My trip is over, and my final flight was a mixed bag: the seat and food on my Aer Lingus A330 flight from Dublin to Los Angeles were underwhelming, but the warm Irish service on Aer Lingus somehow made up for it.
Aer Lingus A330 Business Class – My First Impressions
When you book an Aer Lingus flight on another carrier (in my case, it was United), advance seat assignments are very difficult. The website and mobile app do not work, forcing you to call in. When you call in, the best seats are blocked…all the solo seats were blocked (even though they were not assigned when I booked).
Recall that Aer Lingus currently does not offer lounge access to USA-bound business class passengers, though has come up with a somewhat clever alternative: just don’t go through U.S. Preclearance early or you’ll be stuck in a very dreary gate area with little to do.
I wound up with seat 2K, a window seat in the first row, with a person next to me. Every seat in the cabin was full and it looked like a lot of leisure travelers; there were many older couples traveling together.
Without direct aisle access and with little storage (at least in this particular seat), the Aer Lingus business class product is simply not competitive.
The ironic thing, though, is that I slept for most of the flight. I was tired…it really had been a long trip and a long day, and I was thankful to put my seat back and sleep. The pillow and duvet were not bad…a plus for that.
Dinner was served after takeof and began with onion and paprika biscuits served with a spiced apple chutney in a box.
I love Irish food and was looking forward to the meal. Sadly, I made the wrong choice with my main course. The appetizer salad and tomato soup were fine (though the tomato soup could have been warmer), but the fish was incredibly dry and tasteless. Too bad, as the description sounded amazing:
Pan-fried pollock fillet on wilted greens topped with succulent samphire, alongside crushed chive potatoes and a lemon and dill cream sauce
I usually just eat what is put before me, especially on an airplane, but this was not edible (and it seems I was not the only one who found fish unpleasant, even with the dill cream sauce, which helped).
My seatmate, who was drinking alcohol like a fish, ordered the Eight-hour braised beef, which looked remarkably better and he wolfed it down. I asked the flight attendant if there were any beef entrees left, and she said no, but offered me the vegetarian entree, which was a:
Pulled mushroom and puy lentil casserole paired with fluff lemon thyme mashed potato, roast baby carrots and sauteed garlic kale
Not my favorite blend of flavors, but I like lentils was very thankful she offered this and it was much better than the fish.
To finish the meal, I had cheese (the other choice was orange mousse).
Before landing, a light meal of a lemon-dill salmon fish cake, quinoa and barley salad, Lyonnaise potatoes, and a tangy lemon yogurt dip was offered, with petit fours and coffee or tea. I was very hungry at this point and enjoyed it.
Kudos to Aer Lingus for offering free Wi-Fi to passengers, which was slow but stable during the flight, but my IFE system was only semi-functional: all the graphics were missing (only text appeared).
It was a beautiful, crisp day for travel with a full moon out the window.
So what redeemed this flight? It was the service. The crew was lovely…so friendly and kind. The purser called me “love” and the flight attendant who primarily served my side of the aircraft was attentive and gracious. I really appreciated how kind the ladies were and that really made an otherwise mediocre flight an overall positive experience.
CONCLUSION
In the end, I slept well and enjoyed great service on Aer Lingus, but it’s objectively true that most European carriers now offer a better business class seat and subjectively true that the food may leave you disappointed. I’ll share a lot more details and pictures in my full review of this flight.
And underwhelming Lingus… *sigh*
Kindness is usually what we value and what creates positive memories. Thanks for the report!
Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. And kindness in giving creates love.
– Lao Tzu –
No wonder the hospitality of Aer Lingus!
This long direct flight of 11 hours and 10 minutes must have been made with one of EI’s three A330-200 jetliners (average age of 22.4 years)…
I am like you where i can pretty much eat anything. I did den-DUB this past summer and it was the only business class neal i was not able to eat in 15+ years. AEr lingus is good for the seat, but the catering is just horrible. I had the beef and it was pure rubber.
Aer Lingus seem to be quietly trimming back to a more basic product flying out of the North. From Belfast City Airport they dropped fast track security last year and, more importantly, removed Lounge access earlier this year. What was included with Advantage tickets or status is now not available at all. Prices remain the same and no notice is given, you just arrive to find another benefit withdrawn. You can have a premium ticket and Concierge status but your flight experience will be no different to being on the cheapest ticket. An increasingly disappointing carrier on a race to the bottom.
Aer Lingus do not need to be competitive. They are not capacity heavy on the North Atlantic with their A330s and A21Ns and they have a very loyal home market as well as a significant number of people on the western side of the Atlantic who feel some connection to Ireland and when they visit they choose to fly with Aer Lingus who may not be great but they are ahead of US carriers on all fronts.
Equally, they pick up significant transfer traffic from Western Europe made up of people who wish to avail of pre-clearance at DUB or SNN to avoid the melee on arrival in the US for the occasional visitor. EI have a bank of morning arrivals at DUB from just about every airport in the UK as well as AMS, CDG, FRA, MUC, FCO and a few more to connect to their services to the US and they fill the seats. No need to up their game.
I agree that Aer Lingus does not need to be competitive, but I’m not sure how can you say the are ahead of US carriers on all fronts…I think they are behind on almost all fronts (except for consistently excellent service, at least in my experince). Seat, food, IFE, Wi-Fi all inferior to AA, DL, and UA in my opinion. I sitll love Aer Lingus and was happy to fly it…but it takes full advantage of its market dominance at DUB by offering a subpar product.
You need to look at who is the main competition Aer Lingus faces and it’s not on the North Atlantic, it’s at home in Ireland and at every Irish airport. Aer Lingus only need to be a bit better and in reality they are a lot better than that. On the North Atlantic, they pitch a consistent product with their home market in economy and a little more in business.
As for the US competition, to me they don’t and never will rate with the possible exception of Jet Blue, the others have been in the gutter for decades and are likely to remain there. Would I choose a ‘better’ (completely subjective) seat and a snarl from Untied or a decent seat and the delight of Irish service? Always the latter.