Airline/Airport/Travel questions and queries

pilly

NORWOOD1 wrote: »

Oh ya, slept for 7 hours very comfortable. Food was surprisingly poor, but beside that it was well worth the extra money

Lovely, I found Aer Lingus Business Class food nothing special either, barely edible that's all.

ChewBerecca

Locker10a wrote: »

It's a standard airline meal offered with complementary soft drinks. Last time we had the upgraded meal it was very nice and worth it in my opinion. But Boston is a short flight so it's up to you

Considering paying for it alright. Been caught out with long haul flights before when there is only one free option left when they come around and it's not appealing in the slightest.

Finding it strange they don't release the options in the run up to the departure date. Flown with Emirates the last few long haul flights and I think I've gotten used to knowing exactly what is on the menu before I even start packing.

Locker10a

ChewBerecca wrote: »

Locker10a wrote: »

It's a standard airline meal offered with complementary soft drinks. Last time we had the upgraded meal it was very nice and worth it in my opinion. But Boston is a short flight so it's up to you

Considering paying for it alright. Been caught out with long haul flights before when there is only one free option left when they come around and it's not appealing in the slightest.

Finding it strange they don't release the options in the run up to the departure date. Flown with Emirates the last few long haul flights and I think I've gotten used to knowing exactly what is on the menu before I even start packing.

I'm pretty sure the preordering food is a set menu of which details can be found online. I recall there being 3 options, Beef, Salmon or Chicken ? And you book which one you want. This information should be available now

ChewBerecca

Locker10a wrote: »

I'm pretty sure the preordering food is a set menu of which details can be found online. I recall there being 3 options, Beef, Salmon or Chicken ? And you book which one you want. This information should be available now

Spotted that, meant the complimentary meal options. Emirates and a few others tell you what will be served on the flight even in economy.

Just curious if Aer Lingus did the same because it would mean I'd know if I can get away with the free meal or should just pay the 25 euro in advance.

Uncle_moe

don't think they tell you the free meal options in advance, certainly didn't last time I flew long haul with them.
Word of warning with pre-order, they bring your meal way in advance of everyone else's which is a little annoying if you're only 40 mins into a 10 hour journey and haven't even had a drink yet. I like the meal service mainly to break up the journey more than anything else.

Locker10a

ChewBerecca wrote: »

Locker10a wrote: »

I'm pretty sure the preordering food is a set menu of which details can be found online. I recall there being 3 options, Beef, Salmon or Chicken ? And you book which one you want. This information should be available now

Spotted that, meant the complimentary meal options. Emirates and a few others tell you what will be served on the flight even in economy.

Just curious if Aer Lingus did the same because it would mean I'd know if I can get away with the free meal or should just pay the 25 euro in advance.

I'm not aware of any preselection of free meals, I'd doubt the crew even know what the meals are untill they're putting them into the over!!! If you're worried about what you might get then maybe just go to Pret or something before boarding and get a sandwich, at least you won't go hungry, and you'll have a choice!

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Locker10a

Fred Swanson wrote: »

Which kinda defeats the idea of in flight catering.

A meal is provided for free, if you are fussy about food, which I can be, then the sometimes it's best to sort yourself out. The other options are, attempt a meal you may not enjoy or go hungry.

January

Locker10a wrote: »

I'm not aware of any preselection of free meals, I'd doubt the crew even know what the meals are untill they're putting them into the over!!! If you're worried about what you might get then maybe just go to Pret or something before boarding and get a sandwich, at least you won't go hungry, and you'll have a choice!

There's a pret in Dublin airport?

Locker10a

January wrote: »

Locker10a wrote: »

I'm not aware of any preselection of free meals, I'd doubt the crew even know what the meals are untill they're putting them into the over!!! If you're worried about what you might get then maybe just go to Pret or something before boarding and get a sandwich, at least you won't go hungry, and you'll have a choice!

There's a pret in Dublin airport?

