I am writing a novel which involves, in addition to a great many other things, an American character, 16 and flying alone, who departs Ireland at DUB flying economy and arrives on a non-stop Aer Lingus flight at JFK. I'm using the current flight 109, departing DUB at 3:45pm and arriving at JFK at 6:20pm as my model.

What I'm looking for is someone who could walk me through what such a flight would entail in as much detail as possible from arriving at the Dublin airport (check in, pre-customs, gates), to the flight itself (meals / snacks, flight attendants, details of their Airbus 330) to departing JFK (either via taxi or Airtrain, I haven't committed to either one quite yet).

Two other important details: my working plot point is that this passenger has pre-cleared customs in Ireland (though I don't entirely know if this entirely takes the place of having to clear customs again on arrival in NY), and that this flight would arrive in Terminal 4 at JFK.

I have a long list of questions to ask, but I thought that instead of creating a monstrously long post here, I'd test the waters a little and see if there was anyone out there who has been on this route recently willing to walk me through the process. In return, I could offer either (a) my expertise as a professional web developer for anyone with questions about creating websites, or (b) a signed copy of my book when it is finished: I can pretty much guarantee it will be finished, though not that it will be published...so a signed manuscript might have to suffice.

Take a look at youtube for some video examples.

For the remainder, just google the airline and flight #.

Is there any chance you could take this flight yourself? It would be a great chance to have the same experience and to make the story more realistic.

I just thought of something else, recently I was watching a news story about authors who publish books on line instead of having them published. Some have been very successful with their on-line books. Have you looked into that?

The hardcore flyers hang out on Flyertalk. Aerlingus forum is in the Miles & Points forum under "other European ff programs". Someone on there will have details about any plane/flight you could possibly ask about (probably pictures also).

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other...-programs-469/

<i>though I don't entirely know if this entirely takes the place of having to clear customs again on arrival in NY</i>

It does. The flight lands as if it is a domestic flight.

Looks like digitalflash is yet another one and done poster on Fodors.

Thanks for all of your replies.

Kybourbon - I will definitely check out flyertalk. Great lead, thanks.

Travelgourmet - thanks, that makes sense...that all passengers on the flight would have to clear customs in Ireland.

P_M - I would *love* to take that flight myself, but with my older son heading off to college in the fall, we can't afford it. Someday!

Rastaguytoday - I did look at some of the youtube videos of Aer Lingus flights, including one into JFK (as well as doing some other research, including a couple of helpful trip reports), but there are too many details missing.

Thanks again, everyone.

Seatguru has seating charts for the various airlines which describe which seats are better than others, seat pitch, seat width, etc. Then check Flyertalk for accuracy as they will be aware of any changes in configuration or plane upgrades.

http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Aer...nformation.php

Until recently, passengers underwent only passport control/immigration screening at Irish airports, then customs and agriculture screening after arrival at their US airport. This changed in 2011 -- now ALL formalities are taken care of in Ireland and passengers arrive in the US as if on domestic flights. So, if your story is set in 2011 or earlier, procedures are not the same as those in place today.

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/USt...112744504.html

Thanks for the link to the news story, kayd. It is set in the present day so that fits nicely with current plotting.

kybourbon - you never know what details will be important, so thanks for the link to Seatguru. I also found Flightaware, a site that provides route tracking information for any flight. Here's the track for my reference flight: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/EIN109. This gave me some salient information about what my character might have seen out the window, i.e., flying just north of the tip of Cape Cod and then down along the beaches of Long Island before making their approach to JFK. It's hard for me to imagine how people wrote books prior to the internet.

Also, if your character is buying anything in Ireland that he wants a refund for VAT tax for, he has to go to two different windows in the airport to clear those.