The best way to America...

Fabio

I was looking at flights to America..more specifically Boston and Aet Lingus go from Shannon which is handy for me living in Cork.

However has anyone on here gone on this route with other airlines before? If so what is the comfort level like and all that?

I'm thinking of going over to the states in June sometime so I'm looking at flights now and came up with return flights for €650 with Air France going from Dublin to Paris to Boston...

dogmatix

This thread will be moved to the travel forum soon I bet. But forget Aer Lingus and try either Virgin or BA out of heathrow. Much better in flight service by a mile. Never travelled Air France so can't comment on them.

mcic

dogmatix wrote: »

This thread will be moved to the travel forum soon I bet. But forget Aer Lingus and try either Virgin or BA out of heathrow. Much better in flight service by a mile. Never travelled Air France so can't comment on them.

If you're travelling from Cork then Air France have flights from Shannon to CDG twice a day (CityJet), with onward connections to NYC/BOS/etc throughout the day.

I've flown with them before and I'd definitely rate them above the likes of Aer Lingus/Delta/Continental service wise, but the hassle of transferring in CDG might not be worth it for you (although it's a very easy transfer, it still adds on an extra 2-3 hours to your journey time). Another downside is that you don't have the benefit of clearing US immigration in Shannon (which saves a lot of time over clearing it in the US). Their check in staff are very helpful in the US, mainly French, very efficient (offering to rebook tight connections, etc).

Air France use a mix of 777s, 747s and A330/A34Os to the east coast, so they're all very comfortable - similar inflight entertainment to BA/any of the other decent airlines. Plus the food is generally good (And lots of it), along with regular frer drinks.

I've booked with them again to go to New York this summer, they were the cheapest of all the airlines leaving from SNN/DUB by over €100, but even if they were the same price I probably would have chosen them over EI/DL/CO/US

teresasaunt

How about ORK-LHR-BOS? €672 for June 4 - June 24.

Edit: And AA are supposed to be introducing a seasonal service from SNN this Summer. Don't know where to. In the past they flew to BOS and ORD.

highlydebased

teresasaunt wrote: »

Edit: And AA are supposed to be introducing a seasonal service from SNN this Summer. Don't know where to. In the past they flew to BOS and ORD.

out of interest where did you hear this...?

teresasaunt

Neon-Circles wrote: »

out of interest where did you hear this...?

I was out in SNN a few weeks ago and asked at the ServisAir desk if it was possible to purchase AA tickets from them. The agent said no, but that AA would be back in Shannon over the Summer. No flight info available on the AA timetable yet however.

Fabio

Lads thanks for all the replies, belatedly! I'm very slow with replying these days!

Delta seem the cheapest from SNN but they use old 757-200's so for comfort I'd prefer the Aer Lingus A330 though a trip in a 747 from Heathrow with BA would be class too and the price difference, even with a connection from Cork, is non-existant between Aer Lingus and BA.

MODS: If you want ye can merge this with my thread asking about 757's, A330's and 747 for heading to Boston..I don't mean to hog the forum!

Foggy43

BA are considering moving 12 to 16 longhaul flights to Terminal 5 in June. Yet to decide which routes and exactly when.

Delta and Continental are operating out of Terminal 4. I think Northwest Airlines are now operating out of Terminal 3.

Please note that this baggage problem has been with BA for a few years now. It only got media attention as it happened again but coincided with Terminal 5's opening.

It is still best if you are flying Dyson Airways.....no bag! At the moment I would not advise anyone to transit through LHR.

dogmatix

Hmmm - what about Gatwick? A vastly superior airport to heathrow and BA, Are Lingus and Rip-off Ryanair all fly in there from here. Virgin used to fly to boston from there but not sure which if any carriers fly to boston from Gatwick. If all you can get from Gatwick are North american carriers then forget it and stick with Aer Lingus - I never flu north amercian carriers if I can help it as they make Aer Lingus look good and thats saying soemthing.

vorbis

I usually fly with Aer Lingus from Boston to Shannon. The plane has no personal entertainment system and the food is ok. My last trip home, I flew Boston to LHR to Cork.
I flew with AA and its a nice aircraft (777). The personal entertainemnt system is nice to have and there seemed to be more legroom. The food was decent enough.

AA are in T3 in Heathrow, I had no trouble connectiong with them from Aer Lingus. Your bags are checked all the way through so getting through the xray queue is your main concern.

Our man in Havana

I don't like aerlingus as they don't always have the A330 with personal IFE in economy. Going to LAX is a pain having to put up with what they want you to watch.