Review of Aer Lingus flight from London to Dublin in Economy

Introduction

Hi all and welcome to what is now the third part of this UK series.

After a night at London Heathrow staying at the Thistle London Heathrow Terminal 5 hotel we are heading off to Dublin for a few days. For any aircraft photographers out there I highly recommend the bar at the Thistle since it is very close to the runway with excellent views of the tarmac and Terminals 3 & 5. Unfortunately we were unable to enjoy these views for long as we needed to get to the airport. 

There were a number of options to get to Dublin, the cheapest being Ryanair, however that would've required us to get to London Stansted which neither of us felt like. In the end it was between Aer Lingus and British Airways, with EI ultimately being the better option due to the cheaper flexible fares. I did not realise until after we had booked that had we spent an extra $40 AUD to get the next fare up it would've given us lounge access as well, so unfortunately no lounge review for this report.

A quick reminder of the routing….

Transport & Check-In

Coming from the Thistle which is located roughly a 5 min drive away from Terminal 5 or 5-10 min drive from Terminals 2 & 3 depending on traffic we had a few options to get to Terminal 2 where we were departing from. Looking on the Uber app which was by far the quickest option prices were starting at 50 GBP for a 5 minute ride! I don't know if this is normal in the UK but for Australia this is incredibly expensive. The equivalent in Australia for the same time ride would be roughly 5 GBP.

As a result we opted for the longer option which would only cost us 16 GBP but take about 30-40 mins. The Thistle Hotel is located right next to the Heathrow Pod carpark which gave us access to the Heathrow Pods straight to Terminal 5. These cost 8 GBP per person one way…still expensive for the journey time but more than half the price of an Uber. 

Despite this, the little Heathrow Pods were excellent and vey fun to catch. It's a completely automated system that carries up to 4 passengers plus luggage straight to the Terminal 5 carpark which is located right next to the terminal itself and right above the Heathrow Express. They also provided excellent views of the runway as we were travelling. 

Once arriving at Terminal 5 we caught the Heathrow Express which is free when transferring between terminals. This was also well signposted and very easy to catch. The train was very comfortable and took us directly to Terminal 3.

Once off the train we had about a 1km walk to get to the departures hall for Terminal 2. 

Despite the lengthy travel time from hotel to check-in it was very clearly signed the whole way and efficient as well. Although for anyone who struggles walking long distances it was not designed very well and I saw little assistance in this regard except for the travellators…which of course had some that were not working.

Once we were at check-in things went very smoothly. We were unable to check-in online…I am unsure why, so we had to check-in at the airport. Aer Lingus does not offer automated check-in however, there was no queue so this was not an issue. 

Security was also a breeze, there was only a 5 minute wait maybe which I was surprised about as many people I've spoken to say LHR security can be a disaster.

Terminal 2

We were finally welcomed to the sight of the terminal, which looked very open and spacious. With excellent views of the tarmac…an Avgeeks dream!

We timed it well with the Qantas A380 being towed past the windows…

Having already eaten at the hotel neither of us were that hungry so we perused the duty free for a bit before settling down at the windows. Terminal 2 has a good selection of shops and cafes so if you do have a longer layover here you would have plenty to entertain you. There was also plenty of spare seating around.

We sat down right in front of an Air Baltic A220 and Egypt Air A320. 

As an ex-ground handler I always enjoy the wider tarmac views which allows me to watch the ground handling operations. Always fascinating how different countries operate their airports.

Air Canada B777-300 being pushed with a Virgin Atlantic A350 landing in the background.

Our flight was delayed by about 20 minutes and changed gates with no announcement which caused a bit of confusion amongst some passengers. As the original gate simply had a message saying 'flight closed' with an Aer Lingus aircraft sitting at the bridge. I will admit this initially caused a minute of panic within me before noticing the aircraft was an A320 not an A321 NEO which we were flying on. Our gate change was 2 gates down from us so not far to walk.

The Flight EI155

Our flight today was operated by EI-LRH a 4 year old A321 NEO.

The aircraft is fitted with 2 classes, 16 lie-flat business class seats and 168 Collins Aerospace Meridian seats arranged in a 3-3 configuration.

There are 3 bathrooms for 168 passengers making it 56 passengers per bathroom.

The A321 Neo's are used by Aer Lingus for their transatlantic routes and this aircraft had just finished its New York - Dublin - London leg and was now on its way back to New York.

Boarding commenced not long after and before long we were getting on our aircraft. 

A fuselage shot…

A noticed an immediate difference between the cabin crew on SQ compared to EI. While SQ cabin crew greeted you very warmly and friendly, the cabin crew on EI barely acknowledged anyone getting on the flight. 

The other thing I noticed as soon as I sat down was the state of the seats. This aircraft is only 4 years old and yet it felt like the cushioning on the seats had already completely disappeared. It had clearly been well cushioned at one stage but now I could feel the metal on the underneath. I believe that the aircraft interior has just not held up well with the long haul flights it has been completing.

Other than this the seat was fine. Each seat contained a personal entertainment system which were not turned on until after take-off. They also contained USB chargers and had sufficient legroom for a short haul flight. Though again on a long haul it would be rather cramped. 

Boarding went rather quickly and before long we pushed back, with a Swiss A220 next to us, and were taxiing to the runway. Which offered some good view of the aircraft on ground. 

British Airways A321 landing.

Etihad A380 in queue to take-off.

We weren't in queue for long and we shortly took off…

Unfortunately the entire trip we were flying over thick cloud so there was little to see outside.

I instead entertained myself with the flight map.

Aer Lingus does not offer anything complimentary on board and instead offer a BOB menu called 'Bia.' The prices seemed rather expensive and I did not see many people purchase anything due to the short duration of the flight. 

The flight went by quickly and before long we were on approach to Dublin Airport flying over the green fields of Ireland. This is a vastly different view from what I am used to in Australia in which most of the scenery is dry bushland. So the green was very refreshing.

We had a quick taxi to the gate and we were shortly exiting the aircraft.

I finally got a good view of the aircraft that brought us from LHR today.

And our neighbour…an American Airlines B777.

We headed off on our hike to the baggage carousel after what was an efficient and rather non-eventful trip.

Thanks for reading!

A quick look at the route we took today….