Aer Lingus Fleet/Routes Discussion

L1011

The oddball staying til last is the bit nobody expected!

goingnowhere

CJX was added more than a year after the first three so presumably has more time left before a major check

Tenger

Nice one getting those end of service dates.


On a related note does anyone have am image or a link with the planned EI fleet for mid 2020s. Im thinking it was part of an IAG presentation within the last 6 months.
I usually take a screenshot or make a note of those things. (Obviously the A321LR delays werent factored in at that time)

sherology

Glad they're replacing 757s and 'then' further growing the fleet with LRs (as opposed to keeping the 757/ASL) operation and growing from this summer. A bit too much wet-lease going on to keep the brand-image. A harmonious fleet and cabin product would alleviate some of the (valid) negativity you see here.

Wonder if they'll ever go all jet and remove the ATRs... As fuel efficient as they are.

kevinandrew

sherology wrote: »

Glad they're replacing 757s and 'then' further growing the fleet with LRs (as opposed to keeping the 757/ASL) operation and growing from this summer.  A bit too much wet-lease going on to keep the brand-image. A harmonious fleet and cabin product would alleviate some of the (valid) negativity you see here.

Wonder if they'll ever go all jet and remove the ATRs... As fuel efficient as they are.

Huh?

Firstly, the ASL operated 757s are pretty much Aer Lingus in all but operating license, cabin crew are all Aer Lingus, many of the pilots are on secondment from Aer Lingus and the product is completely aligned apart from the wifi availability. Most passengers couldn't tell a 757 from an A321 if one landed in their back garden so that's not a concern. 

Aer Lingus Regional by Stobart is again essentially Aer Lingus but with turboprops aka the modern day Aer Lingus Commuter; same on board product, same branding, same uniforms. There is nothing inconsistent about it. Same goes for Aer Lingus by CityJet, it's simply Aer Lingus with an Avro, same on board product, same branding, same uniforms and same standards. 

What negativity on here are you referring to exactly? The biggest complaint I've seen in recent months appears to be about EI-GEY and it's business product which ironically has absolutely nothing to do with "too much wet-lease going on" because it's operated by Aer Lingus itself!

Tenger

sherology wrote: »

................A bit too much wet-lease going on to keep the brand-image...........

Wonder if they'll ever go all jet and remove the ATRs... As fuel efficient as they are.

As above, I’m not sure on your point. 12 A330s supplented by 4x B757 with close to identical product, then 1 non standard business class on a single A330 but everything else the same.
As opposed to BA with B747s, B777s, A380s with a range of ages and cabin fittings.


As for going “all jet”, I think you made your own question redundant. Why go “all jet” just to look fancy/please spotters while increasing costs at the same time.

Noxegon

EI109 cancelled, aircraft tech. Looking at a ridiculously long queue of people trying to get back through passport control.

ohigg84

Noxegon wrote: »

EI109 cancelled, aircraft tech. Looking at a ridiculously long queue of people trying to get back through passport control.

Perhaps GAJ was scheduled to operate it, but it's on the 143 to Seattle now, flight took off almost 1.5 hrs late.


DAA must have gone tech..

rushfan

ohigg84 wrote:

DAA must have gone tech..

It was towed to the hangar around 4pm, suggesting it did go tech.

Tenger

There’s 300 ppl (and 300 in JFK) looking for rerouting and/or compensation.
That’s a big whack in the budget at the first big weekend of the Summer.

Noxegon

Tenger wrote: »

There’s 300 ppl (and 300 in JFK) looking for rerouting and/or compensation.
That’s a big whack in the budget at the first big weekend of the Summer.

Am I correct in thinking that there are no spare long haul aircraft in the summer schedule?

judging by twitter theyve handled it very poorly indeed

Van.Bosch

[Deleted User] wrote: »

judging by twitter theyve handled it very poorly indeed

Yup, why would they not rebook people at the airport and make them call.

1123heavy

Van.Bosch wrote: »

Yup, why would they not rebook people at the airport and make them call.

I haven't got twitter but can see one guy stranded posted about it on facebook. How can any airline think it's acceptable to simply not have a plane show up and then give a silent 2 fingers to all the customers who did actually show up. Everyone seems to be scrambling to call their customer service number but no one is getting through. This will live longer in the memories of the passengers than any rebrand ever will!

cson

I don't think it's that big of a hit to the budget, even at a higher end estimate of €1,000 per passenger via compensation or rerouting that's only €600,000 cost to the airline which made €306m last year (0.2% of operating profit, so it'd be noticed a little in month end analytics but not much, if at all, on an annual basis).

Tenger

I agree with that from an analytical viewpoint. 10 cacelations over the summer will be filed under ‘extraordinary costs’ or similar. Thus the yearly recurring figures will remain pretty much the same.

