Aer Lingus

✅ Verified Review | Dublin to London Heathrow return. I was planning a day trip to London, and as I hadn’t travelled through Heathrow for over two years, I was curious to see how it had evolved since 09th July 2014 when Aer Lingus moved their operation from Heathrow Terminal 1 to Terminal 2. At the time, four main benefits arising from moving to T2 were heavily publicised: Public transport within 15 minutes of landing. Luxurious Gold Circle Lounge within minutes of check in. State of the art facilities. A seamless faster security and check in process. In addition, this was my first booking since the introduction of Aer Lingus’ loyalty programme, now named “Aer Club”. The booking process on Aer Lingus website remains broadly the same. The three fare types are now named Saver, Plus & Advantage with each earning a different amount of tier credits. One benefit I noticed is that when selecting the Plus fare, all seats are now included as complimentary: heretofore the front rows had to be paid for. As I was travelling within the 30 day window, I was able to check in immediately and print my boarding passes. I arrived at Dublin Airport at 7.00am for my 0845 am flight. I wanted to enquire about changing my seat on the outbound leg, and I called to the Gold Circle check in desk. Staff greeted me with a smile and within seconds had issued me with a new boarding card, and wished me a pleasant flight. My current Aer Club tier is Silver which includes fast track security. Only two people were in front of me and I was airside within a couple of minutes. I had a quick look around the bookshop and made my way to the Lounge, where I was greeted by the same staff with whom I dealt at the Gold Circle desk. We joked about the speed with which she moved from the check-in area to the lounge. Definitely the complete antithesis of the fabled lounge dragon! At approximately 8.20am, I made my way to gate 409 where boarding was underway. There are two separate boarding lines: General and Priority (for Aer Club members, flexible ticket holders) and it works very well. While walking towards the airbridge, passengers sitting in the rear half of the aircraft are directed towards steps at the rear door, and the front half board via the airbridge. This speeds up the boarding process, particularly on busy flights. The A320 was clean , and cabin crew warmly welcomed passengers. After a safety briefing and flight information from the Captain, we were underway quickly. During the flight, I indulged in the Irish Breakfast. Not the cheapest at 10 euro, but very tasty indeed. We landed on time in Heathrow, and after a short taxi were on stand at 11am. We deplaned quickly, and I was sitting on the Tube at 11.15am.

✅ Verified Review | I have used Aer Lingus twice now and I cannot thank the staff enough. I was traveling with my 80yr old father who required assistance, the OCS staff were so helpful especially in Ireland. Dads wheelchair was waiting for him and we where taken to our departure gates with no problems. On our flight from Hartford an air stewardess went above and beyond helping us, she was kind and considerate making sure my Dad was ok offering him tea and checking that he was comfortable. My only issue was when departing Ireland to go to Glasgow an announcement was made that anyone requiring assistance was allowed on the bus. So we went on the bus, however that was a mistake, we had to wait until all the passengers boarded and that took a while and it was freezing, then once we got off the bus we were not fast enough to get to board first, we where actually the last passengers to get on the flight, my father was cold and having difficulty standing. I would suggest those passengers who require assistance should be allowed to board first.

✅ Verified Review | London Heathrow to Shannon. Check in at the Aer Lingus Transfer desk (after transfer from Stockholm) was quick and efficient, as soon as I had checked in the flight was due for boarding. Terminal 2 in Heathrow makes for a quick efficient transfer. Upon boarding the flight was only about 70% full, so the seat next to me was free, which made for a comfortable flight. The seat itself was the new Blue colour leather ones with the adjustable head rest, seat pitch was reasonable for the hour flight to Shannon. After a quick taxi and take off, the crew started the in-flight service with the buy on board cafe, I ordered a hot toasted sandwich and tea, which was okay and filled a spot but not much more. Crew were the friendly and engaging with the customers on the flight and the flight crew kept us up to date. Overall good punctual service from Aer Lingus.

✅ Verified Review | Gatwick to Dublin. Efficient, friendly and early, with a spare seat next to me. Cabin crew friendly, boarding quick, departure on time. If only every flight was like this. Despite warnings of dire weather and freezing conditions we arrived early at Dublin.

✅ Verified Review | Boston to Gatwick via Dublin. A great experience and everything went smoothly. Inflight entertainment was very good. My only complaint is they seem to keep the seat-belt sign on even during smooth sailing. I suppose this eliminates a lot of people crowding the aisles but it makes me uncomfortable and hesitant to use the restroom. Flights both left on time and arrived somewhat early. The coffee was awful and I paid GBP3 for it. Small thing but still.

✅ Verified Review | Aer Lingus is a nightmare. I purchased a trip to Madrid from Boston with an hour layover in Dublin. Both legs of the journey were run by Aer Lingus. However, the gate distance and short time frame provided made it physically impossible to make the flight connection. I ran to the gate and they had already closed it-- I can't believe Aer Lingus sold the tickets as if it would be possible to make the connection. I rescheduled at the sales booth (this is why they get one point-- the woman working at the desk was super friendly and kind) but the next flight was not until 8 hours later so I had to stay in the airport. To top it all off they somehow managed to lose one of my two checked bags and it took them 3 days to get it to me in Madrid. The experience was a mess - avoid this airline at all costs if you can.

