Ireland Travel Question (1 Viewer)

[Beef Ravioli Part 2]

Need to go to Ireland in October for work but can bring my wife and do some touristy things. Not traveled a whole lot of international. I was looking at a couple of airline tickets and came across a decent deal (price and travel times) with Aer Lingus and United. Both are direct flights and fit our timeline and budget.

I’ve heard of Aer Lingus but know nothing of them and look them up and they got less than stellar reviews.

Any FBGers have an opinion on Aer Lingus? Especially in comparison to United?

 

[titusbramble]

Flew Aer Lingus to Chicago and from SF on my last trip to the US. No issues, flew economy and am assuming if you were looking at business class or higher you would mention that. Never flown United to compare but I don't have a great opinion of legacy American carriers so I find it hard to think United would be significantly better, if at all

 

[Beef Ravioli Part 2]

Flew Aer Lingus to Chicago and from SF on my last trip to the US. No issues, flew economy and am assuming if you were looking at business class or higher you would mention that. Never flown United to compare but I don't have a great opinion of legacy American carriers so I find it hard to think United would be significantly better, if at all

Actually we are looking at business class.

Thanks!

 

[titusbramble]

Flew Aer Lingus to Chicago and from SF on my last trip to the US. No issues, flew economy and am assuming if you were looking at business class or higher you would mention that. Never flown United to compare but I don't have a great opinion of legacy American carriers so I find it hard to think United would be significantly better, if at all

Actually we are looking at business class.

Thanks!

No problem, just wanted to make sure that we're looking at comparable things, in my experience the soft product was fine and the hard product (that they put their 330s in 2-4-2 config and not 3-3-3) was enough to make me think just go with them. That, and they had an easy connection to my final destination on the way back (quick hop to Manchester but flew out of Dublin on the way there after taking a boat, preclearance is a deal breaker). I think a bunch of my conceptions would apply to higher value seats but idk. There's a bunch of people that literally make a living reviewing this kind of thing so would honestly recommend spending an hour or so on Youtube to get some opinions from people with a greater level of experience than me, but from where I'm sitting, I'd say take AL - heck, you may never fly them again, but you may well have taken United hundreds of times already

 

[Ron Swanson]

I flew Aer Lingus to Dublin 3-4 years ago and it was a good experience. As a matter of fact, I think it was a codeshare with United.

 

[Rustoleum]

I would jump at the opportunity to work “lingus” into every conversation for the next three months.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

Flown it each time I've been to Ireland. No issues.

Take your family to the west coast.

 

[Krampuss]

Sure thing! I've had a few flights with Aer Lingus, and overall, they've been pretty solid. Service was decent, and the flights were smooth. Now, regarding United, they're a reliable choice, too. It really comes down to personal preference.

 

[TennesseeJed]

I would jump at the opportunity to work “lingus” into every conversation for the next three months.

How cunning of you.

 

[Mr. Mojo]

We used Aer Lingus to get to Ireland for our bus tour last September.
I liked the 2-4-2 layout which was the arrangement for many of the rows.
Overall seemed about average.
I remember that the beef stew (outgoing flight) was very good and the veggie dish (returning flight) was awful.

 

[Beef Ravioli Part 2]

Since this thread got bumped for some reason, we ended flying on Aer Lingus. Trip over was not the best but on the way back, it was great. On the way over we ended up in the front row before their first class. I thought I would like it for extra leg room. That was the only row in the plane with a kind of hard plastic seat that did not recline. It wasn’t comfortable at all. They had very little in plane entertainment to choose from. It was an overnight flight and we had a baby behind us that was not enjoying the trip. It was a long flight! On the way home, it was a smaller plane. Great seats and great entertainment options. It was a pleasant flight.

Time in Ireland was amazing. Whoever mentioned the west coast, we did go and loved it.

The one thing that surprised me was how good the food was! I had been to Scotland 15 years ago and thought that the food was very below average (accept for the fish and chips). For whatever reason I assumed that Irish food would be about the same. I was completely wrong. Loved the food!

 

[The Z Machine]

I flew on them once like 15 years ago and was in a 2-4-2 layout. Sat next to a retired priest that had his parish in San Francisco during the AIDS epidemic. He was really sincere and genuine in his concern for the gay community. It was cool talking to him.