Aer Lingus TransAtlantic offering

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Purple

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I recently flew from Chicago to Dublin with Aer Lingus having used United for the outbound journey. It was the first time in years I went transatlantic with Aer Lingus as I usually fly BA or United. I have to say the experience was shockingly bad. The plane was dirty (the toilets were very dirty), the food was inedible and the seats were so close together that my tray table wouldn't sit flat as it was resting on the arms of my chair and I had to put my legs in the isle to straighten them.
The worst part though was the cabin crew. They spoke to the passengers like petulant teenagers with not a single please or thank you or excuse me or thanks. When one passenger had the temerity to ask if there was orange juice to have with what passed for breakfast the crew member stared at her and said "No, tea coffee or water". On another occasion a crew member presented a hand full of change to the passenger beside me with a "Here, this is yours". The passenger said no, it wasn't heres and the crew member said "Oh" and walked away. I heard more than one American passenger, on more than one occasion say "Oh my gosh, did you hear that?". If Basil Fawlty ran an airline it would look like this. It was embarrassing as an Irish person on what is supposed to be our flag carrier. Do Aer Lingus train their employees or do they just find rude shop assistants and give them a job?

Is this usual for Aer Lingus? 4 Star airline... are they having a laugh?
 
Sounds a particularly shabby experience. I find that the overall service has deteriorated in the last 12 months on the transatlantic. The crew can seem indifferent and the product dated dependant on which airplane they use.

The hallmark warmth and hospitality that made it uniquely Irish seems to have fallen by the wayside. Perhaps in the drive for profit, they’re losing what made them great.
 
I have to say my experience of Aer Lingus in recent years has been positive. I haven't used the transatlantic route though so maybe it differs there. On European flights in recent years I found the staff to be friendly, helpful and especially good with children. That said I'm by no means a frequent flyer so maybe we just got lucky on our trips.
 
Ceist Beag said:
On European flights in recent years I found the staff to be friendly, helpful and especially good with children.
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I find that all airlines are good with children. I fly quite a lot within Europe and I see no difference in professionalism and service between Are lingus and Ryanair. Ryanair just have newer planes and nicer food and, unlike Aer Lingus, don't run out of food as often.
 
That experience sounds about right! They're one of the worst to fly with, and I've flown for years for business every week throughout the year.
Forget about getting coffee until after the meal, and thats it! Compare that with United, and they'll fill you with coffee all flight long! Thankfully United are now starting a DUB-SFO in June, so wont have to use AL anymore. Not everyone likes United I know, and some of their old planes were shoddy and small but the new Dreamliner they're using is pretty nice!
 
I flew back from London City Airport with them last Sunday.

The flight was due to depart at 8 pm and left a couple of minutes early.

The pilot made an announcement that due to tail winds or whatever, we had touched down 1/2 hour early. On a Sunday night, that it like getting a long extension to your life.

Then...

After many people had been standing with their luggage for 20 minutes, he updated us. That they had arrived too early for the ground staff to look after us. So on the way out I said to the air hostess that she should tell the captain not to brag about punctuality if they can't their act together. She said "Oh, that's a different company - it's not our fault".

Brendan
Ryanair shareholder
 
We usually fly Ryanair but last summer we went to the U.S. and booked with Aer Lingus. We thought we would get a better service but Ryanair were just as good. Basically you get from A to B , we felt very cramped in the seats and the food was o.k. but I wouldn't book with them again if I could get where I want to go with Ryanair.
 
Feemar5 said:
We usually fly Ryanair but last summer we went to the U.S. and booked with Aer Lingus. We thought we would get a better service but Ryanair were just as good. Basically you get from A to B , we felt very cramped in the seats and the food was o.k. but I wouldn't book with them again if I could get where I want to go with Ryanair.
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Yep; Aer Lingus = Ryanair with older planes and grumpier cabin crew (and notions of grandeur).
 
Hi Purple, Was this a once-off experience? I know you travel abroad quite a bit and in your opinion is this their normal service or did the crew just have an off day?
 
