to make initial seat reservation but after looking at Seatguru decided that I wanted to change and couldn't).

 

We flew from London to New York and clearing US immigration in Ireland rather that at JFK was very welcome. :)

 

The other good thing about Aer Lingus and Icelandair is that their one-way pricing is much better than any other airline I researched. Something to keep in mind if you're considering a Transatlantic cruise.

[scottbee]

Icelandair often offers better pricing and its planes are newer.

 

Just the opposite. Icelandair's fleet of 757s averages 17.9 yrs old, whereas Aer Lingus' fleet of A330s averages just 7.5 yrs.

 

Quite the discussion in the airline world as to exactly what a lot of airlines are going to replace 757s with as there really isn't a direct replacement being built by anyone these days; and there really hasn't been since the 757 went out of production in 2004.

 

http://www.airfleets.net/ageflotte/Aer%20Lingus.htm

http://www.airfleets.net/ageflotte/Icelandair.htm

[Mparis184]

I have flown Aer Lingus many times from the US and have never had any problems. If you watch the rates carefully you can get some exceptional deals on tickets.

 

Marion

[Cruise_Christy]

Travel with Aer Lingus a lot because we go BOS-DUB and then Cardiff or Bristol for our local flights (family is in Boston, we are in Wales).

 

They are basic but decent and usually a fair bit cheaper than other options, with great local connections in the UK. Planes have always been clean and adequate, with a decent movie and polite staff as you'd expect but as with most airlines I've encountered, prices for drinks/snacks on the plane are super high and the food is pretty terrible but that's longhaul flights in economy for you.

 

We've had two examples of decent customer service with them:

 

- Flight departed very late from BOS due to a problem on the runway (over 90 minutes late departing). Missed connecting flight due to it. Attendants very efficient at getting us to new gate & assigning us on next available flight.

 

- Airports were closed due to snowstorms in the UK in early 2013 (almost never happens, so when we do get snow, airports are very ill equipped to deal with it). Aer Lingus paid for hotel room overnight, very efficient and understanding, since flights were cancelled, managed to squeeze us onto a flight next morning since airports were reopened, but by the time we got to Dublin, our destination was closed again. Gave us some options (another night in a hotel waiting for it to reopen and the bad weather was forecast to continue, or just getting on the next available flight to the UK from Dublin) and managed to get us on a flight to Birmingham (about a 2 hour train from where we'd been hoping but at least the right country!), but our luggage didn't make it. One phone call and they said our luggage was in Dublin still and would be with us as soon as it could be. 2 days later luggage turned up by express courier at our home address, no cost to ourselves.

 

So out of maybe 15 trips, we've had 2 problems - neither of which were the fault of the airline - and they dealt with them with great customer service which means they get a good recommendation from me.

Edited April 26, 2014 by Cruise_Christy