Whilst talk of Aer Lingus demise is a little premature, it is in financial difficulties. According to the BBC they are losing GBP2 million a day.

I very much doubt that the Irish government would let them collapse - but we rather thought that about Swissair and Sabena. Ryanair has snapped Aer Lingus hard in many markets particularly between Ireland and the UK.

I strongly suspect that you will have little difficulty with Aer Lingus - strikes apart.

As for the re-routing via Ryaniar, I fear that the Notre Dame agency probably had little choice unless they routed them via another hub like Paris or Amsterdam. Most flights into the UK were absolutely solid months ago due to the extra long holiday which ended on Tuesday. BD were full before this happened and Ryanair ran 12 extra flights showing a flexibility that has provoked a good deal of comment here.