I’m here with another trip report this time on Aer Lingus on their busy Malaga - Dublin service.
Aer Lingus operates 5 services to Malaga rivalling Ryanair’s 5 services both from their bases at Dublin. Here is my review of Aer Lingus.
After a wonderful 4 nights stay in the Costa del Sol in Spain (aka Malaga) it was time for trip 2 this time to Dublin to rendezvous with my 2 cousins and my aunt from Seattle @RedWolf summon. They were visiting Ireland as well so we thought why not visit them since we are in the same continent and it’s only 2 and a half hours away. Before we get started I would totally recommend Malaga for a few nights, it’s so relaxing there and I was lucky enough to stay at a resort near the airport so plenty of aviation action near me and to my surprise some heavies which included a Gulf Air B789, a Qatar Airways B788, a Kuwait Airlines B77W, an Aer Lingus A333 (I didn’t get this flight though 😔), an Air Transat A332 and a United Airlines B752.
Me and my family arrived early to AGP airport and check in for our flight wasn’t open yet but after 10-15 minutes or so check in for our flight commenced. Our boarding passes had the Iberia logo on it even though we were flying Aer Lingus. Are they partners in some way? We got to have all of our suitcases ( 2 medium ones which were meant for check in anyway and 2 small cabin ones) checked in meaning we got to go through hands free. A handy feature that most airlines offer. After some shopping in the duty free area and some plane spotting by a window overlooking runway 13 to make sure that I won’t get bored shopping. I managed to get this picture of another Aer Lingus A330 also bound for Dublin. This route must be very demanding. I don’t blame the Irish though 😂. (Light reflections are so annoying 🙄)
Our plane for this flight was EI-DEL an A320-200 that I have a picture of here:
Soon we were allowed to board our flight. Now for some reason Aer Lingus didn’t allow us to check in online and choose our seats so that meant that we had to let the desk agent choose our seats meaning that all of us weren’t sat next to each other. My dad was right at the front of the plane on 7A which overlooked the engine, my sister was sat on an exit row on 13C and I was sat on 14A next to my mum who was on 14B. My sister was sat next to two strangers who were also on the exit row and you know when the cabin crew come to you and ask if you are able to open the emergency exit doors well the lady and the boy sat next to my sister weren’t able to because the lady had a bad shoulder and the boy was too young to operate it. I think the cabin crew noticed that my mum and sister were talking and asked if we were together and if I could operate the emergency exit door and sit next to it in which we agreed to. Luckily there was a diagram on how to open it and I practiced mentally but I’m glad nothing bad happened that needed me to open the door. Since I was on an A320-200 there were 3 other exit doors on the wing excluding me. I have to say that the view wasn’t impressive though and due to it being an emergency exit row the window alignment wasn’t great but safety and accessibility comes first. Here is a picture of what it looked like
Enough emergency exit ranting let’s look at the seat. When I entered the plane I was so relieved and glad that it was an older cabin because it had the older seats and you know what that means, more comfort. Yes, these seats weren’t the modern ones with the little piece of fabric stuck on top of a thin strip of plastic, these were the outdated but sofa like in aviation standards nowadays seats. All in a one class economy cabin as well. I was impressed that Aer Lingus kept them. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture (great trip reporting). In front of you there was a safety card and some literature in the seat back pocket. Here is what the safety card looked like:
I’m not a big fan of the green colour but on Aer Lingus it looks incredible. They use the right shade of green especially on their new livery.
I managed to get some good sleep on this plane due to how nice the seats were. Even the head rests were adjustable making it even more comfortable. With today’s low standards on plane seats especially in economy I’d say this is a solid 8.5/10. The cabin crew came out with their food and drinks service. I wasn’t hungry on this flight because I had a big breakfast before but things like ham and cheese toasties, pasties and wraps were on offer as well as small snacks and drinks which you had to pay for. There wasn’t any complimentary food service though but I’m not complaining as it’s only a short 2:20 hour or so flight. We just cleared Madrid airspace when this was happening and here’s a photo I took. It was a beautiful day in the whole of Spain. Not a cloud in sight. Now the strange thing is when we cleared the northern coast of Spain past Bilbao and entered French airspace it started to become cloudy. So you are telling me that cloud just avoids Spain half the time but surrounds the other countries? No wonder so many tourists come to Spain 😂. I think they have an invisible barrier that blocks away clouds. Whatever it is please tell us the formula if there are any Spanish people reading this.
After a bit more sleeping we finally begun our descent into cloudy Ireland. The speed brakes were deployed and the sound of disturbed air flow surrounded the cabin as we got lower and lower and ears started to ache as per plane experience.
Soon once we flew in some bumpy areas the flaps and landing gears were lowered and moments later we finally landed into Dublin and were welcomed with a see of green Shamrock planes preparing to go to their respective destinations.
While we were taxiing to our stand I got this cool picture of the green tails of the Irish flag carrier
And a cool retro livery as well.
It was certainly rush hour at DUB. The A330 was heading to Seattle (@RedWolf summon again as well as other Seattle inhabitants) and the A321NEO was heading to Cleveland (@Aviation_Alex summon).
Overall remarks:
Seat: 8.5/10 (exit row made for extra legroom)
Window view: 2/10 (again exit row I can’t blame them)
Landing: 10/10 (typical A320 landing, always butter)
Crew: 9/10 (they were all smiling and very happy to be there. Also they were very kind and talkative to many passengers).
Conclusion:
In my opinion Aer Lingus is very very underrated in the European airline market. The crew are lovely, seats are comfortable and they offer plenty choices of food and drink. It’s nothing game changing or special but I think it needs more attention. Also Dublin Airport isn’t that big compared to big and busy hubs like LHR, AMS and FRA. Also Aer Lingus operates to many American destinations so any Americans travelling to mainland Europe can certainly connect in Dublin. It’s isn’t as hectic as other busy hubs and Irish people are very friendly. Plus who wouldn’t want to take a bit of Irish whiskey with them? I would certainly recommend Aer Lingus. Well I’m off to explore Dublin, I hope you enjoyed and I’ve got other Aer Lingus one coming soon but next time my flight is so short that it’s not even an hour. I just stared out of the window for about 90% of it. See you soon and safe flying.