Aer Lingus

Boston - Dublin May 15 flight 138 - was supposed to be an Aer Lingus aircraft but apparently several days out they had to charter a plane from Omni International - which is generally used as troop transport - that was filthy crammed to the gills with the maximum seats. There went our prepaid extra legroom seats no air controls no Aer Lingus staff no individual seat TVs nothing - it was horrible and the worst part - no prior notice. Then - coming back Aer Lingus Shannon - Boston May 31 flight 135 - supposed to be a double aisle aircraft - you guessed it - Boeing 757 - one aisle - 6 hours and no explanations. Yes I understand the airlines can substitute aircraft - but (especially on flight 138) a comparable and comfortable substitute should have been made. I was appalled (and I am a regular traveler to Ireland).

Boston – Dublin. Flight EI136. Dublin – Naples. Flight EI450. I last traveled on Aer Lingus in 1977 as a child. The service was excellent and the food was great. So when I booked our trip in May 2015 to Italy through Dublin to Naples I was excited. I could not have been more disappointed. The service was terrible. There was only 1 flight attendant that gave a faint smile (and that was on all legs of the trip. A British staff member was on board for the final Dublin to Boston flight via Titan Airlines. They were a breath of fresh air and were very pleasant and actually smiled). The food was bad. The plane was pretty clean though. This was the cheapest airline I have flown on. They kept charging for everything. On the flight from Dublin to Naples they charged for every single thing even water. Not one thing was distributed for free. I could see if I paid very little for my flight but this was not a cheap rock bottom fare. Frankly I was ashamed of being Irish after I took the first leg of the trip. We were traveling with 10 other people and all agreed that they would have no interest in traveling to Ireland for a future vacation. So Aer Lingus - you might be saving a lot of money but you are obliterating anyone's desires to travel to Ireland in the future.

10/5 Sunday flight Dublin to LHR. Went to book luggage in and was grabbed and asked if I wanted to be put on the earlier flight which was good. I had previously paid for a seat upfront but only got row 9 in the reorg which was odd as there were spare seats on the earlier flight. Bad news - loads of planes leaving at that time so really only gained about half an hour but hey not their fault. Usual problem though - people with too much luggage and no idea of how to stow on board. They did weigh some and grab some but I feel they need to monitor this when people get on the plane as some people really are quite selfish and clueless. Also Aer Lingus passengers take forever getting on or off a plane which actually does matter if you have trains and buses to get. However cheaper than Ryanair and quite pleasant.

We flew Dublin to Paris on May 13th 2015. From the start we were greeted with disinterested and unfriendly staff at check in. Even though I checked in with my husband we were not seated next to each other even though the plane wasn't full. I moved myself over to sit with him before take off but why would they seat us apart? The cabin crew were miserable. Finally they rush through with the tea and coffee and snacks that you have to purchase and staff didn't even bother to ask us if we would like something. The plane itself was disgustingly dirty with drink stains spilled on the seat. The back of the seats holding the magazines was vile with what looked like a mixture of spilt drink food and mould. We will never fly Aer Lingus again.

I traveled from Munich to Boston in early January 2015. The experience at Munich airport was very poor particularly the passport control line which was 45 minutes of unrestrained and uncontrolled pushing and shoving. Probably not Aer Lingus' fault but still a poor start. I had paid for a business class ticket over the internet. Did not find out until getting on the plane that the first part of the trip (Munich to Dublin) was economy as there are no business class seats on the plane. Typical economy experience. The actual business class portion of the trip (Dublin to Boston) was excellent. However the fare (which looked reasonable initially) in retrospect seemed far too high given that 3 hours of the 9 hour trip were actually not business class. I had a medical issue that caused me to book the business class ticket so I was really horrified at the unexpected 3 hours in economy which I had bought the business class ticket specifically to avoid.

On a return journey to Dublin from Lanzarote (flight 779) I had fallen unwell 15 minutes post takeoff. The urge to throw-up a feeling not welcomed by most especially not at 30000+ altitude was overwhelming and a sense of unwanted panic set in. Luckily I was accompanied by my boyfriend whom along with the diligent and empathetic flight crew got me back on track for the remainder of the flight. Frequently asking if I was ok or whether I needed anything was a small but oh so grand gesture which made such a positive difference.

April 15th flight 108 return 26th Apr flight 105. My mother and I flew from JFK to Dublin and return. We were in economy from JFK to DUB and in Premier class on the return trip. Both were great experiences and on Aer Lingus new A330. The food was excellent in both cabins. We opted for the succulent steal ($18) in Economy and it was delicious. Crew were lovely. On return we were in the new Premier class cabin. The crew the food the service was terrific. You really could not ask for more.

Sunday flight 18.00 from Dublin to Heathrow. Late boarding apparently due to inbound plane being late which is odd as it arrived on time. Then the most ridiculous shambles of boarding that took forever. If people have paid for seats then they should get on first especially as some people are greedy with hand luggage and seem incapable of stowing it correctly. Finally after a good wait I got to get on the plane to find the lady on my row had blocked an entire area by putting her case in the wrong way round! Why is this not monitored? Its about time this boarding procedure was improved upon. Its the same old story. If its a full plane supervise them and get people to board both front and back!

When I arrived to Brussels airport I had pre-booked my seat a week beforehand. There was a problem with the system and my seat was given away to someone else. I asked then for a window seat and this was not given. I was seated in the centre of the plane in an aisle seat so I had no view of the scenery as we were departing and landing. The cabin crew were friendly. I had pre-booked a hot meal leek and cheddar quiche which was forgotten.

Flew from Rome to Dublin with Aer Lingus on Friday 10th April. Very slow check-in with a huge queue. More importantly I can't understand why Aer Lingus make you check-in in Terminal Three and then make you walk the whole way back to Terminal one to board plane to Dublin - this is a long trudge from Terminal three through terminal two to terminal one. You would need a up to an hour to do this walk. (including long security check line). When you fly into Rome you go into terminal one and can exit there. When we finally got to gate the staff insisted on taking carry-on bags from some people (but not all) because the flight was full. In the end the overhead lockers were half empty but some people had a long wait for their luggage. Aer Lingus need to improve their ground facilities in Rome and move the check in desk to terminal one adjacent to the gate.