Aer Lingus Dublin to San Francisco Business Class Question

larry1

Good afternoon,

I will be flying business class to San Fran ex Dublin in May. Would you recommend Aer Lingus and if so what seat is best? Alternatively, is there a better business class option ex UK?

Cheers

jjbrien

British Airways or Virgin ex uk would be better than EI

HTCOne

jjbrien wrote: »

British Airways or Virgin ex uk would be better than EI

J class on BA is woeful compared to EI, or pretty much anyone else for that matter. Lounges are better than EI though.

Bussywussy

larry1 wrote: »

if so what seat is best?

3K or 5K Throne seat!!

goingnowhere

EI SFO is good, done it.

Direct flight, pre clearance, seamless experience in Dublin from check in through fast track, DAA 51st lounge is reasonable

EI business class offering is miles better than BA, better seat, most seats have direct isle access, every seat faces forward, free WiFi, the movie options are poor in compassion to BA (AF and KLM are the best)


EI will get you there at least 4 hours faster than any other option, and you will be waiting on a BART in SFO in 10 minutes from the front door of the plane opening if you have hand baggage only. Arrive by BA or Virgin it could be a long wait for CBP

jjbrien

I wasnt saying BA First Club World is quite good but I find Virgin Upper Class hard to beat with the onboard bar and the club houses.

LXFlyer

Bussywussy wrote: »

3K or 5K Throne seat!!

Amen to that!

Best business class seats by a mile!

Bussywussy

LXFlyer wrote: »

Amen to that!

Best business class seats by a mile!

i was travelling in 2K recently,the guys in 3K and 2H were travelling together, When I got back from Lav the crew asked me would i mind swapping with the guy in 3K..naturally not a second thought, I was thanked like it was an inconvenience :-)

goingnowhere

3K and 5K are probably the best business class seats anywhere, the amount of space is incredible

irlrobins

goingnowhere wrote: »

Direct flight, pre clearance, seamless experience in Dublin from check in through fast track, DAA 51st lounge is reasonable

EI business class offering is miles better than BA, better seat, most seats have direct isle access, every seat faces forward, free WiFi,

This is a big plus in my opinion. I think EI Seats beats most of the transatlantic options at present. Some of the offerings are looking very dated in comparison.

imtired999

goingnowhere wrote: »

3K and 5K are probably the best business class seats anywhere, the amount of space is incredible

The only downside is if you are tall and you recline the seat into the bed position, the footwell is very restrictive. I'm 6'2" with size 13 feet and I found it very uncomfortable.

goingnowhere

imtired999 wrote: »

The only downside is if you are tall and you recline the seat into the bed position, the footwell is very restrictive. I'm 6'2" with size 13 feet and I found it very uncomfortable.

Its a bit tight down there alright.

The EI setup for 3k and 5K are the best wide body biz seats going. The JetBlue mint seat are the exact same but they come with a door.

If EI could sort out the movie and tv selection, the AF/KLM offering is incredible in comparison in terms of choice.

The only thing with EI is consistency when you get a good crew it is amazing and is world class, BA is very much the same

Kev11491

jjbrien wrote: »

British Airways or Virgin ex uk would be better than EI

BA club world is awful, the seat is horrendous and the service can be hit or miss.

ongarboy

Naive question maybe but are the regular contributers on this forum and this particular thread very wealthy that airline seats costing 1000s do not put a dent on their wallets or are you all working in jobs with unlimited travel budgets? Just curious! I think I'd have to be a millionaire before I could justify paying 4 figure sums for a 6 or 7 hour flight!

California Dreamer

jjbrien wrote: »

I wasnt saying BA First Club World is quite good but I find Virgin Upper Class hard to beat with the onboard bar and the club houses.

The novelty of that bar wears off very quickly especially if you have a seat beside it!

Plus that herringbone seat is no good if you are over 6ft tall and having to get up to convert it into the bed. Give me EI any day especially when its direct.

California Dreamer

ongarboy wrote: »

Naive question maybe but are the regular contributers on this forum and this particular thread very wealthy that airline seats costing 1000s do not put a dent on their wallets or are you all working in jobs with unlimited travel budgets? Just curious! I think I'd have to be a millionaire before I could justify paying 4 figure sums for a 6 or 7 hour flight!

It is a combination of a few things. Firstly, you will have regular business flyers that do not pay for their own ticket. But it is not just the flight and this is what those on the outside only look at. Oh this flight costs xxxx. It is so much more than that.

