WhoME

Slightly OT, but how many transatlantic flights do you think SNN would have if the 50/50 (or 75/25 or whatever) split with DUB were not required? It was my impression that BOS-SNN is not a route that AA would have chosen for itself but was simply the best US-SNN flight available to allow ORD-DUB. Am I wrong?

Michael

burkey

AA has already asked the DOT for route authority to COR on 3/14/06; and to codeshare with LAN on SCL-COR and SCL three other cities in Argentina...

oiRRio

All good news (for me anyway). More AAward and earning options. ^

I agree, mainly comments here on forthcoming schedule changes but IMO credible. Maybe I’m biased as many of his posts reveal additional routes to/from Brasil/Ireland.

bbkenney

SNN the middle of nowhere? This is going to shock the folks headed to play golf or sightsee at Ballybunion, Killarney, Lahinch, Cliffs of Moher, Galway, Limerick, Claire, the entire west coast and too many other places to list here.

You should remember that the other part of that re-fueling equation was Gander, Newfoundland, which didn't exactly catch on as an O/D airport because it was, well....in the middle of nowhere.

gcsmith

How early do you need to get to the Shannon airport to clear security and customs to catch the SNN-BOS flight?

tom911

The last dozen years, mostly as a UA flyer, I would always fly into Heathrow and connect over to Dublin on BD. I really enjoyed flying into Shannon this last October, and will most certainly use that gateway for travel again in the west of Ireland.

Photos of Galway
Photos of Cliffs of Moher

and my favorite place, Doolin

tom911

AA recommends two hours.

JohnnyUMF

From what I recall there isnt any elite line either and certainly no fast track through security.

TrishBOS

For what it's worth, most Irish Americans in BOS area are from the West Coast of Ireland - for whatever reason, I am not sure, but it seems that's how the migration patterns have been. Galway, Donegal, Kerry, Sligo.

Many of the new immigrants come from Dublin - but that seems to have been in the last 10 years or so.

Many BOS Irish have gone on vacation to Ireland to look up relatives or see where their family came from - tracing their roots. Most of the local BOS-SNN traffic is therefore going to the West Coast of Ireland because that's where their families came from.

Several airlines have had service BOS-SNN - years ago NW (when it was still called Northwest Orient) used to fly a DC-10, scheduled charters through Crystal Travel, etc. Aer Lingus flies 2 widebodies/day in high season. There's a lot of BOS-SNN traffic out there - not to even mention that the Irish LOVE Boston as well and come here on vacation.

tom911

Not just the Boston Irish, but those of us in CA, too

I did the grand tour with my dad and sister a few years ago, visiting genealogical centers in Sligo and Clare, and having them do research. My dad and sister have since been back and visited gravesites of relatives that lived there 100 years ago. They prepared a very nicely bound report with all sorts of details on the family tree.

WhoME

Fair enough. I still wonder though what would happen to US-SNN service in the absence of a 50/50 rule, and whether AA would be running BOS-SNN it in the absence of ORD-DUB. I guess we'll see if SNN service really drops to the 25% minimum under the new treaty and whether that is due to increased DUB traffic or decreased SNN flights. I personally would LOVE BOS-DUB (on an AA 757 with free "FC" upgrade) since DUB is a very convenient and cheap jumping off point for Europe while continental connections from SNN are poor at best.

Michael

olimaspecto

Are you familar with Ryanair? They offer a fair number of flights from their "hub" at SNN that I have taken a number of times ranging in cities throughout Western, Central, and Eastern Europe. They don't offer as many destinations as from London by any means, but they still have a pretty good variety for a smaller airport, and the price is usually right: http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/dests.php?flash=chk

RachelG

Most of the Irish immigrants to the US in the 1800's were from the west side of Ireland because that is where the potato famine hit the hardest. Just read a really interesting (but depressing) book about this.

WhoME

I'm actually trying hard to remain unfamiliar with RyanAir . Seriously, they have what, a dozen destinations on the continent from SNN, with a single flight per day to each; good luck making a reasonable connection to an international flight. Also, you can't interline AA-FR so, provided you do get a reasonable connection, you have to claim bags, schlep through airport, check bags, and reclear security. Then you have to fly FR which, though I've not done it, sounds none too pleasant, and you end up in Beauvais or Hahn or Charleroi instead of Paris or Frankfurt or Brussels. Of course, if your AA flight is late, you're pretty much screwed since you've missed the one FR flight of the day, and vice versa on the return. Since I no longer travel quite as lightly on vacation as I once did, it's just not worth it for me, even to save several $100s.

On the other hand, BOS-DUB-XXX on AA/EI would be worth it even at a slight premium over the LHR connection because, well, you've got to connect somewhere and DUB seems like an easier place to do it; plus the "FC" upgrade, of course.

YMMV

Michael

gemac

Right. The West side is rockier and hillier, hard to grow other crops. East side is much better farming land, and had many other crops. Much of the land in the East was owned/controlled by British landlords, who sold their crops to England, but the tenant farmers who actually worked the land got enough to feed their families. In the West, it was all potatoes, and the potato blight meant leave or starve to many.