One of the best flights I've been on in a while. Very genuinely friendly staff. Courteous, kind, respectful. On a past flight (not Aer Lingus) I remember being woken up rudely to put my seat forward. Like a child being berated for something. Oddly jarring experience when someone could just tap you gently on the shoulder and gesture kindly. But I noticed the Aer Lingus staff were incredibly patient with everyone on the plane. It's the holiday season and I noticed a lot more elderly customers on the plane than I typically see flying, and the staff went above and beyond with helping accommodate people. Service throughout the flight was flawless. They came through offering water, and picking up garbage at perfect intervals. Seemed like this flight, everyone was on point. And the flight landed early on top of that
This is a bit of a rant, but I'll try to keep it civil. The flight was delayed for 2 hours with almost ZERO updates from agents. Just "there's technical issues, we don't know if or when it'll be resolved" once an hour maybe? And the gate signs, and app never updated to show the delay until it was finally resolved. So when I called Aer Lingus to see if I could rebook, I had literally the dumbest conversation with the person on the phone there where he says "It's showing your flight departed at 11:10. So it's already departed!", where I responded, "Well, it's 12:45 and I'm on the phone with you, standing in the airport, staring at the plane. So...I'm not sure what your system is saying, but we aren't in the air right now.". He said "Nothing I can do. Since it doesn't show delayed in my system, you would be charged to reschedule." Once we finally departed 2 hours late, things were going smoothly as I would expect, except in another very strange way. The stewardesses were rolling the cart down the aisle offering drinks and I asked for a water, to which they said "Sure, you can buy a bottle". I'm not sure if this is an Aer Lingus thing. Maybe something I'd expect from Ryan Air, but for a 3 hour international flight, to not have complimentary water available for customers is an absolute first, in 15 years of flying for me. I'm not upset with the plane staff at all. They were very friendly, but Aer Lingus' policies, how they handled the delay, and the unbelievable conversation with the customer service representative, leaves a lot to be desired in those areas. Also, I'm not upset about the delay. Things happen. Technical issues. But this is a place where airlines really need to clearly communicate with their customers. They also changed gates from 12N to 13N and there was no notification on any app, or announcement over the PA. End of rant. I hope they get some feedback on how to improve communication, because otherwise, they were great. And the second leg of my trip was incredibly smooth - no nickle and diming water, no communication issues. Very professional and efficient and even landed early
The biking process was confusing and I was called for a seat assignment from I number I repeatedly though was spam, but the flight itself was great
My experience with Aer Lingus was not too good. First, because of the last minute delayed flight from Amsterdam to Dublin we almost missed our flight from Dublin to Philadelphia. Secondly, the flight from Dublin to Philadelphia had very uncomfortable seats especially it was a very long flight. My buttocks were constantly in pain for sitting on these seats for this long. Lastly, the service in the plane was also slow. I asked for a second cup of water and the hostess told me he'll be right back with that where it took him over an hour to come back with water. It was warm in the plane and I was very thirsty. Overall this airline needs much improvement in their services.
I think the extra charges for seating with no added advantage and the added charges for baggage are excessive compared to other airlines.
I had zero issues with the flight. I did have issues with the staff at the airport. We missed out flight due to a delay with another airline. Talking to the staff and trying to get a new flight arranged was challenging. One guy was able to try to help us and got us on a new flight, but other staff was dismissive and clearly let us know it wasn’t their problem. All I kept thinking was… this is why air lingus has such a poor customer service reputation. I will be avoiding this airline in the future.
The boarding process was not good. From check-in, there was only one desk for check-in, which made for a very long line. I asked to print out my boarding pass for the next leg of my trip, also via Aer Lingus, and they said they couldn't. I was unable to do this on the app or online, either. Many fellow passengers I spoke to had the same issue. Because the plane was delayed taking off by 90 minutes, everyone had to quickly go to a desk for their next boarding pass which was chaos. Overall it wasn't a smooth or happy experience.
I liked that I went thru customs in Dublin instead of having to do that in LA.
Our first flight from Venice to Dublin was delayed due to very bad weather and when we did arrive we were ushered out of the secure area to collect our luggage then told we could not Demeter as the US Customs team closed at 4pm. Thus we were stuck in Dublin for one night with hundreds of passengers scrambling for information and little help from the local staff. Many passengers were left without accommodation and told to find something on their own. We were also told we would get contacted with rebooking details and did not, requiring us to make those arrangements ourselves, in some cases at a very high out of pocket cost. Many passengers swore they would never fly on Aer Lingus again.
Dublin airport is big and US Customs and Immigration screening officers are is part of the process there. This eliminates screening upon arrival to US, however should be taken into consideration when playing your transfer. After all, pleasant experience enhanced by draft Guinness and Irish coffee at the buffet area near the gate. We loved boarding by the row, back of the airplane first.
