Aer Lingus Fleet/Routes Discussion

Wonder How many middle seats free per flight.?
Everyone knows RY allocate you a middle seat if you check in online too soon, so customers play the game and check in as late as possible, usually the middle seats are all allocated 12 hours before flights. This could be the reverse, check in late or at the airport and get one of the middle seats AL blocked off for this service but didn’t sell. Course if could also work for getting an upfront seat if it doesn’t sell either by checking in late .

trellheim wrote: »

And its not on the outshop routes like LCY or EDI ; they obviously think there's a market there but every route listed is only 2-2.5 hours flying and most regulars will have most of the benefits from Aerclub anyway so is it just gilding a lily for business class transfers from longhaul or something ?

It’s not available on Stobart or Cityjet. It is available on shorter EI flights like LHR & MAN.

Van.Bosch wrote: »

From the few flights I’ve checked AerSpace seems to just be row 1. Booking economy allows you select a seat in row 2, so I’d say just 2 empty seats.

Perhaps only being released row by row starting with row 1, wouldn't make sense to have rows 1,4,5,9 eg as Aer Space with the interim rows as economy. So once row 1 is sold it'll move on to row two and so on.

The doc's suggest this is 'front row' only

x567 wrote: »

I wonder if a BA business class ticket with an EI leg to LHR/LGW will automatically qualify for Aerspace - could need a couple more rows if so...

Just got caught out with that on Monday. With a BA Business class ticket, no priority check-in, priority boarding, seat selection or lounge access when connecting with EI. Had that awkward moment at the LHR lounge desk.

"priority boarding" sitting on the tin can for another half hour or so! Great! And some people even pay for it :rolleyes:

MJohnston wrote: »

Personally I'd much rather be sitting on the plane for half an hour than standing at the gate, especially if you have plenty of space at your seat. Being in the airport for me is an anxious experience, and I'm much more relaxed when I'm onboard and seated.

Agreed. I pack light , no check in luggage unless unavoidable. Fast track regardless of time. Last onto the plane personally. Had a joke of an experience in Naples airportbthe other day. Can’t stand spending a minute more in them than necessary. Sitting on the ground on a plane in Dublin airport for as long as it would take to get from liffey valley to athlone is another common joke !

There could be screaming kids on the plane and everything, it’s so intense. Each to their own !

Locker10a wrote: »

If you’re last to board and only travel with hand luggage then you’ll likely find no space for your case on busy flights, I think that’s mainly the benefit for those who buy priority boarding, guaranteed bag space.
With this new product the crew will probably try and keep the first locker closed and free during boarding for as long as they practically can, however they probably also include priority boarding for this reason, so you get on early and have a convenient space for your bag.

They typically do keep row one closed/exclusively for those sitting there, at least a dozen times I’ve been seated in row one and had cabin crew call me out when I opened the bin, only to say ‘oh that’s grand’ when I showed them the boarding pass.

Right now Aer Space is only showing for the first row, that’s just four passengers a flight. I’m assuming as more passengers book it’ll be extended to additional rows per flight or are they intending to limit it to just the front row across the board?

Shn99 wrote: »

Economy pax are able to purchase seats in row 2 so it wouldnt make sense for it to be extended

I’d say it’s a trial period. Just one row for now, if demand grows on certain routes it can be added to two A’s flights go on sale or there is no one booked in 2.

They do reserve the right to reseat you as well, I'd imagine if you are in row 2 and they extend Aer Space they could move you to any comparable choice seat and say it's similar enough. Wouldn't be a great customer experience but within their rights.

I'd imagine it'll take a bit of backend work to automatically block off/move the Aer Space cabin, though it may be yet another reason to finally update their systems (a clean import of BA's backend should work relatively well if they can do the transition, plus it would facilitate the transatlantic JV and any OneWorld associations that may come).

Nijmegen wrote: »

It’ll work the same as all other eurobiz products I imagine. There’s simple flexibility to move the curtain back a few rows if you need to, and given the amount of transfer traffic coming in they’re gonna need more than 4 seats on many routes. As for the booking engine only having row 1 in it for now, this is the company that launched a major credit card product with 2 free flights included, which can be redeemed by telegraphing a man in the back office who will dispatch the tickets by stage coach to you.

An excellent point - we’ve all being applying logic and rationale which isn’t necessarily apt with the AerLingus IT systems.

Now a change of gate and another 1hr delay, aer lingus staff are mute. Great start.

alancostello wrote: »

Airbus haven't publicly launched it, but they are supposedly offering it to airline customers (one can only assume to gauge real interest and carve out a strong launch customer/order).

EI may get some XLRs, sure, but the regular LR still works for the east coast and the northern midwest US, which is the majority of EI's transatlantic market so far.

If the XLR hits the 4700-5000nmi range being floated around it would be able to serve even the west coast, so you could certainly count on DEN/IAH/LAS plus maybe some extra California destinations.

Would it reach Vegas though ?????

I’m sorry. Couldn’t help myself.

Jack1985 wrote: »

You didn't even qualify for delay compensation as it was that minor of a delay, so please drop the entitlement act. Not much to talk about here.

Why is the guy getting such a hard time? Delays are frustrating. Getting little/no communication from the airline is always an own-goal.