The savvy traveller can generally get business class flights for sometimes 1.5 times the cost of an economy fare. Some use air miles. Some pay the 5-6k for a flight. I personally look at all the options with all airlines to get the best deal as mosts times I am travelling for leisure.

For me I get to the airport. At check in I never have to wait longer than 5 minutes as there is a dedicated check in area. So I am not in a line with 250 other travellers.

Then its fast track security and direct to the airline or airport lounge. When it comes time to board, much like check in I can walk straight on to the aircraft when I want.

The benefits of the flight everyone knows about. I sleep when I want, eat when I want, drink when I want.

At the destination I am off first, bags in hand and out the door when some are still waiting to pick up luggage. Not to mention that with business class you get a bigger allowance although I only do hand luggage most of the time.

Each to their own I suppose. I personally don't get why anyone would go and spend 200 on a night out to piss it against a wall or pay 100 a month for sky sports.

roundymac

My wife goes to JFK once a year, she books it in january for travel in sept, generaly works out one and half to twice what economy is.

goingnowhere

wLast trip DUB-SFO return for me, 997.00

Business in both directions, confirmed weeks before flying. No bid to upgrade.

There are a pile of tricks, good choice of travel dates, frequent flyer status etc which will get you a good deal.

Creamy Goodness

goingnowhere wrote: »

wLast trip DUB-SFO return for me, 997.00

Business in both directions, confirmed weeks before flying. No bid to upgrade.

There are a pile of tricks, good choice of travel dates, frequent flyer status etc which will get you a good deal.

That’s a deal of the century.

As many have said my business cabin travel is paid for by work. They want me to be able to head to work as soon as I get off the plane (not that I ever have to as I usually choose to travel the weekends).

I’d only ever paid for business myself if it was at max 1.5x an economy seat, it was a cheap upgrade, my honeymoon, partially funded by points and the flight time was over 5-6 hours.

duskyjoe

If your travelling from Ireland I can’t believe people would go to London for the extra comforts. AL business class with its pre immigration clearance and direct service is the only show in town. It may not hit the dizzy heights of others re first class option but it’s a damn good product. It leaves at a great time and gets you in to SFO mid pm. No brainer imo.

Daidy2011

Whatever about Virgin (which I would agree with) for me BA would not be an option - their business class has regressed so much - I particularly hate the seats that face towards the rear of the aircraft, very disconcerting.

GreeBo

www.seatguru.com

Cloudio9

ongarboy wrote: »

Naive question maybe but are the regular contributers on this forum and this particular thread very wealthy that airline seats costing 1000s do not put a dent on their wallets or are you all working in jobs with unlimited travel budgets? Just curious! I think I'd have to be a millionaire before I could justify paying 4 figure sums for a 6 or 7 hour flight!

My experience on aer lingus from 2-3 years ago. Very few using their own money. Typically profile would be working for the state or a bank or people using points to upgrade or people upgraded on the day..especially in summer. A fair few uk leisure passengers as I understand it’s a good use of avios.

If you fly transatlantic economy a lot and have high frequent flyer status you’ll end up in business a fair bit. In summer more often than not I’d be upgraded at check in. If I wasn’t I’d ask the lounge staff to cash in points for an upgrade. Sometimes they wouldn’t even deduct the points when I was elite. If above didn’t happen or I was out of points, the odd time I’d be upgraded at boarding. So I never gave up hope until I was boarded.

goingnowhere

That pretty much how I roll

You can get very good deals on cash upgrades (paid 369 on a 450 euro single to SFO can you can't turn that down...)

Carefully chosen dates of travel, the day of the week can make a big difference. I'd be on first name terms with many of the check in/lounge staff as I'm frequent EU traveller so when i do go TATL I do ok on upgrades and if I don't as is the case in winter season get a full row to myself in economy

ted1

jjbrien wrote: »

British Airways or Virgin ex uk would be better than EI

Are they using the 787s?

ted1

ongarboy wrote: »

Naive question maybe but are the regular contributers on this forum and this particular thread very wealthy that airline seats costing 1000s do not put a dent on their wallets or are you all working in jobs with unlimited travel budgets? Just curious! I think I'd have to be a millionaire before I could justify paying 4 figure sums for a 6 or 7 hour flight!

I fly business on the customers dime, premium economy and the companies dime and economy on my own but use frequent flyer points for upgrades

Riskymove

Bussywussy wrote: »

3K or 5K Throne seat!!

I prefer the term "Captain Kirk Seat"

goingnowhere

Its the best seat going, however you cannot select this online. You need to select via an agent, if you are frequent flyer there is never a problem if it is available