Aer Lingus for IAD to London - how is it?

[Anonymous]

It doesn’t add a ton of travel time and saves us $300-$400pp (there are 4 of us) over the nonstops, which pays for a few of our hotel nights. Am I crazy to do this? It’s us and a 12 and 15 year old who are good travelers. I know food and activities are going to add up so I’m trying to be mindful, but also don’t want to be foolish.

[Anonymous]

We’ve flown Aer Lingus multiple times from DC to Dublin and had only positive experiences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’ve flown Aer Lingus multiple times from DC to Dublin and had only positive experiences.

Same

[Anonymous]

Totally fine! We do it a lot. Plane is comfortable and has inflight entertainment then it is a quick flight between the two.

[Anonymous]

My DC does this route a lot. No problems. Make sure you allow enough time in Dublin, especially for the return since you will be clearing US immigration there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t add a ton of travel time and saves us $300-$400pp (there are 4 of us) over the nonstops, which pays for a few of our hotel nights. Am I crazy to do this? It’s us and a 12 and 15 year old who are good travelers. I know food and activities are going to add up so I’m trying to be mindful, but also don’t want to be foolish.

May be a random suggestion but you could check Icelandair and do a 1-2 day stopover there, instead of flying via Dublin and not enjoying it.

[Anonymous]

Just be aware that the IAD to Dublin flight is quite short, and the flight leaves IAD pretty early, so it is even more difficult to sleep than on the longer non-stops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC does this route a lot. No problems. Make sure you allow enough time in Dublin, especially for the return since you will be clearing US immigration there.

Just as a clarification OP, if on your return you fly Dublin -- London -- US then you do NOT do preclearance in Dublin. Preclearance (which is amazing) is only for direct to US flights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC does this route a lot. No problems. Make sure you allow enough time in Dublin, especially for the return since you will be clearing US immigration there.

Just as a clarification OP, if on your return you fly Dublin -- London -- US then you do NOT do preclearance in Dublin. Preclearance (which is amazing) is only for direct to US flights.

The return (to the US) is London-Dublin-IAD. You do preclearance in Dublin. There are no nonstop flights on Aer Lingus from London to IAD.

[Anonymous]

I consider Aer Lingus to be a budget airline like Norweigan or TAP or IcelandAir. The experience as an economy traveler is roughly equivalent between all 3, although on IcelandAir you tend to be on smaller planes.

So, that all being said... it's fine? And if you're going to save $300 pp and not add a ton of time I'd do it in a heartbeat.

[Anonymous]

We just did that in August. The plane is a narrow body, which is slightly freaky to me to fly across the Atlantic with only one aisle (but I’m a nervous flyer). They did have in-flight entertainment, which was nice.

Coming back, the preclearance in Dublin was a hot mess. Incredibly long lines. I’d definitely budget for a lot of extra time though our plane held for a long time waiting for passengers. Oh- the check-in at LHR for Aer Lingus was a major mess too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just did that in August. The plane is a narrow body, which is slightly freaky to me to fly across the Atlantic with only one aisle (but I’m a nervous flyer). They did have in-flight entertainment, which was nice.

Coming back, the preclearance in Dublin was a hot mess. Incredibly long lines. I’d definitely budget for a lot of extra time though our plane held for a long time waiting for passengers. Oh- the check-in at LHR for Aer Lingus was a major mess too.

If you hit the Preclearance area at DUB between 9:30-11 AM it can get really bad, as so many US bound flights depart from 10:30-12:30. Global Entry helps a lot. If its a later flight the lines won't be as long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just did that in August. The plane is a narrow body, which is slightly freaky to me to fly across the Atlantic with only one aisle (but I’m a nervous flyer). They did have in-flight entertainment, which was nice.

Coming back, the preclearance in Dublin was a hot mess. Incredibly long lines. I’d definitely budget for a lot of extra time though our plane held for a long time waiting for passengers. Oh- the check-in at LHR for Aer Lingus was a major mess too.

If you hit the Preclearance area at DUB between 9:30-11 AM it can get really bad, as so many US bound flights depart from 10:30-12:30. Global Entry helps a lot. If its a later flight the lines won't be as long.

PP here. You reminded me…Aer Lingus doesn’t participate in Global Entry!! We found that out too, much to our dismay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just did that in August. The plane is a narrow body, which is slightly freaky to me to fly across the Atlantic with only one aisle (but I’m a nervous flyer). They did have in-flight entertainment, which was nice.

Coming back, the preclearance in Dublin was a hot mess. Incredibly long lines. I’d definitely budget for a lot of extra time though our plane held for a long time waiting for passengers. Oh- the check-in at LHR for Aer Lingus was a major mess too.

If you hit the Preclearance area at DUB between 9:30-11 AM it can get really bad, as so many US bound flights depart from 10:30-12:30. Global Entry helps a lot. If its a later flight the lines won't be as long.

PP here. You reminded me…Aer Lingus doesn’t participate in Global Entry!! We found that out too, much to our dismay.

Not my experience…

I thought GE had nothing to do with airlines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just did that in August. The plane is a narrow body, which is slightly freaky to me to fly across the Atlantic with only one aisle (but I’m a nervous flyer). They did have in-flight entertainment, which was nice.

Coming back, the preclearance in Dublin was a hot mess. Incredibly long lines. I’d definitely budget for a lot of extra time though our plane held for a long time waiting for passengers. Oh- the check-in at LHR for Aer Lingus was a major mess too.

If you hit the Preclearance area at DUB between 9:30-11 AM it can get really bad, as so many US bound flights depart from 10:30-12:30. Global Entry helps a lot. If its a later flight the lines won't be as long.

PP here. You reminded me…Aer Lingus doesn’t participate in Global Entry!! We found that out too, much to our dismay.

Not my experience…

I thought GE had nothing to do with airlines.

PP here- I misspoke. They don’t participate in PreCheck. I do have GE but all I can remember is standing in line for a very long time in Dublin.