But it’s a bigger issue in how they handle disruptions. I’m pretty sure that EI no longer have the staff numbers physically at the airport to deal with a cancellation anymore. (The culling of numbers was ongoing after I left 15 years ago) Thus callling a phoneline in is the only option. We’ve seen this play out repeatedly over the last 2-3 years.
With about 50% of their customers being Europeans or Americans on connecting tickets it slowly erodes their potential customer base when incidents like this occur.
BA/VS/AA/UA/DL etc can rely on their home market for future business. EI are relying on ppl choosing them based on price and convenience over those others airlines.

cson

Tenger wrote: »

I agree with that from an analytical viewpoint. 10 cacelations over the summer will be filed under ‘extraordinary costs’ or similar. Thus the yearly recurring figures will remain pretty much the same.

But it’s a bigger issue in how they handle disruptions. I’m pretty sure that EI no longer have the staff numbers physically at the airport to deal with a cancellation anymore. (The culling of numbers was ongoing after I left 15 years ago) Thus callling a phoneline in is the only option. We’ve seen this play out repeatedly over the last 2-3 years.
With about 50% of their customers being Europeans or Americans on connecting tickets it slowly erodes their potential customer base when incidents like this occur.
BA/VS/AA/UA/DL etc can rely on their home market for future business. EI are relying on ppl choosing them based on price and convenience over those others airlines.

I think air travel is one of those things that's very price elastic so if they continue to get their pricing algo's spot on they'll not notice any material declines. It's the same reason people bitch about never flying FR again but inevitably they will because it makes the most sense price wise.

This is especially the case in Europe which doesn't have the same incentive to stay loyal via elite programs that say the US3 would have.

Marcusm

Tenger wrote: »

I agree with that from an analytical viewpoint. 10 cacelations over the summer will be filed under ‘extraordinary costs’ or similar. Thus the yearly recurring figures will remain pretty much the same.

But it’s a bigger issue in how they handle disruptions. I’m pretty sure that EI no longer have the staff numbers physically at the airport to deal with a cancellation anymore. (The culling of numbers was ongoing after I left 15 years ago) Thus callling a phoneline in is the only option. We’ve seen this play out repeatedly over the last 2-3 years.
With about 50% of their customers being Europeans or Americans on connecting tickets it slowly erodes their potential customer base when incidents like this occur.
BA/VS/AA/UA/DL etc can rely on their home market for future business. EI are relying on ppl choosing them based on price and convenience over those others airlines.

Nothing extraordinary about the costs though. Normal run of the mill occurrence! I’d say there per head cost would exceed €1,000. Surely €600 per head compo plus accommodation and rerouting costs.

Time Magazine

cson wrote: »

I think air travel is one of those things that's very price elastic so if they continue to get their pricing algo's spot on they'll not notice any material declines. It's the same reason people bitch about never flying FR again but inevitably they will because it makes the most sense price wise.

This is especially the case in Europe which doesn't have the same incentive to stay loyal via elite programs that say the US3 would have.

American Airlines left me stranded in DFW one night about eight years ago. I average about 20 flights a year, but basically haven't flown with them since.

Granted AA refusing to even provide accommodation is worse than what's going on with EI at the moment, but I imagine there are a lot of unhappy Yanks complaining about Irish airlines today.

Van.Bosch

Marcusm wrote: »

Nothing extraordinary about the costs though. Normal run of the mill occurrence! I’d say there per head cost would exceed €1,000. Surely €600 per head compo plus accommodation and rerouting costs.

How does the re routing work? I mean they will obviously try and get you on their own flights first but if EI has to put someone on Delta or United, do they pay full whack or is there some agreements in the background?

jesus_thats_gre

Flew to Newark circa 3 weeks ago with AL. A JFK flight the previous day was cancelled and a lot of those passengers ended up on the Newark flight.

In the baggage hall in Newark, there was countless announcements about the location of AL provided transfer buses to JFK.

Marcusm

Van.Bosch wrote: »

How does the re routing work? I mean they will obviously try and get you on their own flights first but if EI has to put someone on Delta or United, do they pay full whack or is there some agreements in the background?

All will be IATA airlines. We won’t be privy to cost but will come out in the wash unless your failure rate is very high. Issue these days is that load factors are very high meaning limited additional seats to deal with IRROPS meaning extra nights in hotel.

Van.Bosch

Marcusm wrote: »

All will be IATA airlines. We won’t be privy to cost but will come out in the wash unless your failure rate is very high. Issue these days is that load factors are very high meaning limited additional seats to deal with IRROPS meaning extra nights in hotel.

Cheers - so you give a little, take a little. Like you say though, will be hard to get 300 e/w.

goingnowhere

EI has certainly carried large number of Delta passengers when they had problems. EI has an awful lot of interline agreements in place (it pays to have been in business 83 odd years).

