Aer Lingus

Aer Lingus EI120 scheduled for departure Saturday 14th November at 2045. Cancelled at 1am due to APU problem. Re scheduled as EI1120 for Sunday 15th at 2359! Cancelled again around 2am. Replacement Aer Lingus aircraft arrived via Boston with a scheduled departure as EI2120 at 2000hrs. Finally departed 2115 Monday 16th. Nearly 300 passengers seriously affected. Aer Lingus communications consisted of one email and one text over 3 days. Had to phone Aer Lingus in New York for updates. Passengers are entitled to compensation for cancelled flights under EC 261/2004, with flights over 3500km results in compensation of €600 per cancellation.

I flew Aer Lingus from San Francisco to Venice via Dublin return. I have flown most of the major airlines and I never experienced such horrible treatment, especially on transatlantic flights. When I got in my seat for the Venice to Dublin flight there was a paper cup left in the pocket from the previous traveler. On the flight from Dublin to SFO, a 10.5 hour flight, I was given a meal in the first hour of the flight and what might be considered a sandwich the last hour. In between the cabin crew turned into concession sales people peddling the most atrocious snacks. After the initial beverage service the cabin crew did not come around once to offer water. If you wanted water you had to go to the "concession stand" and ask for it. Then, I received a feedback survey from Aer Lingus and the survey didn't come up. It read could not find the server. Nice to know that they really don't want to know how their service is, with the way they run their airline. I wouldn't want to know either, unless I was really interested in improving.

Chicago to Dublin with Aer Lingus in Business class. Excellent service from attentive cabin crew, food and beverages were excellent. The new business class seats are great and recline flat so a decent sleep can be had. Wifi worked and at a decent speed throughout flight. Only criticism is the number of movies and TV shows available on IFE. Choice seemed limited

Aer Lingus flight EI120 from Orlando to Dublin due to leave Orlando on Saturday 14th Nov at 2045 cancelled due to technical problem and the crew going out of hours. Passengers put up in hotels between 4 and 5 am! Aer Lingus issued email on Sunday morning 15th Nov stating the flight would depart Orlando at 2045 on 15th Nov. However on looking at the Aer Lingus flight information page it stated the flight would now depart at 2359. Flight is now EI1120 (original flight number EI120). No email received about this change. Dublin Airport arrivals information has the arrival of EI1120 for 0950 - this being the original scheduled time for EI120? Got onto Aer Lingus in New York and it was confirmed the time of departure from Orlando is 2359. But any mention of the flight has disappeared from the Aer Lingus flight information page! Why? In this day of instant communications Aer Lingus has shown itself to be rather pathetic and they obviously did not communicate the revised departure to Dublin Airport flight information people. I hope passengers realise they are entitled to compensation of €600 under EU rules.

Dublin to Boston return with Aer Lingus. Immigration pre clearance in Dublin a big plus. Boarding procedures strictly but pleasantly enforced. Outbound flight delayed due to removal of unruly passenger by 45 mins. Flight not full so plenty of space as adjacent seat not occupied. Seating typical for economy, would have felt cramped if flight was full. Booked fillet steak meal for additional 25 euro. Well worth it and thoroughly enjoyed. Crew were friendly and efficient. Arrived in Boston slightly ahead of schedule. Only issue I had was on arrival. Passengers arrive into airside departure area of Logan airport and it was confusing where to go to exit. On return check in took minutes and security was not too busy despite all the usual demeaning orders from homeland security. Flight home also half empty so plenty of space to stretch out. Even slept for 2 hours. Crew friendly and efficient. Upon landing in Dublin only had to wait about 5 minutes to get bag. Well done Aer Lingus. Another enjoyable flight.

Staff turned up late at the gate and then proceeded to get people to check their hand luggage in, and they could get on the plane first. Those who had paid priority and club class had to wait. Plane loads from front only so therefore the flights are always late as no one seems to have the time or inclination to do anything about it. Usual bad manners from some other passengers. To be frank no different from Ryanair. Room for improvement.

Birmingham to Orlando via Dublin. Travelled with Aer Lingus several times in the last couple of months. The crew are polite, happy and offer good quality service. We chose the upgrade food on both flights and both hot and delicious and snacks on arrival. One good thing is the service at Dublin for pre clearance is fantastic, waiting time 6 minutes. Overall excellent will use this service again.

New York JFK to Rome via Dublin. We had a third party lounge available to wait out the 2+ hours until departure. We arrived at the gate as they were just boarding. Things went smoothly. We had ordered the Bia upgraded dinner and were concerned that the flight attendants wouldn't have a clue. About 40 minutes after takeoff they came by with trolleys and identified us as having ordered special meals (hooray!) which they served promptly. The food was good. Problem was there was no space to eat it! We were literally doing yoga - one of us would cut the meat and while they were eating it the other would cut theirs. I mentioned to the FA when they were serving drinks that we had ordered the special Bia meal that came with wine. So, she gave me one. There just wasn't enough space to enjoy it in the seat we were in.

Toronto to London via Dublin. I was looking forward to this flight. Transatlantic flight with a national carrier and an Irish one no less, sounded great. I may as well have been on Ryanair. Sorry, but a transatlantic flight with a national carrier should offer free stuff including the odd beer in my opinion - call me old fashioned but there you go. Very average meal, no free drinks. Won't be flying with Aer Lingus again. Cabin crew were polite enough, but the trip was terrible in comparison to British Airways and Emirates flights I have taken.

I traveled from Amsterdam to Dublin on the 3rd November and it was the most revolting experience! Aircraft a relatively new looking Airbus A320 was filthy on boarding. I was greeted at my seat by used newspapers, a coffee cup and sweet wrappers all over the seat. The seat pocket was overflowing with rubbish. When I moved the rubbish and dropped the tray table it looked as if a child had emptied an entire carton of ribena all over it, it was sticky and there was no way that anybody could use it. I had paid 435 euro for the flight, so its not as if it was cheap. I thought the cleaners must have missed a row. I alerted one of the flight attendants, who informed me that Aer Lingus have decided to remove cleaning? They were very apologetic, but had stated they had received numerous complaints already from their new policy. I travel weekly for business and use numerous different airlines and have always regarded Aer Lingus as a good quality carrier. It was never a first class experience, but it was never dirty and off putting. However I do expect to be able to sit down without having to wade through rubbish and use my laptop on the tray table without having the remnants of the previous flight on it. I travel frequently with Easyjet and Ryanair and even their aircraft are in a better state. Shame on you Aer Lingus and if you continue this, with what I can only assume is a "cost cutting exercise" then you have lost a customer. If you do decide to travel with Aer Lingus make sure you bring a packet of wet wipes and a bin bag, as it seems to be a do it yourself clean.