Dublin Airport is under construction, which has forced Aer Lingus to improvise with a very odd lounge compromise for its business class passengers without status flying to the USA.
Aer Lingus “Lounge” In Dublin For US Business Class Passengers Is A Reserved Seating Area + Voucher
Stepping off my flight from London, I noticed immediately that Terminal 2 was under construction, but did not think much of it. I walked through corridor after corridor, finally coming to the Aer Lingus Lounge. There was a group of people standing in front of the door, but I walked past them and stepped inside.
Presenting my boarding pass to the front desk agent, the agent asked, “Did you read the sign on the door?” No, I didn’t see any sign at all…
US-bound passengers typically use the 51st&Green Lounge in the US Preclearance area, but that is currently closed. Rather than allow US-bound passengers into the Aer Lingus lounge (it only has one at its hub airport), only passengers with AerLingus status were allowed entry and business class passengers to the US were directed to a “reserved seating area.”
Flying Business Class to the USA?
Enjoy the facilities of the T2 Reserved Seating Area.
Take the escalator in Duty Free beside Butlers Coffee. Recharge and relax in a dedicated space.
I thought I could visit the “Liffey” Priority Lounge next door, but it was packed to capacity with a long waiting list.
The Martello Lounge is not a Priority Pass Lounge and was also filled to capacity and not accepting guests.
I had a four-hour layover so this was a bit annoying, but I walked to the “escalator in Duty Free beside Butlers Coffee” and found a “Reserved Seating Area” section guarded by a uniformed Aer Lingus agent.
He welcomed me in and explained that my boarding pass had been pre-loaded with €20 in dining credit, which I could use at “select” eateries in the terminal. He also specifically noted that Butlers Coffee was excluded.
I was done with coffee for the day anyway, though that coffee shop looks very nice.
The lounge was empty and had seating, Wi-Fi (in theory), and some plugs. There were no restrooms.
There was a Burger King right outside the “lounge” and also…a Mexican restaurant! (regular readers will chuckle…)
But I wasn’t hungry (which was a big mistake considering the horrible food I received on my Aer Lingus flight to LA)
Instead, I went to a place called “Fruitality” and spent my voucher on some fresh-pressed beet juice, green juice, a protein bar, and some crisps.
I have to admit, I quite enjoyed this and it was probably better than sitting in a crowded lounge.
However, the internet did not work…so I did not stay long. Instead, I ended up going through US Preclerance and setting up camp near my gate…that part of the airport is so spartan, but at least the internet worked.
I passed a coffee shop called “Collect” on my way to the gate and noticed they were selling coffee beans for €18. I should have used my voucher for that instead…but I did enjoy my juice.
CONCLUSION
Be warned that if you are traveling to the USA on Aer Lingus, the 51st&Green Lounge is closed until spring 2026. In the meantime, you will be offered a voucher from Aer Lingus to use in the airport and can access a dedicated seating area in the main 2 terminal concourse. It’s not ideal, but it’s not a bad interim solution…
A four hour stop over at DUB was a careless booking considering that EI fly LHR-DUB almost hourly, you could have traveled later.
Then of course you would have been able to travel on an A320 in economy class as booked for you by Untied.
This trip doesn’t seem to have been planned with any information at all about what was on offer and yet you are disappointed at every turn. As for your reference to the poor food on the next service, we’ll wait and see. Aer Lingus do not offer the exotic but the quality of what they do offer is very good, solid and Irish, way ahead of anything on offer on a US carrier but there are some people you can’t satisfy.
You’ve really been acting like a curmudgeon lately. I had all sorts of options going home, but wanted to fly Aer Lingus and wanted to fly the A321neo and the A330. In that sense, I killed two birds with one stone and the trip only cost 85K UA miles plus government taxes. It worked exactly as planned and the long layover in DUB gave me plenty of time to get my work done for the day.
You also act like a wanker when you constantly trash the USA, as if we are all brainwashed MAGA disciples. Do better. You’ve been reading and commenting for years and I love you dearly as a reader, but your vitriol is misplaced.
The fish was horrible on Aer Lingus, but the service was absolutely delightful and I very much enjoyed the flight overall, despite a below-average seat. I’ll share about that tomorrow. I’d happily fly Aer Lingus again and I love Ireland very much.
My goodness you can dole out abuse and criticism but you certainly can’t take it. Try to grow up.
Back at you, Lil’ Jimmy.
Pot calling the kettle black, old chap. I still appreciate you.
Wanker. Love it.
Too bad about the food in air. EI usually had solid decent food on their flights on long haul business class.
As for the lounge siatuation, I guess this was the best they could do?
I’m not complaining. It was certainly better than nothing and in some ways better than a traditional lounge.
Oh I wasn’t suggesting you were. Space for lounges at most airports is definitely a premium, and probably even moreso at DUB, especially with the renovations and construction going on.
Surprised to hear about the bad EI food DUB-LAX and am interested to hear about your experience.
My brother lives in Dublin and flies EI J frequently to the US. Though he says it’s not the fanciest, he does like the food on Aer Lingus and overall enjoys the product. Perhaps you had a bad day? Look forward to the full review.
Nice Lingus.
This is all DAA’s fault. They decided to renovate two of their 4 lounges at the same time, hence you could not get into the Liffey Lounge because that is dealing with their regulars + those from the much larger T1 lounge.
I would also blame them for bad wi-fi in the temporary space.
Thanks. I hadn’t thought about lounge issues at DUB. I’ll be flying DL1 next summer and the 51st lounge is set to reopen at the end of January. So, I’m probably safe.
From a physician’s perspective, I would like to suggest that you regularly enjoy the tasty benefits of quality black tea during your travels. But of course, the choice is yours.
A coffee shop called “Collect” made me chuckle.
That’s the area to collect your coffee, the coffee shop is called Cloud Picker
LOL, oh…
I was recently in Dublin and wanted to use the 51st Street Lounge which was closed. There was no information beforehand (neither when booking the flight nor in the weeks before departure), only at check-in I learned that there would be no lounge at all. The surrogate lounge (extra waiting area) was before the US-Immigration-control, and it was not a lounge. The EI-Lounge was not open for Business class customers w/o a status. So I ended up at the gate with a 20 Euro-Voucher. I really cursed EI and I would not recommend flying with Aer Lingus before the 51st-lounge has reopened.
What a farce. A good reminder of why not to fly Aer Lingus.
So just to clarify……I am flying Aer Lingus Business class from Dublin to US in Feb 2026. So since I do not have ‘status’ on Aer Lingus, and just a regular Business class ticket holder, I would NOT have access to the Aer Lingus lounge? I thought maybe the sign meant if you were flying Biz Class to US on ‘another’ non Aer Lingus carrier, no admittance, but one would be allowed if flying Biz with Aer Lingus……. ??
Appreciate any clarification….. Cheers,
As it stands now, you would not have access to Aer Lingus lounge. I was flying to LA on business class ticket on Aer Lingus and had no access.
Bonkers given that even silver status aerclub (which doesn’t take much to achieve,) have access to the lounges.