In this case 4pm there is no way to cross the Atlantic that day really due the historical flight patterns of day over, overnight back

NSAman

Customer Service is one thing that ALYWAS known for when there were actually people employed. The phone lines are a disaster and the "customer service" for bag loss and/or. re-routing is a joke nowadays.

Luckily I am concierge and even with that status, getting someone to talk to at times is next to impossible.

Aer Lingus may be good when all goes well, but when there is an issue, IT SUCKS!

JCX BXC

NSAman wrote: »

Aer Lingus may be good when all goes well, but when there is an issue, IT SUCKS!

Like far too many companies nowadays sadly.

kevinandrew

The next batch of A321LR's have appeared on the Airbus production list, EI-LRB, 'LRC and 'LRD are the confirmed registrations. The first, EI-LRA, has recently been seen without its protective tape and seems to be preparing for its first engine run which should be any day now.

sherology

kevinandrew wrote: »

The next batch of A321LR's have appeared on the Airbus production list, EI-LRB, 'LRC and 'LRD are the confirmed registrations. The first, EI-LRA, has recently been seen without its protective tape and seems to be preparing for its first engine run which should be any day now.

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/9326980

Shamrockj

sherology wrote: »

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/9326980

Going by the picture I'm guessing the door aft or the over wings is deactived? I noticed on the seat map they have seats blocked off in those rows I'm guessing until its confirmed.

kevinandrew

Shamrockj wrote: »

sherology wrote: »

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/9326980

Going by the picture I'm guessing the door aft or the over wings is deactived? I noticed on the seat map they have seats blocked off in those rows I'm guessing until its confirmed.

Yep, Door 3 is deactivated and appears plugged. I’m hoping they place a mid-cabin lavatory in this row like Air Transat has done as I seriously doubt 3 bathrooms and a half galley squeezed down the back is going to work in practice.

There’s no way Aer Lingus knows something about this layout that Air Transat and TAP somehow don’t.

sherology

kevinandrew wrote: »

Yep, Door 3 is deactivated and appears plugged. I’m hoping they place a mid-cabin lavatory in this row like Air Transat has done as I seriously doubt 3 bathrooms and a half galley squeezed down the back is going to work in practice.

There’s no way Aer Lingus knows something about this layout that Air Transat and TAP somehow don’t.

See X's on attachment. SpaceFlex to left-rear pressure bulkhead. Another galley to front of left rear door, facing the spaceflex galley. Crew might be able to huddle up behind a curtain at the rear door.

Locker10a

sherology wrote: »

See X's on attachment. SpaceFlex to left-rear pressure bulkhead. Another galley to front of left rear door, facing the spaceflex galley. Crew might be able to huddle up behind a curtain at the rear door.

Looks like 3 toilets at the rear too. Going to be a very congested unpleasant section.
The 757 had 3 economy toilet too I think, all at doors 3 though. Which allowed equal access/distance for all economy passengers. And prevention of a total bottleneck especially when there’s service going on.

Shamrockj

This space flex layout on a transatlantic flight must the worst decision they have made in awhile. Not exactly 4 star...

kevinandrew

Shamrockj wrote: »

This space flex layout on a transatlantic flight must the worst decision they have made in awhile. Not exactly 4 star...

If it does prove to be a complete disaster, knowing what Aer Lingus management are like they’ll be too stubborn to admit they got it wrong and attempt to change things.

It could end up being be an awful lot of hassle for a extra 6 seats!

sherology

kevinandrew wrote: »

If it does prove to be a complete disaster, knowing what Aer Lingus management are like they’ll be too stubborn to admit they got it wrong and attempt to change things.

It could end up being be an awful lot of hassle for a extra 6 seats!

I don't think they gain any seats... on the actual layout... As there is a single toilet on one side (as per current a321) - -3seats - and a galley on the other side (giving more space to the crew albeit all on one side so still odd) - -3seats. These are before the back door where those 6 seats would be on a normal a321 with SpaceFlex.

My feeling is, as this is a lease (and not owned by EI), the galley and unhindered cabin floor area may be at the behest of the lessor for future proofing. Costly to retrofit it later, and an open plan floor makes it easier to reconfigure.

So no extra seats, but easier to remove a galley unit and toilet unit, and add 6 seats later if the lease is not renewed.

kevinandrew

sherology wrote: »

kevinandrew wrote: »

If it does prove to be a complete disaster, knowing what Aer Lingus management are like they’ll be too stubborn to admit they got it wrong and attempt to change things.

It could end up being be an awful lot of hassle for a extra 6 seats!

I don't think they gain any seats... on the actual layout... As there is a single toilet on one side (as per current a321) - -3seats - and a galley on the other side (giving more space to the crew albeit all on one side so still odd) - -3seats. These are before the back door where those 6 seats would be on a normal a321 with SpaceFlex.

