Flight takeoff was delayed an hour, but arrival time was not updated at the same time as departure time, so those picking me up at the other end were not alerted to the change in my arrival.
Seats are terribly cramped. I’m only 5’2” and my knees were practically in my face. No room to put a normal size bag under the seat and when the person in front of you reclined their seat your tray table was in your lap. This is the airline’s way of cramming more seats into the plane to make more money. I’ll think twice about taking Aer Lingus again since there are a few other options from Boston to the Emerald Isle.
Couldn’t check In online, message was couldn’t check in until Sunday morning though plane left Saturday night. Checked in okay at airport but caused slot if stress.
UNDERPRISER IS A CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION. I WILL NEVER LET THEM MANAGE ANOTHER TRIP. THEY ESSENTIALLY WERE TRYING TO EXTORT ME FOR "Permission" FROM THEM not TO USE MY ROME TO DUBLIN FLIGHT. I did not use this flight, and despite many communications with both Aer Lingus and Underpricers, to the end, they insisted I could not do this, while Aer Lingus kept telling me there was no problem. And in fact, I had zero problems catching that second leg of the trip home from Dublin to LAX.. As if harrassment, underpricers sent me a rude and insensitve email insisting Aer Lingus would not honor the flight home to LAX from DUB. ON THE MORNING OF THE TRAVEL!!! KAYAK SHOULD NOT USE UNDERPRICER "services" They are dishonest and sadistic.
Aer Lingus unfortunately seems more like a budget airline than a national carrier. The plane was fine. The crew seemed a bit hurried and without that Irish charm (which may be an inappropriate stereotype and maybe not to be expected on a long international flight but other carriers seem to pull it off). My biggest complaint was that my gold status on Alaska Airlines--which gets me into lounges with BA and other partner airlines--was not accepted at lounges in Rome or Dublin, despite Aer Lingus on paper anyway partnering with Alaska. But the flight itself through Kayak was several hundred dollars cheaper than others, so overall, the right decision. Also, be aware that US customs on flights from Dublin occurs in Dublin (like Canadian airports) so if you have a connection or are just departing from Ireland, give yourself enough time (up to 30 minutes) to negotiate all of the lines. Still better than going through customs in the US after a 10 hour flight.
Crew was friendly and helpful, plane was comfortable would fly with them again
Fast and sensible boarding was absolutely amazing. But extortionate wifi and seats that barely moved, making me unable to sleep, didn't do a lot of favors.
I liked the front row seats. A lot of leg room. The check-in window needs to be longer
The actual flight experience was great. The handling of my luggage was terrible. First, I had to check in at the airport and wasn’t able to check in online because they booked me with a partner carrier in the U.S. that was incredibly inconvenient. I was also told that I would have to check in again with the partner airline in the U.S., also incredibly inconvenient at a large airport. Second, when I was at the counter, they did not tell me my carryon was too big. I only found that out when I tried to board the plane. I don’t know that it actually was too big though. It’s a standard sized carry on that I’ve never had issue with on any planes before. They assured me my bag would be checked all the way to my final destination. Due to flight from Paris to Dublin being delayed, I was rebooked on a different transatlantic flight to the U.S., which resulted in a different connecting flight to my final destination. My luggage was rerouted and I was assured it would be at my final destination. When I got to Newark, I received multiple phone calls alerting me that my bag was across the airport at a different terminal and that I needed to go pick it up near the baggage carousels. In the Newark airport, every terminal has its own security checkpoint. Leaving any terminal and entering another one requires a security check. At this point, I had to go through security in Paris, then again for US customs and pre-clearance at Dublin, then a third time when I had to change terminals at Newark for my connecting flight home. It was at this point I received the call that I needed to retrieve my bag from literally the opposite end of the airport and go through security A FOURTH TIME. These was no notification that I needed to do this before I went to the gate for my final flight. It took me an hour to go do all this, after I had already been traveling for 19 hours while sick and should have been home already were it not for the delay of my original flight. I retrieved the bag. My carryon became a carryon again and fit just fine on the last plane, by the way. I would also like to mention that my TSA flight information was not included on my ticket, so once again, I had to go to the airline counter to get my ticket corrected and reprinted before I could go through security and try to save myself time. Finally, I have celiac disease and prefer not to eat meat. There was literally no food I could eat on the seven and a half hour flight across the Atlantic. When the flight attendant woke me up for dinner (I would have preferred to sleep), I asked if there were any gluten free options. I was told the only option was chicken. I begrudgingly accepted because it was the only option, hoping anything else in the meal could be eaten. There was plain rice and a few green beans. The side dish was teriyaki vegetables containing gluten. There was a piece of bread, containing gluten. There was a custard, containing gluten. I could eat literally nothing except the very small amount of rice and green beans. When the same flight attendant came around again, while I was sleeping, a sandwich was placed in front of me, again food I could not eat. And this was after I got to the flight to find that my newly assigned seat on my transatlantic flight had been given to someone else! It’s like nobody communicates over there. This airline has the worst logistics of any airline I have ever been on, and I travel frequently. Dear Aer Lingus, DO BETTER.
A caveat, we flew during the ransomware attack that hacked the boarding and luggage tracking systems. I wouldn't ever be angry at the employees for that, but I WOULD be (and am) angry that communication was incredibly poor, that we got few live updates, and that the employees seemed uninformed and ill-equipped to handle the situation. Clear, honest, open communication and instructions would have benefited the situation. Unfortunately, there were literally no gate agents to talk to, no airport employees to direct people, and no clear signage (the app pretty much said "we don't know what gate your flight is."). Beyond this nightmare, the security was the usual dehumanizing circus of "Security Theater" which is... as we all know... only for show and completely useless. All three airports on this journey dropped the ball so hard. The flight industry can do so much better. Aer Lingus can do so much better.
