"Secret" service, free baggage allowance and a strategic advantage - in the Aer Lingus A320 from Dublin to Berlin

It's still the middle of the night when I hear the front door slam. Laughter and loud voices echo through the corridor, with the sounds of "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" playing in the background from a smartphone speaker. It's THE Irish week, celebrating what is probably Ireland's most famous holiday in the world: 'St. Patrick's Day".

When I stop at an Irish pub on the wild coast in the afternoon, the owner, who is in her fifties, is pouring several beers. "Where are you from, mate?" she asks in that charming Irish accent after I've ordered a coffee to go. Before I can answer her question, she replies: "It doesn't matter, you're here now, so you're one of us."

The former Irish railway station, which has been converted into a pub, in the small town in the east of the island with 1600 inhabitants is decorated from top to bottom in the national colors and with green shamrocks. Exactly that 3-leaf clover adorns the rudder of the Irish national carrier "Aer Lingus", which can look back on an impressive 85-year history. Ireland is nature, good food, world famous (mostly alcoholic) drinks and these wonderful, hospitable people.

Actually, Aer Lingus should have it pretty easy to fill its jets under these omens. That's the theory, in practice it looks a bit different. Dublin is not only the home port of "Shamrock", so the call sign of "EI", but also of Europe's largest low-cost airline "Ryanair".

Not only does the shared home port of Dublin connect the two airlines, but also their very own history. Ryanair tried three times in the past to take over Aer Lingus completely, but this failed three times, mainly due to the EU's competition watchdogs, who feared a dominant market position from/to Dublin if successful. In its own history, the airline with the shamrock often sought its own identity over the years and decades: who did you want to be; Low cost carrier(?) Full service carrier? – or something in between? After leaving OneWorld in April 2007, 8 years later, in 2015, came the surprising entry of IAG (British Airways / Iberia), which has been at the helm of the Irish airline for more than 7 years now. But where are you today? Time to pay the airline a visit in the present.

Arrival / Facts:

Dublin, the hub of Aer Lingus, offers an impressive selection of 2022 airlines and 44 destinations in the 180 summer flight schedule that has just started. According to the company, 208 flights per week are to North America alone, where the 17 destinations are: Boston, Calgary, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Halifax, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York JFK, Newark, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington are served. The majority of these destinations are (also) served by Aer Lingus with a mix of the 2 long-haul models, the new A321neo, of which 7 units are in the fleet, and the Airbus330-300, of which the airline currently has 9 machines. With the "EI-EIN" also about the world's last A330-300 built ex works and the serial number 1951, which joined the fleet in May 2020.

The backbone of the European fleet is made up of 30 machines, all A320Ceo, which with an average age of 16 years are not necessarily new. The last and thus "newest" A320, MSN4715, "EI-DVN" with the baptismal name "St. Caimin” joined the Aer Lingus fleet at the end of May 2011. Another A320 has been parked since the beginning of the corona pandemic in 2020, while the EI-FNJ returned to active scheduled service just over a week ago in time for the 2022 summer flight schedule after almost 2 years of downtime.

In addition, the new airline partner "Emerald Air" has been serving the domestic routes in Ireland, including to Shannon and Donegal, with four ATR4-72s under the brand "Aer Lingus Regional" for almost 600 weeks. This happened after the previous partner "Stobart Air" had to file for bankruptcy in June 2021 and some routes lay idle for several months. In the “DACH region”, Aer Lingus is flying to a total of 8 destinations this summer: Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Vienna, Geneva and Zurich.

Tariff system:

Aer Lingus relies on 4 different tariff modules for short-haul routes. The cheapest tariff bears the name "Saver". This includes the pure flight service and the option of checking in one piece of luggage weighing a maximum of 10 kilos free of charge. The 10 kilos should be taken very precisely. With a weight of 14 kilos on the scales, as in my case, the surcharge would otherwise have been €50. The seat can be reserved in advance for a fee, as everywhere (from row 2), during the online check-in there is otherwise the possibility to select your seat (from the Overwing to the back) free of charge, this is not automatically assigned.

In addition to 20 kilos of checked baggage, the next higher tariff “Plus” also offers priority boarding and a 10-kilo hand luggage case as well as seat reservation for standard seats from rows 7-29 (with the exception of the Overwing). My favorite and also the tariff I chose for the test flight was the "Advantage" tariff. This includes a free reservation of all rows of seats (except row 1) as well as lounge access in Dublin, Fast Lane use (only in Dublin incl.) and increased baggage allowance and, in my opinion, offers the best value for money for departures from Dublin.

With “AerSpace”, Aer Lingus has been trying a premium tariff for short and medium-haul routes since 2020, which in most cases is more than twice as expensive as the most expensive economy tariff. The included services include a seat in row 1 with a free middle seat and reserved luggage compartment, a free drink + a snack from the onboard range, an increased baggage allowance, lounge access, fast lane security and priority boarding. However, the demand was VERY limited on my two test flights, not to say it was a straight zero number, which doesn't surprise me personally. On the one hand, in my opinion, the sometimes considerable surcharge does not reflect the price/performance ratio at all, on the other hand, I am surprised that Aer Lingus will not take countermeasures in 2022 and, for example, upgrade offers in "AerSpace" will not be proactively announced before the flight via E -Mail etc. / marketed on board to generate some additional income.