My feeling is, as this is a lease (and not owned by EI), the galley and unhindered cabin floor area may be at the behest of the lessor for future proofing. Costly to retrofit it later, and an open plan floor makes it easier to reconfigure.

So no extra seats, but easier to remove a galley unit and toilet unit, and add 6 seats later if the lease is not renewed.

The total seat number is expected to be 180, I believe there’s 174 or 176 on the 757 fleet so an increase of sorts for a like for like replacement as these are initially intended to be.

I also think these tend to be quite long term leases so the lessors future requirements shouldn’t really be of much consideration, unless Aer Lingus/IAG really had the wool pulled over their eyes. Air Transat have also leased their A321LR’s and have been able to choose the cabin they see fit. Not sure about TAP but I’d be surprised they’re weren’t leased as well.

alancostello

kevinandrew wrote: »

The total seat number is expected to be 180, I believe there’s 174 or 176 on the 757 fleet so an increase of sorts for a like for like replacement as these are initially intended to be.

Four of those increase are J seats too so much higher revenue if they fill them (or worth an additional two Y seats in the same place over the 757)

geecee

Flying Economy from DUB to Newark this Sunday
Does anyone know if the AL A330s AVOD system has a slot for a USB stick with which i can watch my own TV shows, or am I stuck with their (admittedly not so bad) selection
Thanks in Advance!

Cloudio9

geecee wrote: »

Flying Economy from DUB to Newark this Sunday
Does anyone know if the AL A330s AVOD system has a slot for a USB stick with which i can watch my own TV shows, or am I stuck with their (admittedly not so bad) selection
Thanks in Advance!

No. USB for power only.

Bussywussy

kevinandrew wrote: »

The total seat number is expected to be 180, I believe there’s 174 or 176 on the 757 fleet so an increase of sorts for a like for like replacement as these are initially intended to be.

I also think these tend to be quite long term leases so the lessors future requirements shouldn’t really be of much consideration, unless Aer Lingus/IAG really had the wool pulled over their eyes. Air Transat have also leased their A321LR’s and have been able to choose the cabin they see fit. Not sure about TAP but I’d be surprised they’re weren’t leased as well.

Its 16/168 config

kevinandrew

Bussywussy wrote: »

Its 16/168 config

So 184 which is a fairly substantial increase over the 757 and a good bit more TAP Air Portugal’s A321LR which has 171 seats in total.

tnegun

Flew on GEY again what a bucket, feedback on the PA, IFE rebooting all over the place, no wifi, it came back on as we landed ??, sat in the row immediately behind business and the layout means when the cart is push through the curtain it hits your knees and no air vents overhead WTF!! two passengers on oxygen due to the heat on board awful aircraft.

Locker10a

tnegun wrote: »

Flew on GEY again what a bucket, feedback on the PA, IFE rebooting all over the place, no wifi, it came back on as we landed ??, sat in the row immediately behind business and the layout means when the cart is push through the curtain it hits your knees and no air vents overhead WTF!! two passengers on oxygen due to the heat on board awful aircraft.

Why not feed this back to EI via a voice of the guest survey or via a formal complaint on their website so these issues are formally logged

California Dreamer

Locker10a wrote: »

Why not feed this back to EI via a voice of the guest survey or via a formal complaint on their website so these issues are formally logged

You will be thanked for your feedback. It will be passed to the department in charge. Then NOSFG will be given....(not one single......)

kevinandrew

Qatar obviously treated the aircraft like a dog, it definitely made its money on the less glamorous routes on their network if you know what I mean. Most of Aer Lingus' own A332s are older than this aircraft but are in far superior condition cabin wise, just goes to show these middle eastern carriers may have the glitz and glamour of on board suites and lounges but their day to day upkeep is often shoddy. 

As for the problems listed, short of ripping the entire cabin out and starting again I doubt there's much more they can do, everything else will be quick fixes. I doubt the planned business class refit later this year will extend to anything else.

Tenger

kevinandrew wrote: »

So 184 which is a fairly substantial increase over the 757 and a good bit more TAP Air Portugal’s A321LR which has 171 seats in total.

TAP do have a 3 class config on theirs;
16/48/107

OPO-EWR on June 1st was the first TA flight for the A321LR

john boye

Tenger wrote: »

OPO-EWR on June 1st was the first TA flight for the A321LR

I think Air Transat beat them to it a couple of weeks before.

Van.Bosch

Not sure if mentioned but I see the A32LR is scheduled To do the 730 to LHR from 1st November.

Shamrockj

EI-GCF diverted to Calgary with a sick passenger on its way from SFO to DUB

tnegun

Locker10a wrote: »

Why not feed this back to EI via a voice of the guest survey or via a formal complaint on their website so these issues are formally logged

I did, email address for anyone else is guestservices@aerlingus.com. I got a response quickly to say they were looking into it, but I've complained to them re this aircraft before and not much has changed.