Taking off from SFO on Aer Lingus’ big green plane to Dublin (Photo: Kim Grimes)
Earlier this year, I decided to take a trip in April to visit a friend in Edinburgh, Scotland. I was working with a minimal budget and was excited to discover that one of the cheapest economy fares ($1,199 RT) from San Francisco to Edinburgh was offered by Aer Lingus. I had never flown with Aer Lingus before and jumped on the opportunity since I’d heard so many positive things about their service. When I told Chris about my upcoming trip, he mentioned that several readers enjoyed the Trip Report he wrote on Aer Lingus’ new business class, but we didn’t have a trip report on the economy experience. So, I decided to document my first trip on that big green plane!
(Note: For this Trip Report, we asked our amazing TravelSkills office manager Kimberly Grimes to write about her Aer Lingus flight to/from Scotland. Enjoy! –Chris)
Aer Lingus is even green(ish) on the inside (Photo: Kim Grimes)
As I boarded the Aer Lingus A330-200 at SFO, I was politely greeted by all of the crew members and directed to my seat above the wing. When I got there, a pillow, warm fleece blanket, and complimentary earbuds were waiting to help me enjoy the in-flight entertainment.
Economy class seats on Aer Lingus A330 are arranged 2-4-2 (Chris McGinnis)
There was also a small envelope for donations to UNICEF, Aer Lingus’ charity partner for nearly 20 years, which came in handy for getting rid of spare coins on my flight back.
32 inches of pitch in economy class is plenty of space. (Photo: Kim Grimes)
Once settled into my window seat I found the 32” pitch to be more than enough for my 5’4” self and I was comfortable even with a larger person seated next to me. Before takeoff, I flipped through Aer Lingus’ magazine Cara (“Friend” in Irish Gaelic). I usually get through half of the in-flight magazine before putting it away to watch takeoff, but on my flight to Dublin I only had the chance to flip through some photos as we happily departed almost 10 minutes early. I’m impressed that Aer Lingus operated with such timeliness during my entire journey with them. On my flight home, we landed at SFO 20 minutes ahead of schedule.
Perfect pasta and a really nice salad on the dinner flight over the pond. (Photo: Kim Grimes)
Dinner was served about two hours into the flight with a choice of beef stew or creamy spinach pasta. I don’t eat beef so I went with the pasta, but my seatmate got the stew and enjoyed it. I don’t usually expect much from pasta on airplanes, but the sauce in the dish was delicious and the pasta was cooked perfectly.
The salad is a nice low-carb option (Photo: Kim Grimes)
My meal also came with a light salad of lettuce, cucumber, tomato, and a bit of feta which I enjoyed after my pasta. It was fresh, tasty, and delivered an extra bit of hydration that I really needed. The pasta had enough carbs for me so I didn’t eat the dinner roll, but I did save room for the dessert of berries and light whipped cream.
Related: Aer Lingus Business Class meals- the best ever?
Plenty of good films, TV shows and music to keep me occupied (Photo: Kim Grimes)
I tried to doze off after dinner, but I spent most of the flight exploring the entertainment system. I was thoroughly distracted with the selection of over 50 films, a variety of TV shows, and an extensive list of music albums, podcasts, and radio stations to indulge in. Wi-fi was also available on the flight at the price of $9.95 for an hour or $18.95 for a full flight pass but the entertainment system was enough to keep me from boredom. When my eyes got too tired to watch any more movies, I browsed the music selection and made a playlist perfect for sleeping. I don’t think I actually slept much, but meditating to the RnB and soft rock sounds for a few hours was nice relaxation.
Good morning! Breakfast is served– with tea (Photo: Kim Grimes)
The cabin crew served morning snack boxes and warm beverages about an hour before we landed in Dublin. Inside was a ham and cheese croissant and a cup of strawberry yogurt. I wasn’t in the mood for yogurt, but I enjoyed the croissant. It was simple, yet comforting and I really appreciated the warm food and tea in the morning.
I’ve never been a fan of propellor planes, but this one changed my mind (Photo: Kim Grimes)
I was not at all excited about taking a propeller plane to connect from Dublin to Edinburgh. I’ve had an aversion to propeller planes since I rode on one as a kid flying over Alabama. It was like a loud, tumultuous rollercoaster that my parents couldn’t wait to get off of. My journey with Aer Lingus was nothing like that. The flight was operated by Irish regional airline Stobart Air (formerly Aer Arann) and had two Aer Lingus crew members on board. These crew members were exceptionally friendly and knowledgeable, reassuring some other nervous passengers and myself that we’d have a safe ride on the ATR 72-600.
