Aer Lingus - 5
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I had my first experience of travelling with Aer Lingus through T2 a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't the lack of seats at the gate that bothered me it was the fact they are cold and very uncomfortable metal seats full of holes. I would have thought that any modern terminal would have proper seats. All that money spent and the best they can do for the paying passengers is metal seats. The flight was delayed for an hour (unfortunately, this is normal when I fly EI, the other half of the flight was 50 minutes late) and I ended up walking around the terminal and, to be honest, I was unimpressed with its cluttered design and poor signage. (Taj Mahal my 
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Join Date: Aug 2010
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Would Aer Lingus place an order for an aircraft such as a E170/190, with its short take off run at maximum weight and a range of 2000km whilst carrying either 88/114 pax it would be perfect for some of the smaller pax routes in Europe/North Africa or for bases in smaller cities across Ireland.
Lufthansa, Finnair and Air Canada seem to avail of them.
Lufthansa, Finnair and Air Canada seem to avail of them.
Join Date: Dec 2010
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Would Aer Lingus place an order for an aircraft such as a E170/190, with its short take off run at maximum weight and a range of 2000km whilst carrying either 88/114 pax it would be perfect for some of the smaller pax routes in Europe/North Africa or for bases in smaller cities across Ireland.
Lufthansa, Finnair and Air Canada seem to avail of them.
Lufthansa, Finnair and Air Canada seem to avail of them.
ORK-BRU
ORK-DUS
ORK-FRA
SNN/NOC-AMS
SNN/NOC-CDG
Any many from Dublin!
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Aer Lingus starts pricing smaller craft for route rejig - Irish, Business - Independent.ie
Just found the article that stated this... only 7 months ago so negotiations could still be ongoing. Looking at the prices, I know it'd be the Embrear that I'd go for as well as the fact it's a tried and tested model.
Hopefully we might even see some aircraft in the North or even a new Irish base! One can always hope!
Just found the article that stated this... only 7 months ago so negotiations could still be ongoing. Looking at the prices, I know it'd be the Embrear that I'd go for as well as the fact it's a tried and tested model.
Hopefully we might even see some aircraft in the North or even a new Irish base! One can always hope!
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Join Date: Aug 1999
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I'm sure studies are still ongoing into a smaller type and of course, EI will want to look at the A320 NEO model (and indeed, the A319, if there is a NEO version of that). I'm not sure where they are with the E195 and C-series, but last I heard was that EI was looking for a small sub-fleet of 319s.
As for new bases, I think that's extremely unlikely; that's a hangover from the Mannion days and CM has all but shut down LGW (AGP being the last one surviving) and BFS is down to LHR and some sun routes. I don't see any possibility of a new base being tried; it's all about consolidation now.
I had the pleasure of flying EI from JER to DUB today; perfect flight - great crew, c. 20 mins ahead of schedule and T2 a pleasure to use. One "intangible" - or THE intangible - asset when flying EI is the total lack of stress, compared to FR. With FR, there's a constant worry that one is going to fall foul of some rule , be it baggage or having to have one's passport stamped at the ticket desk (mine's non-EU), or whatever else; with EI, it's so much more relaxing.
Frankly, looking forward, I think there are bigger challenges facing FR than EI; one can say that the low cost revolution of the 1990s and the early part of the last decade has come to a stop, thanks largely to much higher taxes
. FR has spoken of changing its operating model, but how does it go about doing this? That's FR's problem, of course, but EI stands to benefit if FR's "value proposition" goes down the drain.
As for new bases, I think that's extremely unlikely; that's a hangover from the Mannion days and CM has all but shut down LGW (AGP being the last one surviving) and BFS is down to LHR and some sun routes. I don't see any possibility of a new base being tried; it's all about consolidation now.
I had the pleasure of flying EI from JER to DUB today; perfect flight - great crew, c. 20 mins ahead of schedule and T2 a pleasure to use. One "intangible" - or THE intangible - asset when flying EI is the total lack of stress, compared to FR. With FR, there's a constant worry that one is going to fall foul of some rule , be it baggage or having to have one's passport stamped at the ticket desk (mine's non-EU), or whatever else; with EI, it's so much more relaxing.
Frankly, looking forward, I think there are bigger challenges facing FR than EI; one can say that the low cost revolution of the 1990s and the early part of the last decade has come to a stop, thanks largely to much higher taxes
. FR has spoken of changing its operating model, but how does it go about doing this? That's FR's problem, of course, but EI stands to benefit if FR's "value proposition" goes down the drain.
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One "intangible" - or THE intangible - asset when flying EI is the total lack of stress, compared to FR.