Sorry, I can't remember which food outlets are in which airports. But I know Pret is probably my personal favourite.  But the point still stands.

cobham

I struggle to find anything to buy on airline having to stick to glutenfree diet so am in habit of getting a 'meal deal' salad from the Boots in Terminal 1 or the great new place for salad stuff called 'Chopped'.

Tenger

cobham wrote: »

I struggle to find anything to buy on airline having to stick to glutenfree diet so am in habit of getting a 'meal deal' salad from the Boots in Terminal 1 or the great new place for salad stuff called 'Chopped'.

Most airlines allow you to preorder gluten free meals. Why not look into that?

Locker10a

Tenger wrote: »

cobham wrote: »

I struggle to find anything to buy on airline having to stick to glutenfree diet so am in habit of getting a 'meal deal' salad from the Boots in Terminal 1 or the great new place for salad stuff called 'Chopped'.

Most airlines allow you to preorder gluten free meals. Why not look into that?

I think he may have been referring to airlines buy on board menus, which with most airlines you can't preorder for

LXFlyer

Tenger wrote: »

Most airlines allow you to preorder gluten free meals. Why not look into that?

I think that poster is probably discussing short haul not long haul!

I did think however that Aer Lingus had introduced gluten free options to the bia short haul menu.

January

They've a gluten free snack pack which is a pretty piss poor offering to be fair.

Tenger

Locker10a wrote: »

I think he may have been referring to airlines buy on board menus, which with most airlines you can't preorder for

lxflyer wrote: »

I think that poster is probably discussing short haul not long haul!

I did think however that Aer Lingus had introduced gluten free options to the bia short haul menu.

Ah right so!

cobham

I am frequent flyer to UK with Ryanair. I usually try and eat en route as maybe two hour leg on UK side post flight. I go into Bristol airport and am now happy to see a new Marks and Spencers food outlet landside with decent selection of gluten free items from paninis to sandwiches.

I have done 4 hr to Canaries with Aer Lingus and do not think much of the Bia range. As for gluten free items, there used to be a mini pot of olives but yes some small overpriced collection of gluten free mini bits was there on last trip. Not what I would consider a meal.

On only long haul flight in recent years, I have ordered the gluten free meal option but was utterly unimpressed.(Etihad). It seemed to be a generic 'vegetarian, dairy free, egg free' concoction with fresh fruit as dessert. It was always served ahead of others on flight. I only had one decent experience which was Virgin out of Sydney when they had forgotten to mark my ticket with meal option. But the day was saved by a beautiful freshly prepared meal specially for me... no doubt the first class chef came to the rescue!:)

joeysoap

Aer Lingus might still call it Bia but don't think Clodagh McKenna any more. At least didn't notice her name on recent flight. Do AL employ anybody to clean aircraft between flights anymore?

Nibs05

joeysoap wrote: »

Aer Lingus might still call it Bia but don't think Clodagh McKenna any more. At least didn't notice her name on recent flight. Do AL employ anybody to clean aircraft between flights anymore?

Yes AL still clean in-between flights, although it's now up to the crew to collect any rubbish and the cleaning staff simply take the bulk rubbish off and restock.

Locker10a

joeysoap wrote: »

Aer Lingus might still call it Bia but don't think Clodagh McKenna any more. At least didn't notice her name on recent flight. Do AL employ anybody to clean aircraft between flights anymore?

My understand is they are cleaned on every second flight to speed up turnarounds. So DUB-LHR-DUB-LHR-DUB, the turnarounds at LHR are pretty much, last pax off, next lot on and GO! Where turnarounds in DUB would include cleaning and relevant recatering.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

joeysoap

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

one of their big plays is " Ireland's only 4 star airline"

Locker10a

joeysoap wrote: »

Fred Swanson wrote: »

Most of the low cost airlines are the same. They are not cleaned when away from their base.

one of their big plays is " Ireland's only 4 star airline"

Unfortunatly service alone doesnt cut it in this industry. It's all about cost, efficiency and operational proficiency. So you can't blame EI for adapting to the current reality of aviation, it's why they're still here, and why they've been so successful over the past number of years.

killbillvol2

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Air Asia pretty much do an inspection to make sure you've cleaned up after yourself

Locker10a

killbillvol2 wrote: »

Fred Swanson wrote: »

Most of the low cost airlines are the same. They are not cleaned when away from their base.

