cmeyer54

I am taking DH on a birthday trip to Ireland. The best airfares seem to be on either Delta or Aer Lingus. Since we normally fly either United or American, I have zero experience with the other two. Can anyone tell me about their overseas flights, experiences, airport services, etc? Thanks!

Images2

Economy Plus seating in United is much better than the normal coach seating in Delta.

We usually fly Delta, and they have improved their attitude over the past. Just before they went into bankruptcy it was terrible, but now it's pretty much comparable to the others.

We flew United this year a couple of times in Economy Plus and it's far superior!

nini

If you prefer the 777 rather than a 767 you should choose Aer Lingus. You could possibly get the larger airbus plane. Delta does not have many triple sevens--I have not flown one with Delta in several years--and those flights were usually to Paris or London(from Atl). Of course, best price will always prevail in the decision.

Sinagua

Flew Aer Lingus in February. Compared to my NWA flight to London the year before, I found the plane crowded, and the seats uncomfortable.

One thing that was weird was the duty free items they were pushing to sell instead of providing regular service.

We didn't have your own tv monitor in front of you so watching a movie was impossible if you weren't right in of one of the monitors.

To drown out the noise of the plane I usually find some music to listen to. They didn't have a lot of selections that were good, no classical! Listening to show tunes is not a way to relax and help you sleep!

bob_brown

Coach class in Delta 777s is awful. A few years ago I flew in a Delta 777 to Paris from Atlanta. At the time I said "Never again." So far, I have not flown 777s with Delta or any other airline.

If the seating was any tighter, Delta would need people pushers to cram the passengers into their seats.

As for Aer Lingus, I have heard Irish citizens refer to it as Air Fungus.

sunny16

I flew Aer Lingus JFK - Shannon nine years ago. The flight was unremarkable; the service was fine as I recall. Have a great time!

cmeyer54

Delta and Aer Lingus are roughly $200/person less than United or American for this trip. we have status with United and could use that to secure economy plus seats or miles to upgrade if available. I guess it will come down to how much the extra room is worth? DH is 6'3 so it does make a big difference to him.

Linda431

The best way to compare your options would be to go to each airline's website and find the flight that you might take. If the type of plane (777, 767, etc.) is not listed there, click on the flight number and that should bring it up.

Make a note of what you find, then go to seatguru.com and check each airline for that particular plane. That will give you the width of the seat and the pitch, which is the distance from one seat to the one in front of it, along with other details about that plane and which seats to avoid.

Personally, I would opt for the one with the greater pitch. Keep in mind that they do change equipment from time to time.

mikemo

Flew Delta JFK-MAD in early May - the international check-in at JFK was the very worst aviation experience of both our lives and SO has been in the industry for 45+ years with nearly every title ex CEO.
Never again from JFK!
M

roussillon

I agree that currently the Delta checkin for coach from JFK is a mess...a ton of Europe flights (plus India and some other exotics) without adequate space, or management. And it often gets jammed going out the door...people are generally in a horrible mood, and there is little active control/help by staff. The irony is that this used to be the Business entrance going back earlier and in PanAm days.

HOWEVER, if you are a Medallion member (with Gold or Platinum status), you can check in at Terminal 2 (not the mess at 3), and let me tell you it is the easiest and best checkin you can imagine. And it only opened a few months ago..so they are working on things.

Last week, there were not even 5 people in line, staff was very friendly, there were also self-checkin machines, and after checkin, the security check took 1 min, and then you pass into the wait area right next to the Crown Room entrance...perfect.

I do believe they are aware of the coach checkin problems in Terminal 3, and have some plans. But right now it is rather uncomfortable.

Once you do get past checkin and security, the terminal is not bad at all. Plenty of shopping and food, and massage chairs etc.

I don't love Delta, but once you get a few miles with them, they are making a nice effort to improve life for travellers. I almost always get an emergency row, and sometimes get a comp upgrade...no rhyme or reason on this though.

Coach travel this days is generally miserable...but Business/First is for me quite unaffordable unless somehow you get someone else to pay it. But I sense Delta is making an effort for its loyalty program. Rouss

rkkwan

Stick with UA. The bonus FF miles will be worth $100 or more, and you are working towards next year's elite status, AND you get extra legroom.

No brainer.

Images2

Wow, $200 less on Delta. I'm jealous. I have elite status on Delta, but live in Cincinnati, where Delta flights are the most expensive flights now. That's why we flew United to Europe this year, $200 less than Delta, and have another international flight scheduled with them this year, instead of flying Delta.

Thank goodness we have been able to get into a premier match program with United so we can get the Economy Plus seats. They are so much better than Delta's seats.

Where do you live?

caroltis

I agree regarding Delta and JFK...never again!! They don't have enough personnel and often when there are glitches (cancelled flights) the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing and there is a lot of confusion and misinformation. Coach seating is very tight. Monitors for watching movies are very small and difficult to see from many locations. We are not fans of Delta.

vervid

I flew Aer lingus from LAX to Dub in September last year. Aircraft was airbus seating 2 - 4 -2 no individual screens. Not full so had two seats to myself. Service was ok. Return in December again on airbus this time newer a/c with individual screens. Again service was fine although u pay for drinks. Both flights on time and my baggage arrived with me.
You won't find any info on seat guru about EI, and they don't have seat maps on their website until u have made a booking.

Shadow

I have flown from LAX to either Shannon or Dublin 5 times over the last 4 years and have flown Continental to Newark then to Ireland or Aer Lingus to Dublin and/or on to Shannon and just this April Delta to Shannon.

I have had pleasant experiences with all three..we'll be flying back to Ireland again in September (leading a custom tour with CIE so there will be 15 of us) and flying Aer Lingus. I go with whoever gives me the best price and we got $499 RT LAX to Shannon for mid September...it was a no-brainer!

I will say that we were pleasantly surprised with Delta since we had not flown them in awhile...my last few trips had been Aer Lingus. We thought the seats were as comfortable as they can be in coach, food was good and we were given a Free alcholic drink!! Hey, you gotta love that these days!!

The best thing is that you are going to Ireland!

Shadow

_jinx_

Careful with Aer Lingus!! I flew from Chicago to Dublin-supposedly Aer Lingus-turned out to be Omni Air International DC-10 with about 500 seats crammed in (obviously a charter plane). Terrible trip! Someone didn't show-had to go through all the luggage to find that person's. Left one hour late-missed my connection on to Glasgow. Rerouted to Edinburgh four hours later. Lost my checked suitcase. Bad experience.

Jinx Hoover