I have to admit that I don't use EI all that often these days but with EI you always have the stress of not knowing that, come the day, some part of the organisation will be threatening industrial action and you fear the flight may not take off at all (although, in fairness, that issue seems to have been put to bed for the moment, touch wood and all that). Then you have the punctuality issue. Every flight I have done with EI over the past couple of years has been late, sometimes very late and the lack of any sense of urgency on the part of the crew to make up lost time is maddening. Maybe I'm just unlucky but that is my EI experience and I just can't afford to have this element of doubt when I travel.
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Every flight I have done with EI over the past couple of years has been late, sometimes very late and the lack of any sense of urgency on the part of the crew to make up lost time is maddening.
I would counter that with the logic that why would the crew WANT to be late. They are human and I can assure you want to get home on time too. As was remarked during the cabin crew dispute they would prefer to skip their permitted break to get home on time. You refer to the crew sense of urgency, do you want them to be flapping about when there may be nothing they can do to affect the delay? (EG. baggage loading, ATC slot, tech)
A problem that EI are encountering now is that they got used to having 40 mins turnaround out of DUB using Pier A/D with 2 sets of steps. Now in T2 they are back to jetbridge with single door which causes a slower boarding process but the scheduling/Operations mgmt haven't changed the rotation times.
Getting 150+ pax off, an A320 cleaned and fuelled while another 150+ board is pretty difficult to do with a single door in under 40 mins. The EI pax aren't 'incentivised' to board quickly as the FR pax are.
I would counter that with the logic that why would the crew WANT to be late. They are human and I can assure you want to get home on time too. As was remarked during the cabin crew dispute they would prefer to skip their permitted break to get home on time. You refer to the crew sense of urgency, do you want them to be flapping about when there may be nothing they can do to affect the delay? (EG. baggage loading, ATC slot, tech)
A problem that EI are encountering now is that they got used to having 40 mins turnaround out of DUB using Pier A/D with 2 sets of steps. Now in T2 they are back to jetbridge with single door which causes a slower boarding process but the scheduling/Operations mgmt haven't changed the rotation times.
Getting 150+ pax off, an A320 cleaned and fuelled while another 150+ board is pretty difficult to do with a single door in under 40 mins. The EI pax aren't 'incentivised' to board quickly as the FR pax are.
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A problem that EI are encountering now is that they got used to having 40 mins turnaround out of DUB using Pier A/D with 2 sets of steps. Now in T2 they are back to jetbridge with single door which causes a slower boarding process but the scheduling/Operations mgmt haven't changed the rotation times.
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I disagree. Use the airbridge but make the slot times realistic.
Not having to walk up and down the stairs (IMHO) should be one of the things that distinguishes real airlines from the LoCos. The stairs are also really difficult for the mobility impaired.
Not having to walk up and down the stairs (IMHO) should be one of the things that distinguishes real airlines from the LoCos. The stairs are also really difficult for the mobility impaired.
Aerlingus can no longer be considered low cost
What exactly is EI's strategy ?
The Lowcost model didn't work.
The new bases didn't work.
The constant lets make a new strategy up doesn't work.
Successful companies tend to have a single overriding strategy with everything else feeding off this and supporting it.
The constant changing and tinkering means customers and outside doesn't know.
However it is even worse within an organsisation as people see constant changes in strategy as being the norm and flavour of the year.
Employees never fully buy into any new strategy because they have seen 2-3 before and condition themselves into a belief that it will only be around for a year or two because they know it will change when someone new comes in. This may seem negative but employees see this as a surviving mechanism.
This is not unique to EI though as many companies suffer from it and the unsurprising thing from companies that are successful is consistency over many years.
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A problem that EI are encountering now is that they got used to having 40 mins turnaround out of DUB using Pier A/D with 2 sets of steps. Now in T2 they are back to jetbridge with single door which causes a slower boarding process but the scheduling/Operations mgmt haven't changed the rotation times.
Another thing I have noticed about EI is that they seem to have an inordinate number of passengers that think that everyone else should stand and wait while they divest themselves of luggage/handbags into the bins having first removed several items therefrom and placed them on the seats, strip down to shirt or blouse and then discuss who wants to sit at the window. And with no encouragement from the cc to stand in out of the way. grrr!!!!
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Does anyone know why Aer Lingus used a Titan Boeing 757 to operate DUB - AGP - DUB this evening? Should of being a A320 and they used Europe Airpost B733 to operate DUB - BCN - DUB this evening. 
Last edited by Jamie2k9; 26th Apr 2011 at 23:19.