I was particularly impressed with how one crew member successfully comforted a terrified, screaming child during the flight by assuring her that the noise and extra turbulence was just part of what makes propeller plane flight special. The entire experience was so stress-free that on the way back I felt no anxiety hopping on the propeller plane, even with someone obnoxiously joking that our plane was probably going down.
(Photo: Aer Lingus)
On my return flight from Dublin to SFO, I got a special treat for my in-flight meal. Before my trip, Chris told me about some upgraded meals that Aer Lingus offers to economy passengers and asked me to try out the service (which he generously paid for 🙂 ). These meals are part of Aer Lingus’ Bia Pre-Order service and have been created by their executive chef and Irish chef Clodagh McKenna.
Passengers who would like to enjoy these meals must pre-order them online at least 24 hours before the flight. Meal options include Roast Chicken with a Twist ($25), Melt-in-the-mouth Salmon ($25), and Succulent Steak ($28). The chicken and steak options are similar to entrees served in business class, but I was really curious about the salmon and decided to try that.
Ordering my meal was as simple as choosing my seat through the “Manage Booking” section of Aer Lingus’ website. My credit card was charged immediately after ordering and a salmon meal voucher was promptly e-mailed to me. The e-mail provided instructions to print the voucher in full and bring it on board with me to submit to the cabin crew. It didn’t specify when I should submit the voucher, so I asked a crew member at the door as I boarded and she took it right away.
My special meal as presented by FA– mouthwatering salmon and wine (Photo: Kim Grimes)
I got settled in my seat and was really absorbed in watching a television show on my laptop when a crew member came by with some food on trays and asked if I ordered a special meal. I was really caught off-guard since the meal service hadn’t been announced yet, but he handed me a nice tray with my salmon meal on it and offered me some wine.
There was nobody sitting next to me on this flight, but I wonder how people would have reacted to my special meal service if the plane was more crowded. I was prepared for a few envious glares and questions about why I got such a fancy meal when others did not. As the distinct scent of salmon floated around my section, I looked around to see if anyone was really noticing. The cabin was nearly empty and the few passengers near me were too caught up in their own experience to show much interest in what I was eating so I was able to enjoy my meal without judgement.
The mouthwatering salmon was perfectly prepared- but I wondered what other passengers were thinking! (Photo: Kim Grimes)
I love salmon, but I wasn’t sure what to expect from salmon on an airplane. As I took my first bite, any negative preconceived notions I had about “airplane salmon” went away. It was delicious and the texture was perfect – not too dry or rubbery. It wasn’t extravagant with flavors, but it was well done and exceeded my expectations. The potatoes that accompanied the salmon were less impressive. They were very bland, but also too oily for my taste. I ate all of them, but they were definitely my least favorite part of the entire meal.
My favorite part of the meal (Photo: Kim Grimes)
Surprisingly, the real highlight of the meal for me was the salad of aubergine, roasted pepper, and sunblushed tomato with a harissa and lemon dressing. The dressing had the perfect kick and reminded me of homemade cocktail sauce.
Yogurt with fruity chunks! (Photo: Kim Grimes)
For dessert, I had a sweet mango and passionfruit yogurt (instead of the listed raspberry pannacotta) with real chunks of fruit in it. Delicious! Plus, a lovely chocolate truffle by Irish chocolatier Lily O’Brien. I couldn’t help but eat them both!
I was so full from my meal that I could barely even look at the farewell chocolate bar given to me by the crew right before landing at SFO. My Bia pre-ordered meal was a great way to have a bit of extra fun on my flight home and add a little luxury to my first trip with Aer Lingus.
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EI flies a full-size jet from Manchester to DUB, or at least it did in March 2015
I’ve flown Aer Lingus my past two trips to Ireland and connected from Dublin to smaller cities in the UK. I, too have found that the service exceeds that of US carriers. If someone is heading to Ireland for their first or “trip of a lifetime” I would encourage them to fly AL. It’s like you’re already in Ireland when you board. Service is great. I’ve flown the prop planes – again not ideal, but my connections were short like Kim’s so not that big of a deal. And Pre-Clearance in Dublin makes arrival in the US a breeze. The Irish programming (movies, music, magazine) are also a great way to prepare for your trip.
