We are traveling to Ireland April, 2005. We are flying Aer Lingus and since I know nothing about them, I wondered if anyone could let me know if they have had a good experience. We are flying first class if that makes a difference. Thanks.

You're flying first class? I think on any airline, you shouldn't worry if you were flying first class.

We, who have flown in peasant class, enjoyed Aer Lingus, except we had to pay for our alcohol. Humbug!!!

This is our first ever venture into 1st class ... hopefully the alcohol is free!!!

I'm considering a flight to Ireland from LAX in late Feb. and would also like to hear others opinions about Aer Lingus.
Thanks,
Shadow

No offense, melmas, but you are asking SUCH a silly question. For the amount of money you are paying or the amount of miles you are using, any airline ought to treat you like royalty if you are in first!!!

And don't worry . . . drinks are free in first no matter who you fly!

We flew Aer Lingus from Amsterdam to Dublin in 2001. A short flight but very good even in the cheap seats.

When did Aer Lingus start flying First Class?

Surely it only offers Business Class across the Atlantic? And, to be honest, a pretty second-division business class, compared to Virgin, BA or Singapore, at that.

Do they do any even of the 21st century business class stuff, like flat beds, pre-boarding suppers and all the rest?

I though I had heard that Aer Lingus was going discount and eliminating 1st class.

Generally, Aer Lingus gets either very high marks or very low which would suggest that their service is inconsistent. I have flown them a number of times on short flights from London to Ireland and they were fine. I'm fliying them in May overseas for the first time. If you have already booked your flights then I guess you will find out.

Bill

Aerlingus is doing away with 'Premiere class' (their one word to incorporate first and business classes together), on all European flights. I have heard that they have decided not to touch their transatlantic premiere class as this is still very profitable for them.

In my experience over the past 3 years back and forth to Ireland and some european destinations, Aerlingus is begining a downward slippage that is resulting in late arrivals and departures and a very noticable dip in staff moral which is transfering through to customer service.

I think that on transatlantic you should still be okay but on european flights they leave a lot to be desired.

Yes, only business class across the Atlantic. And yes, melmas, the alcohol will be "free" in the sense that your ticket's price will cover the marginal cost.

Aer Lingus is trying to decide if it's going to be a low cost carrier or not, whetther it's going to remain in the <b>one</b>world Alliance or not, etc. Changes on mahogany row, many staff confused about their future, you get the picture. Meanwhile other airlines, including &quot;partners&quot; like American, are starting to inject themselves into established Aer Lingus markets, so they better figure out what the plan is. Meanwhile, stay in the front cabin and you'll be fine.

We're scheduled to fly Aer Lingus for the first time in June. I just discovered they changed our flight time so we now land over 3 hours later than originally booked. I know flight times do change often, but I'd never experienced such a big time difference, especially since the plane only leaves 1 hour and 15 minutes later from Chicago.

They told me we will be sitting in Dublin longer before it takes off again for Shannon, our destination. That was also a surprise, because I specifically asked if it was &quot;nonstop&quot; when I booked and was told it was...I didn't know we had to land in Dublin first. I even mentioned I had heard from a friend that all flights out of Chicago stopped in Dublin before going on to Shannon and she told me that was not the case.

So better check your flight time to see if it's been changed.

I've flown Aer Lingus several times (in cattle car class) and have always had decent to great service. The seats were small and a bit worn, but the staff was attentive and friendly.

First class should be primo, though

While we lived in LA my parents and friends frequently flew from Dublin to LAX directly and had a very good experience, no problems there!

melmas:
We flew on Air Lingus twice : JFK to Dublin.
Yes, first class. In our case first class was upstairs (I don't remember the type of plane). The service was good, the seats were fairly comfortable, but it was Very noisy. Beware of sitting too close to the galley.
minnie.