Air Asia pretty much do an inspection to make sure you've cleaned up after yourself

I wouldn't be adverse to fining people who leave their rows in a disgraceful state and same for those who damage their seats/tray tables

joeysoap

Locker10a wrote: »

I wouldn't be adverse to fining people who leave their rows in a disgraceful state and same for those who damage their seats/tray tables

And neither would most people, especially spilled crisps all over seats. I noticed that RY do three 'sweeps' of the plane collecting 'rubbish', first one gets a lot but some, me included are slow to finish tea/coffee etc and while they get the food wrappers they often don't get the drinks containers and never the daily newspaper. They do a second sweep after that also with a cart. But it's after the pilot has announced they will be landing in xx mins and the crew announce that the toilets are no longer in use they do a third sweep. One collects the (useless) magazines back and one follows with a sack and this time they get newspapers and a lot of the last rubbish.

Dirty trays are very offputting, but personally I don't think crew should have to clean them, maybe just collect obvious empties etc.

Locker10a

joeysoap wrote: »

Locker10a wrote: »

I wouldn't be adverse to fining people who leave their rows in a disgraceful state and same for those who damage their seats/tray tables

And neither would most people, especially spilled crisps all over seats. I noticed that RY do three 'sweeps' of the plane collecting 'rubbish', first one gets a lot but some, me included are slow to finish tea/coffee etc and while they get the food wrappers they often don't get the drinks containers and never the daily newspaper. They do a second sweep after that also with a cart. But it's after the pilot has announced they will be landing in xx mins and the crew announce that the toilets are no longer in use they do a third sweep. One collects the (useless) magazines back and one follows with a sack and this time they get newspapers and a lot of the last rubbish.

Dirty trays are very offputting, but personally I don't think crew should have to clean them, maybe just collect obvious empties etc.

The beauty of Ryanair seats is they removed seat pockets for this very reason. People put their crap into the seat pockets, without a seat pocket there's nowhere else to put stuff other than pass it to the crew when they are clearing in. This was a key conponent to Ryanair's 25min turnaround and not cleaning the cabin every time. It also meant people weren't leaving lost property behind in the seat pocket, crew could easily go through the cabin in a minute or two, see there was no belongings etc left behind and then give the thumbs up for immediate boarding for the next flight. Quick and simple.

Tenger

While in the past the lack of seat pockets were cried about (I would have been one to do so, I miss somewhere to put my book, its a kindle nowadays) it was a masterstroke.

In the same way, having no recline reduces seat weight/complexity/cost and need for upkeep.

Locker10a

Tenger wrote: »

While in the past the lack of seat pockets were cried about (I would have been one to do so, I miss somewhere to put my book, its a kindle nowadays) it was a masterstroke.

In the same way, having no recline reduces seat weight/complexity/cost and need for upkeep.

While there are many things with Ryanair I don't agree with their cabin design was ingenious. Simple sturdy seats, no recline as you mentioned, no seat pockets, no requirement to constantly replenish safety cards and other literature, and life jackets safely Stowed in the PSU, avoiding damage and theft as well as speeding up the crews preflight and security inspections.

the_rourkster

Hi there,

Hope I'm posting in the right spot - I'm flying into Madrid T1 to connect to my next flight in T4s with 2hr 35min between flights.

Would you say this is enough time to travel between terminals, keeping in mind that I'll have to grab my bags from the carousel from the first flight, go through passport control, then check-in again and go through security. (aggh!) The two flights are not linked and were purchased separately. The second flight is a long haul flight with Iberia and check-in closes one hour before departure.

Any help appreciated as I can still change the first flight to the night before if it seems like it is a little too tight on time!

Thanks all!