IrishFlyerUSA

Hello,
I'm doing some research and would value your opinion. If you have flown EI to or from Ireland 2014-present please comment on your experience.

You might wish to comment on

1) Ability to purchase tickets effectively
2) Ability to reach EI via phone and/or e-mail.
3) Experience at Check In at Airport, US and IE airports. Was your experience particularly memorable for a negative reason?
4) Boarding Process. Was EI efficient in the boarding process or was it a cattle cattle car rush?
5) Staff friendliness or surliness ! Feel free to comment and be as frank as you can be.
6) Attention to 'guests' AKA pax when flying particularly in Coach.
7) Food in Coach, was it edible or mystery food (note their current chicken wrap is made in UK with chicken sourced in Thailand !)?
8) Overall attitude, friendly or surly : helpful or indifferent?
9) Baggage, did they lose, damage, delay or deliver your bags?
10) Did anyone ever respond with a meaningful resolution to your reasonable and valid complaint?

Overall given a choice would you fly EI again or is it just too convenient to travel to Ireland from US Gateways.

Your candid replies are much appreciated.

Thank you

Le gach dea-ghui (Irish!)


IrishFlyerUSA
New York, NY

UAPremExecflyer

"Major research study"?
I don't believe a word of it.
You honestly expect people to answer a vague and desperately poorly-worded set of questions with no information on who it's for, who's funding it?
No reputable research person or organization would present itself in such a ham-fisted manner.

fly747first

What exactly are you trying to decide, a choice between Aer Lingus and a US carrier?

ricktoronto

Questions 4, 6, 7 sound like a frightened coach noob flying the first time.

The "Overall" question sounds like the answer is predetermined.

Darned weird all in all.

FlightDetective

To actually answer your questions, which no-one else seems to be able to do...

1) Ability to purchase tickets effectively

It is simple to purchase tickets via the Aer Lingus web site. The process is effective.

2) Ability to reach EI via phone and/or e-mail.

Telephoning EI is usually very good, without the huge wait times that I experience when calling QR in Doha or BA in London. It is much faster calling EI, every single time.

3) Experience at Check In at Airport, US and IE airports. Was your experience particularly memorable for a negative reason?

No, my check-in experiences on both sides of the Atlantic have always been friendly and efficient.

4) Boarding Process. Was EI efficient in the boarding process or was it a cattle cattle car rush?

I flew Business Class across the Atlantic and priority boarding is appropriately enforced. When flying short-haul I always buy a seat that gets me priority boarding and once again this is enforced. EI have a good boarding process - families with children, priority lane, then they board from back to front in a couple of batches. Works well.

5) Staff friendliness or surliness ! Feel free to comment and be as frank as you can be.

Cabin crew on Aer Lingus are always extremely friendly, nice and have a decent sense of humour. I find them to be very kind and accommodating. This is also the case when I observe them helping other passengers who may have crying babies or children in general or older people.

The airline rests on the care from its cabin crew and I can't remember a time I encountered a surly Aer Lingus crew member.

6) Attention to 'guests' AKA pax when flying particularly in Coach.

See above. The European network is all Economy Class so everyone is treated the same. Business Class vs Economy across the Atlantic features more one on one time with the crew due to the layout but there is not any difference in crew attitude from what I have seen. I have also flown EI in Economy TATL too.

7) Food in Coach, was it edible or mystery food (note their current chicken wrap is made in UK with chicken sourced in Thailand !)?

The food on short-haul is always tasty. I think the Irish breakfast, despite its unfortunate presentation in a box right now, is one of the most consistently tasty meals in the sky. I have also had the scones (a bit too dense for my liking) and some of the other bits over the years. You always know what it is and it has a decent taste.

8) Overall attitude, friendly or surly : helpful or indifferent?

Friendly, Helpful.

9) Baggage, did they lose, damage, delay or deliver your bags?

Never. In actual fact I find the baggage service in Dublin is quite speedy - you never really have to wait long for your bag.

10) Did anyone ever respond with a meaningful resolution to your reasonable and valid complaint?

I have never had a complaint with Aer Lingus.

Overall given a choice would you fly EI again or is it just too convenient to travel to Ireland from US Gateways.

I don't understand the latter half of the question. Yes, I would fly EI again and I would recommend it - their Transatlantic service is very good. I also fly BA across to the USA which I find to be better in some ways and worse in others. Overall they are similar enough.

Hope that helps!

tangey

I'd suggest there are numerous people here who could do it, but didn't feel inclined to response to a new poster, who hasn't followed-up in the intervening 2 weeks, asking a series of questons that looks either like homework or wanting to justify a personal gripe.