Aer Lingus, Irishness, Tourism etc...

WexCan

Flew LGW-DUB today, a journey I make quite often. I've flown with Aer Lingus countless times. Today was different though.

The Captain made his pre-flight PA as usual, then did it all over again in Irish - a rare occurence.

The purser was similarly enthusiastic, with an extended Irish welcome and farewell PA, more than the usual few lines.

What I quite liked was the Captain's cruise PA. Along with updates on flight progress, landing time etc there was the following:

We're just starting our descent now, so it's goodbye from us in the flight deck. For those of you visiting Ireland on holiday, I hope you have a pleasant stay and enjoy all our country has to offer you, and thank you for flying with Aer Lingus.

New deal with the tourist board maybe? Either way, it was nice to hear. I listen to pilots droning on all the time and never have I heard anything like it. A very small, but genuine welcome to the land of "a hundred thousand welcomes".

Any thoughts?

Aidan Disney

That Great.
Not everyday you hear announcements as gaeilge !

New deal with the tourist board maybe?

Nah, its all in a bid to " Keep the skies green " - lol - All jokes aside, No i havent a clue, Maybe just being friendly ?

Biro

That's excellent to hear, more often than not there's negative comments about recent Irish friendliness. You should nearly mail Aer Lingus and compliment the pilot on that flight!

FlutterinBantam

+1

You got a guy on a good day- let them know.

WexCan

Already written out a letter.

I've had many thank you/praise letters from passengers, and it makes the job and the effort worthwhile. I'm always quick to do likewise.

Biro is quite right, bit of fresh air in face of declining Irish hospitality.

Aidan Disney

Yea, Biro is correct, and like FlutterinBantam said you got them on a good day so give them the thumbs up about it !

OPENROAD

bmi crew are just as friendly imo, both Dublin and London based crews. If it is Dublin based crew they will make announcments in Irish, if London based they have a pre recorded announcement in Irish. But find flight deck crew excellent,regualr updates as you describe and same friendly attitude.

FlutterinBantam

Matter slightly off topic,was flying to Bangkok recently with my family.

Asian guy in BA ckin LHR was very friendly ,gave us a "go raibh maith agaib"
when he handed us the boarding cards.... small thing, but very effective.

WexCan

Now that's impressive.

Aidan Disney

Indeed it is impressive.

Smokey Bear

Hi all,
Just to let you know EI CCM's in Belfast base have been told not to do any announcements as gaeilge.Its done in LHR and every other destination in UK but powers that be say NO in Belfast.
So of course you would have to:D

Smokey Bear.

Tenger

Smokey Bear wrote: »

Hi all,
Just to let you know EI CCM's in Belfast base have been told not to do any announcements as gaeilge.Its done in LHR and every other destination in UK but powers that be say NO in Belfast.
QUOTE]

It was the EI legal team that decided it. As if a bit of gaeilge will offend more when you are are on a big green plane! Am going to try learn some Scots Gaelic so I can do English/Irish/Scots whne I get a tour of duty up there.

Anyone know if I can get a phrasebook or dictionary anywhere?
I try to learn a few phrases in several languages to use onboard.

aidandisney

Well .. Its made to to the morning papers.

IRISH BANNED ON AER LINGUS

pclancy

Of course reading that headline makes me think of red haired people named mick and mary being banned from aer lingus flights....:)

cp251

The logic of it seems odd. I mean if you are a dyed in the wool unionist likely to be offended by a cupla focal. Then you certainly wouldn't be sitting on a green aeroplane of an airline with an Irish language name, emblazoned with a tricolour and named after a Catholic saint.

It's particularly odd considering that the Irish language is being encouraged in Norn Iron these days.

Maybe the real reason is that most of the crew based there can't speak a cupla focal due to the fact the very few of them are actually from the Republic?

OPENROAD

cp251 wrote: »

Maybe the real reason is that most of the crew based there can't speak a cupla focal due to the fact the very few of them are actually from the Republic?

Nothing wrong with them not being from Ireland though, That said they just could play a recorded message in Irish like they do on bmi if they wanted to.

Tenger

OPENROAD wrote: »

Nothing wrong with them not being from Ireland though, That said they just could play a recorded message in Irish like they do on bmi if they wanted to.

The crew can be taught the announcements phonetically as is done with non-Irish speakers in Dublin/Shannon and Cork.

I was not aware that BMI played an Irish announcement,is this out of Dublin and Belfast? In this case telling Aer Lingus Crew not to speak it is an stupid PC decision. From my personel experience at least 30% of the crew in Belfast are able to speak Irish.

OPENROAD

Bramble wrote: »

The crew can be taught the announcements phonetically as is done with non-Irish speakers in Dublin/Shannon and Cork.

I was not aware that BMI played an Irish announcement,is this out of Dublin and Belfast? .

bmi Dub-LHR, crew varies between, Dublin/London based crews, London base normally play the Irish announcement. Suppose from a tourist point of view it is good announcements are also made in Irish,I would say most locals switch off during them though..

As for Belfast, would be surprised if bmi made any announcements in Irish.

blah

Got an email from Aer Lingus offering LHR-Belfast for £30, but I replied saying I wasn't interested in flying Aer Lingus on that route because of their "ban irish" decision. It's not even so much a love of the Irish language, I admin I can't speak it, but I really get riled up about ridiculouse bureaucratic decisions, like as if some drum beating orangeman is going to wander onto an Aer Lingus flight and suddenly be surprised to hear an Irish announcement! :mad:

r3nu4l

cp251 wrote: »

The logic of it seems odd. I mean if you are a dyed in the wool unionist likely to be offended by a cupla focal. Then you certainly wouldn't be sitting on a green aeroplane of an airline with an Irish language name, emblazoned with a tricolour and named after a Catholic saint.

Hee hee, very true!

I was disgusted at hearing the news about banning Irish. I'm flying (as a passenger) with them to New York on Wednesday (flying to Dublin tomorrow) but had the Aer Lingus flight booked before this announcement :mad: