Aer Lingus Fleet/Routes Discussion

goingnowhere

The assumption anyone on a business ticket to the US gets the Aer Space product

Its not called business and thats the interesting element to avoid corporate travel policy issues, but it is booking into a I class which is discount business hmm...

No advanced seat selection

joeysoap

Wonder How many middle seats free per flight.?
Everyone knows RY allocate you a middle seat if you check in online too soon, so customers play the game and check in as late as possible, usually the middle seats are all allocated 12 hours before flights. This could be the reverse, check in late or at the airport and get one of the middle seats AL blocked off for this service but didn’t sell. Course if could also work for getting an upfront seat if it doesn’t sell either by checking in late .

Van.Bosch

joeysoap wrote: »

Wonder How many middle seats free per flight.?
Everyone knows RY allocate you a middle seat if you check in online too soon, so customers play the game and check in as late as possible, usually the middle seats are all allocated 12 hours before flights. This could be the reverse, check in late or at the airport and get one of the middle seats AL blocked off for this service but didn’t sell. Course if could also work for getting an upfront seat if it doesn’t sell either by checking in late .

From the few flights I’ve checked AerSpace seems to just be row 1. Booking economy allows you select a seat in row 2, so I’d say just 2 empty seats.

Van.Bosch

trellheim wrote: »

And its not on the outshop routes like LCY or EDI ; they obviously think there's a market there but every route listed is only 2-2.5 hours flying and most regulars will have most of the benefits from Aerclub anyway so is it just gilding a lily for business class transfers from longhaul or something ?

It’s not available on Stobart or Cityjet. It is available on shorter EI flights like LHR & MAN.

Locker10a

kevinandrew wrote: »

The seat map Aer Lingus has displayed shows the Space Flex option, as does the recently delivered TAP A321LR in a near identical configuration. My mistake thinking ACF went hand in hand with Space Flex! Why they've both chosen such a tight galley config for transatlantic aircraft would be interesting to know and see in action, could be a bumpy service for the first few months as crews deal with the differences.

I don’t think TAP have the space flex galley, they seem to have a full regular galley at the rear. They’re going to need it for full service.

NH2013

Van.Bosch wrote: »

From the few flights I’ve checked AerSpace seems to just be row 1. Booking economy allows you select a seat in row 2, so I’d say just 2 empty seats.

Perhaps only being released row by row starting with row 1, wouldn't make sense to have rows 1,4,5,9 eg as Aer Space with the interim rows as economy. So once row 1 is sold it'll move on to row two and so on.

L1011

NH2013 wrote: »

Perhaps only being released row by row starting with row 1, wouldn't make sense to have rows 1,4,5,9 eg as Aer Space with the interim rows as economy. So once row 1 is sold it'll move on to row two and so on.

If they've already sold a seat reservation in row 2 to another punter that makes that impossible - well, possible only by massively annoying someone else.

KLM hold the seat selections for first few rows of possibly-economy entirely; then start offering the bigger legroom (which EI won't have) as a cheap premium on checkin; then just give them out to whoever is checking in.

goingnowhere

The doc's suggest this is 'front row' only

x567

I wonder if a BA business class ticket with an EI leg to LHR/LGW will automatically qualify for Aerspace - could need a couple more rows if so...

ned14

x567 wrote: »

I wonder if a BA business class ticket with an EI leg to LHR/LGW will automatically qualify for Aerspace - could need a couple more rows if so...

Just got caught out with that on Monday. With a BA Business class ticket, no priority check-in, priority boarding, seat selection or lounge access when connecting with EI. Had that awkward moment at the LHR lounge desk.

Tenger

L1011 wrote: »

Anyone from plebian classes trying to put bags there will have them taken out by crew; same as eurobiz on any other carrier.

Unless rest of cabin is full. Could be quicker to stash an errant bag in front lockers than re open the hold.

EI have severely restricted locker space for 1st 2-3 rows as it is.
As noted above, may be mostly aimed at connecting traffic.

Idbatterim

"priority boarding" sitting on the tin can for another half hour or so! Great! And some people even pay for it :rolleyes:

MJohnston

Idbatterim wrote: »

"priority boarding" sitting on the tin can for another half hour or so! Great! And some people even pay for it :rolleyes:

Personally I'd much rather be sitting on the plane for half an hour than standing at the gate, especially if you have plenty of space at your seat. Being in the airport for me is an anxious experience, and I'm much more relaxed when I'm onboard and seated.

Idbatterim

MJohnston wrote: »

Personally I'd much rather be sitting on the plane for half an hour than standing at the gate, especially if you have plenty of space at your seat. Being in the airport for me is an anxious experience, and I'm much more relaxed when I'm onboard and seated.

Agreed. I pack light , no check in luggage unless unavoidable. Fast track regardless of time. Last onto the plane personally. Had a joke of an experience in Naples airportbthe other day. Can’t stand spending a minute more in them than necessary. Sitting on the ground on a plane in Dublin airport for as long as it would take to get from liffey valley to athlone is another common joke !

There could be screaming kids on the plane and everything, it’s so intense. Each to their own !

Locker10a

Idbatterim wrote: »

Agreed. I pack light , no check in luggage unless unavoidable. Fast track regardless of time. Last onto the plane personally. Had a joke of an experience in Naples airportbthe other day. Can’t stand spending a minute more in them than necessary. Sitting on the ground on a plane in Dublin airport for as long as it would take to get from liffey valley to athlone is another common joke !

There could be screaming kids on the plane and everything, it’s so intense. Each to their own !

If you’re last to board and only travel with hand luggage then you’ll likely find no space for your case on busy flights, I think that’s mainly the benefit for those who buy priority boarding, guaranteed bag space.
With this new product the crew will probably try and keep the first locker closed and free during boarding for as long as they practically can, however they probably also include priority boarding for this reason, so you get on early and have a convenient space for your bag.

alancostello

Locker10a wrote: »

If you’re last to board and only travel with hand luggage then you’ll likely find no space for your case on busy flights, I think that’s mainly the benefit for those who buy priority boarding, guaranteed bag space.
With this new product the crew will probably try and keep the first locker closed and free during boarding for as long as they practically can, however they probably also include priority boarding for this reason, so you get on early and have a convenient space for your bag.

They typically do keep row one closed/exclusively for those sitting there, at least a dozen times I’ve been seated in row one and had cabin crew call me out when I opened the bin, only to say ‘oh that’s grand’ when I showed them the boarding pass.

Locker10a

alancostello wrote: »

They typically do keep row one closed/exclusively for those sitting there, at least a dozen times I’ve been seated in row one and had cabin crew call me out when I opened the bin, only to say ‘oh that’s grand’ when I showed them the boarding pass.

Yeah makes sense, to comply with regulations all row 1 pax would have to stow all bags in the locker anyway.

kevinandrew

Right now Aer Space is only showing for the first row, that’s just four passengers a flight. I’m assuming as more passengers book it’ll be extended to additional rows per flight or are they intending to limit it to just the front row across the board?

Shn99

kevinandrew wrote: »

Right now Aer Space is only showing for the first row, that’s just four passengers a flight. I’m assuming as more passengers book it’ll be extended to additional rows per flight or are they intending to limit it to just the front row across the board?

Economy pax are able to purchase seats in row 2 so it wouldnt make sense for it to be extended

Van.Bosch

Shn99 wrote: »

Economy pax are able to purchase seats in row 2 so it wouldnt make sense for it to be extended

I’d say it’s a trial period. Just one row for now, if demand grows on certain routes it can be added to two A’s flights go on sale or there is no one booked in 2.

Tenger

Makes sense, open the door but let the market decide how far to open it up

alancostello

They do reserve the right to reseat you as well, I'd imagine if you are in row 2 and they extend Aer Space they could move you to any comparable choice seat and say it's similar enough. Wouldn't be a great customer experience but within their rights.

I'd imagine it'll take a bit of backend work to automatically block off/move the Aer Space cabin, though it may be yet another reason to finally update their systems (a clean import of BA's backend should work relatively well if they can do the transition, plus it would facilitate the transatlantic JV and any OneWorld associations that may come).

Nijmegen

It’ll work the same as all other eurobiz products I imagine. There’s simple flexibility to move the curtain back a few rows if you need to, and given the amount of transfer traffic coming in they’re gonna need more than 4 seats on many routes. As for the booking engine only having row 1 in it for now, this is the company that launched a major credit card product with 2 free flights included, which can be redeemed by telegraphing a man in the back office who will dispatch the tickets by stage coach to you.

Van.Bosch

Nijmegen wrote: »

It’ll work the same as all other eurobiz products I imagine. There’s simple flexibility to move the curtain back a few rows if you need to, and given the amount of transfer traffic coming in they’re gonna need more than 4 seats on many routes. As for the booking engine only having row 1 in it for now, this is the company that launched a major credit card product with 2 free flights included, which can be redeemed by telegraphing a man in the back office who will dispatch the tickets by stage coach to you.

An excellent point - we’ve all being applying logic and rationale which isn’t necessarily apt with the AerLingus IT systems.

Phil.x

30 min delay of the st Laurence o toole

Phil.x

Now a change of gate and another 1hr delay, aer lingus staff are mute. Great start.

Bussywussy

Phil.x wrote: »

Now a change of gate and another 1hr delay, aer lingus staff are mute. Great start.

Swap of aircraft, sh!t happens

adam88

alancostello wrote: »

Airbus haven't publicly launched it, but they are supposedly offering it to airline customers (one can only assume to gauge real interest and carve out a strong launch customer/order).

EI may get some XLRs, sure, but the regular LR still works for the east coast and the northern midwest US, which is the majority of EI's transatlantic market so far.

If the XLR hits the 4700-5000nmi range being floated around it would be able to serve even the west coast, so you could certainly count on DEN/IAH/LAS plus maybe some extra California destinations.

Would it reach Vegas though ?????

I’m sorry. Couldn’t help myself.

Jack1985

Phil.x wrote: »

Now a change of gate and another 1hr delay, aer lingus staff are mute. Great start.

You didn't even qualify for delay compensation as it was that minor of a delay, so please drop the entitlement act. Not much to talk about here.

RMDrive

Jack1985 wrote: »

You didn't even qualify for delay compensation as it was that minor of a delay, so please drop the entitlement act. Not much to talk about here.

Why is the guy getting such a hard time? Delays are frustrating. Getting little/no communication from the airline is always an own-goal.

JCX BXC

Anything under 2hrs isn't particularly exciting, anything under an hour I wouldn't even particularly consider a delay! Dublin airport is a very busy airport, and on-time performances will suffer even more this summer.

Phil.x

Jack1985 wrote: »

You didn't even qualify for delay compensation as it was that minor of a delay, so please drop the entitlement act. Not much to talk about here.

You're the spanner bringing "entitlement" into it.

Phil.x

JCX BXC wrote: »

Anything under 2hrs isn't particularly exciting, anything under an hour I wouldn't even particularly consider a delay! Dublin airport is a very busy airport, and on-time performances will suffer even more this summer.

Ha ha..

Phil.x

Also listening to movies in mono is such fun, they sell earphones but they dont have two jack to suit the armrest, so mono it is.

Bussywussy

Phil.x wrote: »

Also listening to movies in mono is such fun, they sell earphones but they dont have two jack to suit the armrest, so mono it is.

They should actually disable the IFE for short hops,save the crew the hassle

Locker10a

JCX BXC wrote: »

Anything under 2hrs isn't particularly exciting, anything under an hour I wouldn't even particularly consider a delay! Dublin airport is a very busy airport, and on-time performances will suffer even more this summer.

Delays are frustrating, even “minor” ones. People make plans around flight times (foolish indeed) but if you don’t really understand aviation you'd expect things to run like a train or bus service. You can’t blame laymen too much for this expectation. Obviously the real world of aviation is very very different, and relies on 100 small background things falling into place to achieve a smooth operation. Ordinary folk don’t understand this and you can’t really expect them too either.

Elaine762

Aerspace isnt being sold on the BA website yet, neither under ‘business class’ or premium. Will this be changed?
Also, does anyone know if we will see a curtain separting it from Economy just like in iberia and British Airways?

kevinandrew

Elaine762 wrote: »

Aerspace isnt being sold on the BA website yet, neither under ‘business class’ or premium. Will this be changed?
Also, does anyone know if we will see a curtain separting it from Economy just like in iberia and British Airways?

British Airways don't sell any of Aer Lingus' individual fare types, just a standard economy class with checked luggage included. You don't get the choice of Saver, Plus or Advantage when booking via BA.com so I wouldn't expect Aer Space to be offered either as this is just a further extension of those fare options rater than a totally new cabin class offering.

It's just row one, at most you'll see a headrest to differentiate the product on board.

cson

Tbh guys domestic first on the US3 is nothing to write home about unless you get one of their widebody's doing a positioning flight or a transcon. As has been said the majority of routes that would have the demand for a business product into/ex Dublin (thinking LHR, LGW, FRA, AMS, CDG, BRU) are all < 2hr hauls. EI will have a jump on the market with the A321LRs if they deploy them on these routes in between the early transatlantic arrivals and afternoon departures.

Phil.x

Bussywussy wrote: »

They should actually disable the IFE for short hops,save the crew the hassle

Why? They make money, imagine being on a long haul flight listening to a mono movie!

Why didnt they just upgrade the 3.5jack when they removed the armrest control's.

I remember the days when they would tell you not to use your own headphones as they wouldn't work and could crash the system!!

kevinandrew

Phil.x wrote: »

Bussywussy wrote: »

They should actually disable the IFE for short hops,save the crew the hassle

Why? They make money, imagine being on a long haul flight listening to a mono movie!

Why didnt they just upgrade the 3.5jack when they removed the armrest control's.

I remember the days when they would tell you not to use your own headphones as they wouldn't work and could crash the system!!

Aer Lingus hands out free earphones on long haul anyway, unless you're on a saver fare.

Phil.x

Locker10a wrote: »

Delays are frustrating, even “minor” ones. People make plans around flight times (foolish indeed) but if you don’t really understand aviation you'd expect things to run like a train or bus service. You can’t blame laymen too much for this expectation. Obviously the real world of aviation is very very different, and relies on 100 small background things falling into place to achieve a smooth operation. Ordinary folk don’t understand this and you can’t really expect them too either.

Oh no, not plans, just kid's being kids and not understanding why the long delays and then the moaning sets in.
The original aircraft i was due on was a couple of years old and its technical fault couldn't be fixed,

JCX BXC

kevinandrew wrote: »

Aer Lingus hands out free earphones on long haul anyway, unless you're on a saver fare.

Would many people be on the saver fare? I'd imagine as it's the cheapest, many would!

Anyone have any figures or even idea what proportion of TATL customers book a saver fare?

Phil.x

kevinandrew wrote: »

Aer Lingus hands out free earphones on long haul anyway, unless you're on a saver fare.

The point is they don't work, the old armrests take a twin 3.5 jack for left and right sound, now they sell/give free a single 3.5 Jack headphone which results in mono.

Its the little things that count, the detail.

Van.Bosch

Phil.x wrote: »

The point is they don't work, the old armrests take a twin 3.5 jack for left and right sound, now they sell/give free a single 3.5 Jack headphone which results in mono.

Its the little things that count, the detail.

Where were you going? What was the delay in arriving at your final destination?

kevinandrew

Phil.x wrote: »

kevinandrew wrote: »

Aer Lingus hands out free earphones on long haul anyway, unless you're on a saver fare.

The point is they don't work, the old armrests take a twin 3.5 jack for left and right sound, now they sell/give free a single 3.5 Jack headphone which results in mono.

Its the little things that count, the detail.

Interesting. A relative of mine came back from SFO just last week and had been given two prong earphones, she showed me them because she thought the little green pouch and shamrock logo they came with was “cute”... I was less enthusiastic but there you go!

Tenger

JCX BXC wrote: »

.......
Anyone have any figures or even idea what proportion of TATL customers book a saver fare?

Last year at one of their PR events the COO answered that they were aiming at approx 15%. That may well have changed, with the new CEO and the demise of WOW.


As for headphones. I went to Malaga about 6 weeks ago. We had single prong headphones going out and dual prong going home. So Im guessing they gave 2 different hardware setups.
Sound was fine inflight.

Bussywussy

Phil.x wrote: »

The point is they don't work, the old armrests take a twin 3.5 jack for left and right sound, now they sell/give free a single 3.5 Jack headphone which results in mono.

Its the little things that count, the detail.

That's obviously an error so of what was loaded onboard before the flight,some aircraft have single jacks in the display unit and some have doubles in the arm.

Arciphel

Hi lads, I'm flying on EI-GEY today, does anyone know anything about this aircraft? :pac::pac::pac: Just messing!

Nijmegen

cson wrote: »

Tbh guys domestic first on the US3 is nothing to write home about unless you get one of their widebody's doing a positioning flight or a transcon. As has been said the majority of routes that would have the demand for a business product into/ex Dublin (thinking LHR, LGW, FRA, AMS, CDG, BRU) are all < 2hr hauls. EI will have a jump on the market with the A321LRs if they deploy them on these routes in between the early transatlantic arrivals and afternoon departures.

I would disagree on domestic first vs eurobusiness. I recently had Lufthansa, AA and Delta euro/domestic business class and really the seat is what sells it. Eurobusiness is the same cramped seat at the end of the day, whereas hopping on a domestic first in the US you have two seats in the space of 3 econ that are properly proportioned and cushioned and fitted out for the journey. That makes a big difference.