✅ Verified Review | Boston to Dublin. I hoping to find an alternative to my regular route through London with British Airways. I was really disappointed with Aer Lingus because the plane was incredibly uncomfortable. It was the first flight in years where actually sitting in the seats was deeply uncomfortable. And I do mean seats. I had to move twice as my first seat had a broken headphone connection, the second seat was in a weird location with fixed sides so I couldn't move my hips at all and twisted my back. I was surprised by how many people had major issues with their entertainment screen and I was surprised by how poor it was. The touchscreen was more like "hit it 4 or 5 times" screen and watch it go to the wrong thing. I had to use the remote to navigate and it still did not register after 3 times of hitting the button. I gave up after one show because the headphones (a double prong jack so I couldn't use my own headphones) sounded like people talking into a tin can. Everything felt so outdated. I spent a good time out of my seat toward the end of the flight trying to help my back recover. Another bizarre thing was how often they interrupted the entertainment system (or in many people's case sleep) to give inane commentary or play an advert (!) for something Irish or a charity partner. That's find at the end of the flight but in the middle of the night over and over again? It's such a shame as the connection through Dublin was lovely and the short hop to Berlin was just fine, but I just won't be putting my body through that again for long haul.

✅ Verified Review | Emerald one world member. Dublin to Amserdam one way on a fully flex ticket cositng 340 euro. EI 606 our flight was cancelled at the last minute due to fog. Of course this is out of the airlines control but the follow up on service is where an airline shows their true colours. The ladies in the lounge were helpful and pleasent and gave us options, being wait and see for a later flight or take Brussels and take a train at our own expense. We decided to wait and the EI 608 was then departing. I was asked then to go to arrivals hall collect my luggage and recheck it in departures which I did. We lost the seats we had paid for on exit rows and recieved the last seats on the plane seperated, not an issue and glad to get to AMS but we do not get any refund. We boarded and were then delayed a further 90 minutes due to slot retrictions. Very full flight and the crew were if anything regimental, not one smile out of them. On landing we arrived to no bags, others were in the same situation and were told as the aircraft was full bags were off loaded and they would be on the next flight . we waited 3 hours and of course no bags. We chased the bags, no one knew where they were for two days when they finally arrived on the last day of our holiday. To add insult to this they then inform us that we have to send all receipts by "post" to Dublin for refund. A nice sly trick to put people off trying to claim for their incompetence. Since British Airways bought Aer Lingus you can see very clearly the drop in standards and staff moral. Just like BA, has gone down the tubes with service.

✅ Verified Review | Dublin to Fuerteventura EI770 on December 27th with my wife. Seats 5a and 5b. We waited until after the food and drink service finished before reclining our seats. The people behind were kicking and pulling the seats for quite a lot of the way. About 40 mins before landing the man behind just pushed my wife's seat forward aggressively several times. We called the cabin crew, and the CSD came down to us. Despite the couple behind being quite drunk, and very aggressive, her way of dealing with the situation was to ask us to put our seats upright. We complied with her request and then had to put up with our seats being kicked and loud comments for the remainder of the flight. This is the worst experience I have ever had on any airline, and it was compounded by the way it was dealt with. At no point did the CSD speak to them and ask them to calm down, nor did she ask them to stop disturbing us. It felt like we were being punished by the airline, and that the most aggressive passengers were being rewarded. If they were that drunk over three hours into the flight then it had to be due to drink sold onboard to them, and this is unacceptable. I appreciate that the CSD did what they felt would easily diffuse the situation, and we complied with her request. However she should have made appropriate requests of the other passengers, and she did not. When we landed and had just left the runway, the drunk guy behind stood up in the aisle and proceeded to get his luggage down, we were on the taxiway, they just left him alone despite this being a safety issue. I received a form response from Aer Lngus, and I thought they would at least give us a complimentary drink on our return flight, but nothing. I have to give this the lowest possible rating as it was the worst flying experience in my life, including customer service.

✅ Verified Review | Newark to Dublin. Haven flown Aer Lingus in the past we decided to spend a little extra to go with them over the competition (United) as our last long distance flight was good with them. On this occasion however that faith was misguided. Their A330-200 aircraft looked good until we sat down and found the seats to be very hard. Was impossible to get comfortable in them. We took off over an hour late and got in about 30 mins late into Dublin. First a drink was served, only soft drinks are free, and you get a small bag of pretzels to go with them. Then dinner was served. By the time they got to us they only had the beef left. Which was the worst airline meal I have tasted, no flavor at all. The inflight TV the map was broken and half the movies were coming soon - very poor choice. I decided to rest for a bit but couldn't sleep as the headrest would not move to my height - I'm only 5 foot 7. When it came to asking for breakfast when they were serving it, I was told we only have breakfast for 60% of the flight, too bad for you we ran out, not even a drink was offered. Service on Aer Lingus has gone downhill.