Leper said:
Hi Purple, Was this a once-off experience? I know you travel abroad quite a bit and in your opinion is this their normal service or did the crew just have an off day?
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For the last 10 years plus I found Aer Lingus within Europe no different from Ryanair. Their planes were of similar standard (leg room, food, cleanliness etc) and their prices were similar. It's only when you fly within Europe with someone like British Airways that you realise what a full service airline looks like. That said both Aer Lingus and Ryanair are profitable airlines so they are giving their customers what they want.

Aer Lingus has started to refer to their passengers as guests. That really annoys me; notions of grandeur. It's like the receptionist at a sleazy motel wearing while gloves and a tails and asking if "Sir would like the room with mildew on the bathroom walls or the one where the gentleman overdosed last week?"

On the transatlantic route I haven't used Aer Lingus in a number of years and I was really shocked at how much below par it was.
 
The title of this thread is "Aer Lingus TransAtlantic offering" and somehow the European routes were brought into it along with Ryanair. I'm no expert in foreign air travel, but I travel within europe probably 4 or 5 occasions per year (and not just to Spain). Usually, we book Aer Lingus as we feel we get a much better service than from Ryanair. Mrs Lep lives in fear of Ryanair and their additional charges gimmicks and if there ain't a huge difference in prices we would use Aer Lingus without question. We have never found Aer Lingus staff to be anything other than terrific in our dealings with them. We'd mainly use Cork as our main departure airport and only (repeat only) Dublin if we couldn't fly from anywhere else. We find Dublin Airport to be nothing short of a crock of stress where even if we arrived 2.5 hours ahead of our flight, there'd still be more bloody unending stressful queues. Perhaps this stress is rubbing off on Aer Lingus cabin crew flying out of Dublin Airport. I am only offering an excuse and I feel that customers should be treated as customers at all times.

One of our daughters travelled USA to Dublin recently with United. She said she was contacted beforehand by the airline regarding if it were necessary for her to travel because of Covid-19. However, she travelled, but on board felt that her presence was an interruption of the cabin crew's day. I don't know who is right or who is wrong, but we live in challenging times and it seems to be one thing after the other. I feel the Aer Lingus staff had an "off day" with Purple as he said it had been years since he used the airline. At least, I hope so and I have no reason to disbelieve Purple.

Personally, I find Ryanair staff to be always stressed and looking to pounce on some unfortunate who happens to have a bag with a duty-free bag sticking out of it. An example would be Alicante Airport last week where one of Ryanair's ground staff asked me to accompany her to her bag-sizing skip. I was standing with the non priority steerage passengers way back in the queue and was paraded up past 189 or so passengers. My bag fitted like a glove and when I confronted her in Spanish she retreated fast. [She thought she had a passive mug who'd say nothing - She was just throwing her weight around, as Ryanair do. Purple will probably say that I set her up in my inimitable way and he would not be wrong].
 
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I have flown multiple times in recent years with AL transatlantic. I have no major affiliation with an airline and generally pick the flight based on a combination of flight time and price.

I have always found the cabin crew to be pleasant and friendly. My only gripe is their tendency to talk too long talk too long and make too many announcements, kind of feels like getting stuck talking to an Irish mammy.

However, somewhere around 2017 I noticed a difference in the operations (not staff) and there was a distinctly budget feel to the flight especially compared to US domestic carriers. Then again they generally offer the cheapest flight to Dublin. For me it is their operations that let them down and I feel they have cut away to the bare bones, for example the counter staff in the US are a third party.

I had one such occurrence in which I was flying on a Sunday (US to Dub) and I received a phonecall whilst in an elevator about whether I was travelling today and subsequently lost connection. I tried calling back and all the offices were closed on sunday. I arrived at the airport to find they had a smaller plane than required and could only take 50% of the people.

So for me the staff on board have been nice and appear to be dealing with a poorly run operation.
 
I miss the days of flying! In my experience Aer Lingus compare well to BA and United in economy (and are better in business).

I have had bad days on all 3, especially food wise. But Aer Lingus would be my preferred option going to the US
 
money_man said:
I miss the days of flying! In my experience Aer Lingus compare well to BA and United in economy (and are better in business).

I have had bad days on all 3, especially food wise. But Aer Lingus would be my preferred option going to the US
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I'm an anyone but Delta man,
BA first, American second and Aer Lingus third.
It does very much depend on the plane though; the World Traveller seats on the new Boeing's that BA have are fantastic.
 
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