Aer Lingus Fleet/Routes Discussion

forestlover wrote: »

Flew with Aerlingus to and from Miami and I have to say even as a very nervous flyer it was great. Bigger planes then normally fly the route, A330 - 302, so loads of space to lie down etc. Good bit of turbulence on the way back due to the tail wind but felt safe and comfortable the whole time.

Interesting as well flew with American Airlines during the trip also going to S/America and on take off and landing the do not ask you to open up the window blind, any reason why this is the norm for European airlines and not for AA?

European law versus US law?

Mr.S wrote: »

Is that an issue with European carriers? I never seen them ask people to take them off for take off / landing

Aer Lingus do, they're often questioned about it via their social media platforms and never appear able to give a straight answer which does them no favours.

I can understand the reasoning, sound cancelling headphones at crucial stages of flight isn't the best idea and they also tend to be quite heavy with thick wiring which could easily become a projectile or obstruction within the cabin in the event of an emergency.

Unfortunately Aer Lingus have never made it clear via their website or when asked directly and some people (with far too much time of their hands) just won't accept any of their answers, apparently listening to their music is far more important to aircraft safety!

Just look at this ridiculous exchange;

https://twitter.com/JonnyCosgrove/status/1230774161414316037

Click to expand the conversation.

I bet the social media team just wanted to tell him to get a life.

kevinandrew wrote: »

Aer Lingus do, they're often questioned about it via their social media platforms and never appear able to give a straight answer which does them no favours.

I can understand the reasoning, sound cancelling headphones at crucial stages of flight isn't the best idea and they also tend to be quite heavy with thick wiring which could easily become a projectile or obstruction within the cabin in the event of an emergency.

Unfortunately Aer Lingus have never made it clear via their website or when asked directly and some people (with far too much time of their hands) just won't accept any of their answers, apparently listening to their music is far more important to aircraft safety!

Just look at this ridiculous exchange;

https://twitter.com/JonnyCosgrove/status/1230774161414316037

Click to expand the conversation.

I bet the social media team just wanted to tell him to get a life.

None of that reasoning really works - there have been fully wireless over ear headphones for many years that wouldn’t cause any physical problems. In addition, there have been in-ear ones that have had noise cancellation for a while too, yet those are fine?

That all said, I kept my over ear headphones on on my last flight to SFO, so maybe they’ve dropped this silly idea.

I wear my wireless earbuds from the moment I arrive at the airport w the minute I arrive at the far side (mostly so I don't have to engage with the people around me) but I have no problem taking them out for the couple of minutes it takes to do the safety briefing even though I've heard it a thousand times before.
I already know my nearest emergency exit and I've already worked out who I need to take down to get to it...

Tenger wrote: »

As an aside, if your headphones are wireless Im going to assume they use Bluetooth?
Which isn't permitted according to the in-flight magazine (which I last checked in December)
So pulling out the magazine to argue may not be a great idea!!

Unless something has changed very recently the magazine refers to MiniDisc players. I wonder whether any of those have been seen on an EI flight in the last five years

FWIW, my own pet peeve is the fact that EI do not allow iPads during taxi/takeoff/landing. They're fine on FR, and indeed every other airline I use regularly.

I really wish we could have some global standard for what is and is not considered safe in the cabin – but I guess that's a pipe dream.

LRD's first revenue service planned for Tuesday 03/03 as;

EIN158 DUB0950-1120LHR 32Q EI-LRD
EIN159 LHR1215-1345DUB 32Q EI-LRD

It then positions on Wednesday 04/03 to operate its first transatlantic crossing as;

EIN990 DUB0955-1045SNN 32Q EI-LRD
EIN1AC SNN1200-1425BOS 32Q EI-LRD

EI-LRA will take the honours on Wednesday of operating the EI380/381 SNN-LHR-SNN service, after arriving that morning from JFK.

EI-EIM first flight is 119 DUB-IAD 12.40 on 12th of March

Charles Babbage wrote: »

People should be able to hear announcements. if you are flying on an 11 hour flight it is not a significant inconvenience nor unreasonable in any way to take off the headphones for 2 minutes taking off and landing.

I agree apart from the 2 minutes - it’s closer to ten times that when you include taxi time and preparation for landing.

Scoot does not allow headphones of any kind during this period.

I flew SIN-IPH last year and was allowed to use my headphones for about fifteen minutes.

FWIW, and at the risk of some thread drift, I have to say that, safety demo notwithstanding, I tend to tune the PA out because much of the time it is used for unimportant things like scratch cards and perfumes that are exclusive to Aer Lingus. I can’t be the only one who does this — it’d be interesting to study whether customers would pay more attention (and thus safety would be improved) with fewer announcements. Less is more etc.

Locker10a wrote: »

I absolutely agree re: shorter, concise only safety related PAs but EI most certainly don’t sell scratch cards lol

I was trying to video the water cannon salute after arriving into MIA on EI's inaugural service and it was ruined by incessant ramblings of the purser on the PA.



Non stop talking from the moment we vacated the runway and was still waffling when we stopped at the gate... Would not shut up, first world problems eh lol.

HTCOne wrote: »

All this talk about the headphones.....the rules are in Annex 6. IIRC the rule says something along the lines of "the operator shall ensure all passengers hear and understand the evacuation procedures".

Are you sure about that?

I thought Annex 6 leaves it to the operator to establish their procedures for such.

I agree it does not.

Airlines have no problem with "You must not smoke in the jacks" or some variant thereof during safety announcements , same with "tray tables must be up during taxi takeoff and landing"

headphones they are completely all over the shop

Shamrockj wrote: »

All headphones / earphones must be removed for the demo. Over the head ones / noise cancelling must be removed for take off and landing.
1 you cant hear announcements.
2 you wouldn't be able to brace properly as it had a band over your head.

But this isn't what happens! In-ear phones are specifically announced as being fine on Aer Lingus flights, and nobody is asked to remove any type of head or ear phone in business class, it seems.

Like I said, it's a rule that makes absolutely no sense. Either everyone needs to be able to hear announcements, and so the rule should apply to all head or ear phones and all cabin classes, or it doesn't really matter and they should drop it.