Aer Arann - Any good?

tattykitty

Hi, sorry if anyone else has asked this before, I did a search and nothing came up. I'm going to a friend's wedding in October and it's in Ullapool (up in the Highlands, so it's going to be freeeezing - no posh frock for me, it'll be a wooly jumper and wellies with glued-on sequins ). The nearest airport is Inverness and Aer Arann is the only flight operator that goes straight there from Dublin. Anyone had any good/bad experiences with Aer Arann, before I book my flights?

Cheers...

BuffyBot

http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/aer_arran.htm

I've flown with them a couple of times and found them ok. Nothing outstanding, nothing terrible.

Bluetonic

They are just the same as any other short hop airline.

Just like any taxi journey you should take a short hop flight for what it is, a means from getting from A to B.

tattykitty

No worries there, I wasn't expecting anything more than a bus with wings really, just never heard of anyone having taken a flight with them and wanted the lowdown, that was all. Thanks for the responses.

lostinsuperfunk

I'd agree with the above. I've used them a lot on Cork-Dublin and Cork to the UK and once to France. If your flight is delayed you get Ryanairesque levels of information (i.e. none) which isn't good for a short hop but otherwise they're ok, and in fairness I've only had one long delay out of probably 20 or more flights.

The planes are small and noisy turboprops - might not suit nervous fliers.

Chris_533976

I've never been on them but apparently they get the job done without any frills.

Watch out for bad weather though, they seem more pernickety about bad weather than other airlines.

dowlingm

that's mostly for flights to Cork and the notorious low visibility conditions there.

Chris_533976

True, but Ive heard of issues there where Ryanair will land in certain weather but Aer Arann wont.

dowlingm

Chris

Let's just say FR have a rep for "pushing on" but it's probably more accurate to say that FR probably pushes the currency of its pilots on Cat II approaches. Arann possibly also has more stringent visibility limits but the same thing has also been said of other operators (bmibaby, aer lingus) but those have usually been flying jets which would possibly be more stable in the approach.

mambo

Flew Cork-Dublin recently with Aer Arann, flight was slightly delayed but otherwise fine, except for... the heat! It felt like an oven in the cabin. I asked the steward if this was normal and he said, yes, in the summer it's normal (it was a 9pm flight though, on a day when the temperature only hit the low 20s). I don't envy him having to work in that heat, but a small apology for the high temperature wouldn't have gone amiss (from him, or the captain). :mad:

Best bit was the landing in Dublin. I guess because the plane is not landing at as high a speed as a jet, it hardly seems to brake at all on landing and taxis off the runway at what feels like 100mph. Wheeeee. You're at the terminal in no time!

Victor

How about Loganair via Glasgow?

http://www.loganair.co.uk/destinations2.htm

westtip

tattykitty wrote:

it's in Ullapool (up in the Highlands, so it's going to be freeeezing - no posh frock for me, it'll be a wooly jumper and wellies with glued-on sequins ).
Cheers...

There is a hotel/motel in Ullapool which has a fantastic reputation for its fish, I can't remember the name of it - but when I lived in Glasgow in the 80s used to go to Ullapool for the weekend quite often as a base for walking and always ate there. If you like fish check it out, any of the locals will tell you about it.

Just googled it http://www.morefieldmotel.co.uk/ it really is great food