I will travelling this spring with my 7 and 10 year old on Aer Lingus to and from italy via Dublin from/to the USA. Without going into great detail, I'll just say the journey will be long and convoluted because we're using FF miles from a hub city other than our own. Any tips,warnings or words of encouragement will be appreciated!

Flying to a European city via another European city is pretty common. Dublin Airport is small so compared to transitting via somewhere like Heathrow / Frankfurt / Paris / Amsterdam it's going to be relatively stressless

Thanks. How does aer Lingus stack up against other airlines?

We flew to Dublin on Aer Lingus, via Boston. It was a very pleasant experience and like all international carriers, the service was excellent.

I've found the seats in coach sometimes not up to par for comfort compared to other carriers I've flown. The padding could sometimes benefit from bringing a blowup pillow or similar, depending on the plane.

Just be careful about their new luggage policy. For inter-European short-haul flights, they have a quite strict policy--6kg 1pc carry-on, and they charge for checked-in luggages (cheaper online).

We flew O'Hare-Dublin via Aer Lingus and found it to be no better and no worse than other flights to Europe we've taken on American or United. Personally, I didn't find the seats to be more uncomfortable and I'm pretty restless when flying. Dublin Airport was easy to navigate.

When I flew with them, they kept the cabin lights on all night which was almost as iritating as the baby Damian screaming at 20 minute intervals three seats down. That wasn't a problem that Aer Lingus could solve.

First, while Dublin airport is small compared with Heathrow or Charles de Gaulle, it is very busy and not as stressless as alanRow suggests.

Second, Aer Lingus shorthaul is quite unlike Aer Lingus longhaul. That is pretty well inevitable. Within Europe, Aer Lingus operates as a budget airline, so you are charged for in-flight drinks and snacks. That's nothing to worry about; you don't need to eat if you don't want to pay for food. It's not that long a flight.

If you can, check in you baggage online. It's convenient, and it's cheaper.

I live in Ireland, and am quite happy to use Aer Lingus. Thet get me there and get me home, and treat people decently. What else would you want?

Well, I would like a first class seat at a coach price!!!!

Thanks for your input. I'm not sure what you mean by checking our luggage in on line. Do we do this at home? sorry for my ignorance.

Go to the Aer Lingus website at http://www.flyaerlingus.com/cgi-bin/...line/index.jsp

Follow the links to "Baggage/Animal Policies" and then "New Baggage Fees for Short-hail passengers" and you'll see it there. (Sorry I can't give you the final url, but it is session-specific). I am assuming that you have to check in at Dublin, that you are not booked through.

You might look at SeatGuru for seating choices (if they let you choose ahead) because we had a lot of legroom in Economy with seats across from the area of seats they block off for the flight attendents. I am not sure exactly why, but there was a row or two with extra legroom. We just happened upon them and it was quite nice!

We flew with Aer Lingus in July...from Chicago to Dublin, Dublin to Bologna, Bologna to Dublin, Dublin to Chicago. Everything was on time. No better or worse than any other airline for seats. They were strict on the size and weight of carryons. They had no blankets on the return trip and ran out of one type of dinner.

However, Dublin airport was quite a bit different in 2001 than it was in 2006. I thought it was going to be a nice quite little airport. WRONG. It is more stressful than alanRow wants to admit. They are adding on to it and it is packed with people.

You'll need to pay for your checked luggages for the Italy-Dublin part of the flights. I can't remember how much it was, but just as other budget airlines, you can make payments (charged per piece) online.

When I flew Aer Lingus from New York to Dublin (via London), it was actually code shared on AA metal for the overseas trip, and then on a smaller Aer Lingus plane for the hop to Dublin. Both were comfy.

Great input, thanks. Unfortunately Aer Lingus does not appear on Seatguru. com. Perhaps there is another site?

The cost of stowing luggage is €8 per piece, or €4 if you pre-book your luggage online up to 2 hours before your flight, by the way this fee is charged both ways! ( pretty expensive )
You can take a carry-on, not weighing more than 6kg, i'm not sure of the dimensions, but you should check the website to save yourself a lot of hassle.
Regarding Dublin Airport being stress free, thats totally untrue, its a nightmare, I agree its a nice airport ( but i'm biased ) but its very very busy.

If you are flying to the United States from Dublin (or Shannon) note that you there is an American immigration office there.If you are taking a connecting flight to Ireland you should allow extra time.

I don't remember having to pay for any checked luggage on our flights from Dublin to Bologna or back to the USA. That was last July. When was that fee introduced??