Up front disclosure - I haven’t flown EI in about 15 years. I used to fly them a lot when I lived in Dublin, and while they were in oneworld. Obviously a lot has changed since then. Over those 15 or so years, I have visited Ireland at least twice each year, almost always flying on American, or on BA via LHR. I was hoping the EI experience would surpass either or both of those airlines, but I didn’t find that to be the case. The experience was on a par with BA, at best, and somewhat worse than the experience on AA.

My main observations:

Pre-Flight
- The app is just terrible. Can’t switch seats, minimal information about the flight, airport, inflight experience. Requiring Verifly is totally unnecessary at this stage of the (former?) pandemic. It adds unnecessary complexity. I had to make several attempts to get the EI app to acknowledge that I’d completed the Verifly process.
- The Business Class check-in at DUB was understaffed and the queue was past the partitions that separate the biz check-in from the other lines. I gave up and went to a self-check machine.
- On the plus side, there was a cute set-up for the Irish Oscar nominees. Red carpet, “movie theatre” sign, stanchions, etc. A nice touch and a bit of fun!

Lounge
- The 51st & Green lounge was underwhelming. Busy, limited food selection, small and inadequate bathroom facilities. The barista was super nice, and very competent, but for whatever reason, the lounge only had sugar-free syrup, so the vanilla latte I ordered was nasty.
- Why, oh why, are there no US power outlets? I get that there are USB ports, but they are the old style USBs, rather than the newer USB C outlets. I couldn’t charge my phone.

Onboard
- I was seated in the bulkhead row, left-hand window seat, 2A
- The flight departure was delayed about 30 minutes due to a paperwork issue. That, plus the overhead panel above my seat was open, revealing the oxygen generator associated with the emergency masks. They had to call maintenance, who showed up quickly, brandishing what looked like a pizza cutting roller blade. They fixed it quickly.
- Even with the delay, no pre-departure beverages were offered. The crew just stood in the galley, yucking it up. That annoyed me. It isn’t that much to ask to offer a bevvy to, what, 14 people?
- The amenity kit is grim. More like a premium economy kit, as opposed to business class.
- The storage at this seat is bloody awful. There’s no room for anything within arms’ reach of the actual seat. The storage compartment under the footwell is fine for a pair of shoes, but not much else (nor is it obvious to a ‘newbie” that there’s even a storage compartment down there). Forget having your laptop bag near you during flight.
- The lack of direct aisle access is an obvious negative for this seat and the J cabin on the A321 in general, so I won’t beat that dead horse.
- I was surprised that there was no “welcome on board”, no hot towel service, and that the menus were just bunged into the literature pouches. (Yes, I know, but it’s the little things….)
- The first drinks service was fine - two Geese and the cookies with jam went down nicely.
- I ordered the beef for my main. It looked awful, once delivered, but tasted better than appearances suggested it would. Overall, the portions were modest, and the service was indifferent.
- Having knocked back the two minis of Gray Goose, I wasn’t offered any wine or water (or anything else) with my meal. I ended up breaking into the bottle of Ballygowan that was at the seat before I boarded. Really poor show.
- After the meal, the crew disappeared for the next several hours. The only sign of their presence was the occasional laughter from the galley area. A dirty napkin (not mine) was left on the bulkhead for hours on end. The lights were not dimmed.
- I didn’t use the IFE, preferring to watch stuff on my iPad. Can’t comment on the headphones. The selection of programming looked limited, and there was nothing i wanted to watch.
- The inflight map was the only thing I called up on the screen. It was annoying that it disappeared after several minutes without some form of interaction.
- The second meal was a joke. Apart from the graceless ask “Do you want the afternoon tea”, the meal itself was meagre. Chicken slider? Give me a break. It was like a single, small chicken nugget on a mini burger bun. Absolutely laughable. Only tea or coffee were offered with this meal. The pastries were good, but the overall impression of the meals was just disappointing, at very best.
- The seat comfort was middling, at best. It’s quite hard and there’s nothing to remedy that. The massage function on my seat didn’t work. I found the position of the controls to be sub-optimal for use, especially when trying to get it in or out of the lie-flat mode.

Don’t get me wrong - I wanted to really like the EI experience. I was excited to see them come to Cleveland (about 90 minutes’ drive from me) later this year. I have very fond childhood memories of the 747 service to Tenerife, Boston and NY. As I mentioned at the start of the review, it’s been a minute since I flew EI. The intervening years haven’t been good to their J service. Bring back the pre-dinner canapés, the Waterford crystal and the Blarney woollen mills blankets