Ocn Vw 1K

Our Senior Moderator team has pruned several recent posts which have strayed considerably from the thread's topic, which is the Aer Lingus BHD base and not, e.g., the general effects of Brexit on the U.K. or Ireland. Thanks, Ocn Vw 1K, Senior Moderator.

ECR

On the BA app the BHD-LHR flights which are being 'wet-leased' for the EI flights say operated by Aer Lingus UK for Aer Lingus, and are to LHR Terminal 2.

I assume at some point we will see Aer Lingus planes back on this route, either by them putting a plane or two on a G-reg for Aer Lingus UK, or them being able to come to some agreement to continue to use EI-reg planes. If EI were just leaving the route to BA, I would have expected that there would just be an increase in BA flights and they would all operate to Terminal 5

ROKNA

And i thought NI was still in the EU and hence EI as a EU carrier etc...

The logistics and cost don't really make much sense to have a single A320 for BHD to LHR on a G reg, pilots have to have a CAA license etc it just gets super messy

If you want to solve this it would mean reopening the crew base at LHR and run almost all Ireland - LHR as EI UK, that wouldn't go down well...

AHC96

On the EI site, the flights show the speedmarque is showing rather than the shamrock next to the flight numbers and "Operated by British Airways for Aer Lingus UK".

Also the AerSpace fare is not for sale on the BA operated flights. I have a AerSpace BHD-LHR ticket for next month so reached out to EI and this is their response:
Quite interested in seeing if the BA operated flights will be closer to a BA service, or they will run them with a EI service.

noniron

Being reported on the BAEC page that it will be Aer Lingus service including row 1 Aer Space and BIA

AHC96

On aerlingus.com AerSpace was not showing as an option and they replied to people on social media that the wouldn't offer AerSpace on the BHD flights.

Saw the post on the BAEC page, went to check online and AerSpace is available again. They changed the pricing, so instead of starting at Ł95, prices start at Ł101.

Starting from Jan 4th, they are down to two flights a day rather than three. Some days they offer the midday and late afternoon flights, other days the morning and midday flights. Doesn't go back to three flights a day until February 1st.

stifle

It's in the EU for customs purposes but not others.

AirbusA350

For clarity -

AerSpace is available on the BA operated flights in row 1. Complimentary snack + drink available from Bia menu. The rest of the service will also mirror EI’s own service - ie. Bia menu for everyone else and duty-free too, time-permitting. So apart from being on a BA plane with BA crew, all announcements (apart from safety briefing) and product will be mirroring EI’s service. This also means no BAEC status benefits also and the same hand baggage rules apply as if it were an EI operated service.

DELLAS

Just to clarify there is no duty free on a UK Domestic flight .

AirbusA350

Whether it's duty-free or not, the "Boutique" service is being offered by crew for customers to purchase if they wish. But if we're going into taxation specifics, in theory Northern Ireland is de facto still inside the EU for trade purposes which therefore means a border of sorts between NI and rest of the UK which means somebody travelling between NI and non-EU countries (of which GB is). It is of course more complex than this, but it may explain the presence of the offering onboard.

Here are some links for further reading if one's interested:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-va...rthern-ireland

DELLAS

Being a regular on DUB-LHR-DUB I often see passengers booked on LHR - BHD at the duty free shops attempting to buy bottles of spirits and cigarettes and being refused. There is some misunderstanding by some and therefore its important to clarify that there is no duty free between GB - NI as it is a Domestic service.

AHC96

Mixed feelings about the BA service on the route on behalf of EI. Crew are much nicer, having the table in the middle seat is a nice touch. However, the crew didn't know what was on the menu, how to use the tablet/phone for orders, and were charging AerSpace customers for what should be complimentary drink and food.

Took the flight yesterday and was surprised to see it wasn't even half full. Usually when I fly, it tends to be almost sold out.

AirbusA350

This is likely down to the fact that all BA crew were given was a circa 10 page PDF to read through to familiarise themselves with essentially EI's entire product/offering and the POS machine. There was no formal training nor at least a video demo. As a result not many crew have bothered to go through this document, hence the varying inconsistencies one might experience. In terms of loads, I flew over the weekend and returned on Monday, both flights were at least 90% full.

Coming back to the topic of the BHD base itself, there are/were only approx 30 BHD cabin crew for EI, some have taken redundancy and left whilst the remainder are actually working at BHD airport itself, often meeting the BA crew at the jet bridge. Apparently EI were caught out by surprise with post-Brexit complexities and hence the relatively sudden wet-lease operation out to BA. EI's plan is apparently keep the BHD base if they can and operationalise them as a part of EI UK and have the BHD services as being operated by EI UK as opposed to EI mainline itself (which it used to be) from S23. Preparations do seem under way as technically BA is actually operating for EI UK which is then operating for EI!

djmp

Looks like EI is dismantling their wet lease for BHD services. EI flights all zeroed out for sale from Feb 27 onwards. Not sure if they are rebooking those with existing reservations.

djmp

And… EI BHD flights are now canceled and existing reservations also canceled. Didn’t see any rebooking effort.