My partner and I took Aer Lingus last year JFK-DUB-LHR and AMS-DUB-JFK, and our coach experience was similar to Kim’s — very good. Although many airlines offer nonstops on these city pairs, we chose Aer Lingus for three reasons: 1.) we found a good airfare (it was NOT the lowest, but the connecting times were good; 2.) we liked the idea of avoiding clearing customs at JFK via the preclearance offered in DUB; and 3.) perhaps the most important issue for us — the 2-4-2 configuration of the Airbus A330-300 used in both directions for the trans-Atlantic flights. We loathe seats grouped in three at 31″ pitch for short flights, so the thought of being stuck on a “densified” plane for seven or eight hours with a 3-3-3 or a 3-4-3 configuration was something we wanted to avoid, even if that meant taking connecting flights instead. As Kim noted, we found the crew, and the inflight service on all of our flights to be very good. We ordered the Bia “Succulent Steak” meals for both trans-Atlantic flights, but the JFK-DUB meal was much better than the ones served DUB-JFK. On the outbound the entire meal was better, with the steak still “succulent” — warm, moist, and a touch of pink in the middle. On the way back the steak was close to awful: cold, dry as the Sahara Desert, tough, chewy, and so well done it was practically shoe leather! For our connecting flights we had the “Irish Breakfast”, which is a buy onboard option subject to availability (or bought in advance to ensure availability), and we enjoyed it very much. Indeed, if only the major U.S. airlines offered something this good to eat! As to comfort, for some strange reason, the width of coach seats on Aer Lingus’s A330’s is 17″, and not 18″. We knew this already, and didn’t consider this to be an issue since the “densified” seating on most 777’s flown across the Atlantic are the same paltry width. As to pitch, it’s a 31-32″ deal here, so unless you’re a frequent flier on Aer Lingus or have some other way of finding out which rows are spaced at 31″ and which are 32″, you won’t know until reaching your seat if you’ll get the much more comfortable and spacious 32″ pitch. And as many fliers know all too well, you never really appreciate how precious one inch is, until you’re stuck in an airplane where one inch can be the difference between a passable flight and total misery. We had a 31″ pitch row on the outbound flight, and a 32″ row on the flight back, and the difference in comfort was significant to us — and neither of us is tall with me being 5’8″ and my partner less than that. Since nearly all coach rows have been reduced to a paltry 31″, pitch was not the main consideration for us. We hate seats grouped in threes (or fours), so the twos on either side of the 2-4-2 A330 was what we valued more than anything else for the trans-Atlantic flights, and Aer Lingus offered that. If you happen to score a seat in the 32″ pitch row — it’s that much better! As to other things that make Aer Lingus an attractive option (unless IAG destroys it once they fully take-over the airline), the terminal at Dublin is very, very nice, especially for connections going eastbound. It’s a beautiful, modern, terminal with great shopping, attractive restaurants and bars you’ll actually want to go to, with real humans taking your orders and offering good service. It’s also a modest sized airport, so it’s not the nightmare that Heathrow is for connections or the endless walks between gates or terminals at larger hub airports on either side of the pond. Lastly, there’s the preclearance of customs in Dublin on the way back. As New Yorkers who have experienced customs at both JFK and Newark enough to know that it’s better to avoid risking an epic wait after landing to get out of the airport, we liked getting off the plane at Jetblue’s Terminal 5 the same as we do for domestic flights, grabbing our bags, and continuing on to the city quickly. The downside of the connection via Dublin on the return flights to the U.S.A. is that once one enters the holding area of the terminal after passport check and turning in their “landing card” for inspections, all of the amenities that make Dublin such an attractive airport to connect at, are no longer available and what’s available, in a word, sucks. For us, it wasn’t much of an issue because our flight was delayed for less than one hour. However, I’m not so sure this is where we’d want to be for many hours, like those who were going to Orlando the day we were returning to New York, whose flight had already been delayed several hours before we arrived, and would be waiting quite a bit more after our flight left. To say the food and beverage options were sparse in the preclearance section of the Dublin terminal, is NOT an exaggeration when we were there. If that has since changed, then that would definitely be a change for the better. But if it’s still the same, beware of any lengthy delays before entering the preclearance section of the terminal because none of the amenities that make Dublin such an attractive place to layover at are available, and what is available would make you wish you were at the Central Terminal Building at LaGuardia instead! Finally, to answer the question about checked baggage clearing customs, we were asked questions about specific items in our bags, and I saw fairly well defined images of the items packed appearing on a screen at the booth while being questioned, so whatever the actual process is, they’ve figured out a way to get the job of transferring bags without the hassle of claiming them manually and rechecking them in for the onward flight as one would often have to do for connections made at hubs in the U.S.A.
No Lucky Charms for breakfast?
You don’t eat beef but you eat ham?
I’m surprised that you didn’t mention a key benefit of flying on Aer Lingus to the US, and that is the immigration and customs pre-clear at Dublin airport. This means that you effectively arrive as a domestic flight and don’t have to deal with it at your US airport.
It baffles me somewhat because your bags are checked through from a connecting flight and you go through customs without them. I’m not sure what happens if US customs want to search your bags.
As for the prop planes, I’m not thrilled with them either but, for economic reasons, Aer Lingus uses them for most connecting flights to the UK. I think only Birmingham and Heathrow have A320’s because the numbers don’t justify it. You got lucky with the ATR-72. When i connected it was an ATR-48.