tai4de2

Flying Aer Lingus for the first time, Seattle to LHR round trip (via Dublin, of course), in business class.

Booked the day before flying, and round-trip price was about half the cost of Delta, Virgin Atlantic, or BA (all of whom have a full-fare price of around $11K), and cheaper than Iceland Air too.

Flight departs Seattle from the A concourse. Lounge is The Club, which is your basic garden variety port-run lounge. Nothing special but better than waiting in the concourse. Aer Lingus uses T2 at LHR.

Flights have all been on time. Trans-Atlantic business class was comfortable. The seats are arranged such that the foot well is deep -- and straight, so no issues with one foot bumping up against the sides for the whole ride. However for people taller than 6' or so, it's difficult or impossible to recline with knees up. 3K and 5K are the best seats. The right side of biz class is arranged with alternating rows of one seat and two seats, so the one-seat rows have some extra surrounding cabinetry vs. the seats on the left of the plane (where all rows are one seat).

DUB-LHR is all economy but with some of the extra perks associated with a biz class ticket -- lounge access at DUB and LHR, access to premium seats for no extra charge, and priority boarding. Two things that are NOT included are fast-track security at LHR, or any kind of food on-board. Kinda ridiculous that after spending several thousand dollars on a ticket, a bottle of water would have cost 2 Euros, but I suppose I can understand the logistical challenges with trying to provide food without extra charges to only certain passengers (then again, that's precisely what I experienced on JetStar from NZ to Gold Coast, so it can be done).

For the DUB-SEA segment, the 51st & Green lounge after US Preclearance is available to biz class passengers.

DELLAS

Fast Track and some sort of voucher to hand to crew onboard should be provided by EI for J passengers. It is a weak point in the product for those connecting on Euro flights.

ROKNA

You should have fast track at Heathrow T2 if through ticketed to business class.

EI was half the price of the competition, has the best seat, free WiFi, US pre clearance and avoids the need to hike around the shuttle train in Seattle and spared the nightmare of immigration at LHR

There is a plan to introduce full business class on select short haul routes, with the same seat as used transatlantic, 2019/2020

ASHFlyer

Are you saying there are plans to introduce the same business class seats on short-haul that they use on long-haul? I highly doubt this (albeit one can dream). I do want to see a short-haul business brought it, not for the perks but rather the extra tier credits (without paying flexi fees)!!!

mccartje

Will this be using the new A321neo s on the way? I know they are earmarked for some US east coast use so assuming they will have full business class seating. But I guess they can put them on short haul routing also. Or is it that they will do the BA CE system for 'business' using old aircraft?

ASHFlyer

Aer Lingus is acquiring A321LR aircrafts, LR standing for Long-Range. They will have Business class and Economy seats, similar to the A321s used by BA (ex-BMI) for mid-haul flights like Beirut.

DELLAS

In the good old days when I was on BMI I used to get those on DUB- LHR.

Just for clarification EI will be using midhaul configs on select flights on its Euro network just to best use these aircraft when not on longhaul routes. You may only see them 3 x a day on LHR for instance so it will not be a dedicated J Class cabin on every flight. If you are lucky to be on the ones that do get operated by these aircraft well and good but it will not be a roll out of J and will be luck of the draw.

tai4de2

Maybe should have, but definitely didn't. I tried it and was rebuffed.
My ticket J (between DUB-LHR) and D (between SEA-DUB).

energydj

I would say the weak point is coming off J on an A330 and getting bussed out to your awaiting ATR!!