Check-In / Boarding:

Both the check-in process on the Aer Lingus website and via the app worked extremely well on both flights. While there was a baggage drop-off counter marked "normal" at BER, Terminal 2, which uses Aer Lingus, is in the best low-coster manner. Both a large number of self-check-in kiosks and automated bag drop counters are available. In addition, there were a number of counters in Dublin specially marked as "Bag Drop USA" and manned by employees, only for USA travelers.

On the left in Terminal 2 is the Business Class area for long-haul flights, which status guests may also use. While the check-in was excellent, despite a very well-stocked terminal and plenty of departures in the morning, Dublin Airport's biggest problem at the moment was one floor up. The waiting time at the security check was already given on the filled security with about 80 minutes.

Since I had read about difficulties beforehand, I was glad that my ticket included Fast Lane Security. However, this can also be bought spontaneously on site and easily by credit card at a price of €12,99. This is highly recommended, especially at the moment, as the Irish media keeps reporting about passengers who have missed their flights. Boarding started ahead of time on both flights and started with priority boarding. After that, all passengers smell the scent on board without assigned boarding groups.

Seats / Entertainment / Wifi:

The cabin of both test flights EI332 and EI333 took place in an A10 that was more than 320 years old. While the carpeting actually looked spotless and clean, the cabins were showing their age. Here and there worked, the cabin repaired and patched, seat pocket and belts were sticky and should actually be replaced.

No entertainment of any kind, wifi or charging facilities are offered on board. The seats are older, thick, blue comfortable leather seats, which have an individually adjustable headrest. Only the seats in row 1 marked as "AerSpace" have a "head rest cover". A small standard A320 recline function is also available for all seats on board.

The flight / service:

In my eyes, probably the biggest disappointment. Despite a low occupancy rate of less than 50% on both test flights, the crew seemed experienced and polite, but very cautiously hospitable. Admittedly, I was a bit irritated by the service on board. On European flights, Aer Lingus sells snacks and drinks from the menu known as "Bia". This can be downloaded from the website and basically offers a nice selection for purchase.

Before my outward flight, however, I hadn't dealt with it in advance, like most passengers, I guess, and was then surprised that there was neither a menu card nor a QR code on the front seat (as is now the case with most Gang & Gebe) or a detailed one on board service announcement was made. After the start, the crew quickly moved from front to back and without any idea about the selection / prices or the like, the sales service was over after what felt like 90 seconds. For the remaining 1 hour 45 minutes, garbage was collected twice on both flights and that was it.

So for those who had not dealt with the selection and prices beforehand, the offer remained a secret for them, as it did for me on the outward journey. Even though I'm happy when there's no "sales show" on board, especially on flights in the off-peak hours, it was unusually little. The seat pockets are only provided with the security card and a sick bag, no reference to the service on board.

And finally ...

In my opinion, Aer Lingus falls far short of its potential. With the "US pre-clearance" in Dublin & Shannon, you have a strategic advantage that is marketed far too little as a USP. In addition to the time and bureaucracy savings for the passengers, this also means a number of advantages from the point of view of the airline, in this case Aer Lingus.

The American authority itself advertises the "airline benefits" with, among other things, the use of the cheaper inland/domestic gates at US airports and greater flexibility in arrival times thanks to more available slot windows. Especially in the markets served by Aer Lingus, which in any case require a transfer to reach the USA (in the Dach region I am thinking of BER*/DUS/HAM, for example) – *ignoring the recurring United connection from Berlin, the Switching, in this case Dublin, actually has two advantages.

In addition to the US clearance, Dublin is geographically “already on the way” – so you don’t have to fly in the “wrong” direction to a hub. In addition to the "hub factor" that has now been described in detail, Aer Lingus also has Ireland tourism, which should actually get the guests in the mood for the travel destination with typical Irish hospitality on board the national carrier.

Aer Lingus still has some catching up to do here. Having long considered itself a low-cost carrier, there is still little incentive to favor the airline with the shamrock when booking a direct point-to-point route where both Irish airlines serve it. 10-kilo baggage allowance in all fares is a first (good) approach, but overall the short- and medium-haul fleet needs a makeover / a few innovations.

Anyone lucky enough to be able to experience the new A321neo (e.g. on DUB-LHR or DUB-FCO) on short-haul routes will notice a difference like day and night compared to the standard A320. With the 321neo, Aer Lingus is showing THOSE modern features that are missing on the aged 320 fleet and would make a REAL difference and added value to the cheap competition. Aer Lingus is also currently oversleeping the “hide and seek” game of on-board service, income and the opportunity for attentive, friendly service, where the competition is in some cases considerably further. The "AerSpace" product is often very expensive and at prices around €350 I would not book this with the services currently offered, because in my opinion the ADDED value is not given. If "IAG" trusts the Irish subsidiary a little more overall, there is still a lot of potential at Aer Lingus - which hopefully will come to light in the future.