Aer Lingus

Aer Lingus may have surpassed Austrian as my favorite airline.  Austrian does still have an edge on the food, but Aer Lingus pulls ahead thanks to their completely charming crews.

A common native language helps, but beyond that, I was struck by the way everyone we met was so friendly and attentive, cheerfully taking orders and stowing (and retrieving) pillows, duvets, and even bags.  They were happy to hear about our plans in Ireland and make little jokes with me (and give D a gentle ribbing when he repeatedly forgot to close his overhead bin).

Something our airport driver said was echoed word-for-word at the end of the trip by our Dublin cab driver: they view themselves as ambassadors.  And that truly captures the essence of the people we met in Ireland, starting on Aer Lingus.

A few tips:

• Look carefully at the seat map, as business class has some really spacious “throne” seats with large tables on either side and an immense amount of storage.  I booked D and me into the only two such seats on our flight over, even though they were a couple rows apart, because I knew we’d be mostly trying to sleep and there’s nothing better than having lots of room to set up my glasses and toiletries and assorted gadgets.
• That being said, Aer Lingus doesn’t seem to have any way to view or change your seat assignment after you’ve booked the ticket (unless you call), which is mildly annoying.
• When returning to the US from Dublin, you go through immigration and customs before departing.  They do have global entry kiosks, which helped us skip a long line.  But you have to go through security twice (once for regular Irish security, and once for “US security”).
• The US pre-clearance lounge (51st and Green) is located at the end of the terminal, with decent food, plenty of seating (and power outlets), and great views of planes coming and going.  It’s one of the few lounges I would bother going to – I usually prefer people watching in the terminal instead of sitting in a crowded, windowless room.  You can access it with a business class ticket or for a fee of around 35 Euro.