No, it’s not April 1st. Aer Lingus has announced plans to bring back Business Class on some of its key short-haul routes. And it will be doing it with FULLY FLAT seats.
And here’s the thing – this is actually a remarkably sensible thing to do.
Aer Lingus has 14 A321LR aircraft on order, with the first arriving in June. The LR bit in the name means ‘long range’, and this particular model has the longest range of any single aisle aircraft. This means that it has the ability to fly directly to the US East Coast and beyond. In a test flight, it managed to fly from the Seychelles to the Airbus factory in Toulouse – an 11 hour trip.
Aer Lingus will be using them to increase the number of US destinations it serves, with the smaller number of seats versus a two aisle plane giving it the ability to enter smaller markets.
Each of the Aer Lingus A321LR aircraft will have 16 fully flat Business Class seats along with 170 Economy Seats. Aer Lingus does not have First Class or Premium Economy.
These planes need to be kept busy …..
Aer Lingus has two reasons to introduce Business Class on its European network.
The first reason – and the reason they are giving publicly – is that some customers won’t book an airline unless they are getting Business Class on all legs. At the moment, connecting passengers in Dublin are moved to an Aer Lingus ‘all Economy’ short haul flight. As well as 3×3 seating, they don’t even get free catering. Your average East Coast banker or West Coast entertainment lawyer won’t go for that.
Secondly – which is not a stated reason but which I am sure is true – is that Aer Lingus simply needs to keep these expensive new aircraft busy. The problem with running all of your long-haul flights to the US is that the aircraft tend to leave in the evening and land back in Dublin early in the morning. By rostering the new A321LR planes for short-haul duties, they can be kept busy all day.
The timetable will not allow Aer Lingus to operate all of its A321LR aircraft into Europe. The current plan is that eight of the new planes will also operate on short haul, primarily to major European business cities.
Don’t get too carried away though. The catering will be the same as buy-on-board options in Economy, although Business Class passengers won’t have to pay.
Even before this launches, it is highly likely that the A321LR planes will be used on short-haul routes for a few weeks from June in order to train cabin crew. I’ll let you know when these trips appear in the timetable in case you want to give it a try.
(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for the latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios from current offers and promotions.)
About Head for Points
You guessed it, it’s not just east coast bankers and west coast entertainment lawyers that wont fly aer lingus on the hop flight. Add anyone who wishes for a modicum of comfort, not to mention reliability of actually leaving Dublin – in my experience of course.
That aside, the implication here is that catering in aer lingus business class (?globally) is the same as in economy, but free. Is that the case??
My experience of Aer Lingus leaving Dublin has been pretty good. Aer Lingus long haul business class has its own menu, it isnt the same as the economy
I’d need one hell of an incentive given all the options from East or West Coast to break up my flight in Dublin rather than go direct if my bank or attorney’s office is paying.
Maybe to London, but I presume AL also fly to less polluted parts of the UK?
Oh, you mean like Scunthorpe? Manchester? Liverpool? Leeds? Oh not, wait, those are all more polluted than London:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/health-43964341
Aside from London they fly to Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Newquay, Aberdeen, and Isle of Man. A fair few of these can be reached from New York (Banker) or LA (Attorney) but yes, the Entertainment Lawyer who needs to be in Newquay is going to struggle to get their direct.
I was thinking of the places that these planes are likely to fly, like Paris, Frankfurt, and yes, London. Stop overs add a lot of time which people who fly regularly typically value over money that comes from their employer. Especially given the US to Europe is overnight I’d rather stay asleep then make a connection relatively near my destination.
Can you really get to any of Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Newquay, Aberdeen, and Isle of Man direct from LA?
There is already an LAX service from Manchester, plus VS starting on the route from May 2019
I’m not sure I would want to fly Aer Lingus Business Class anyway having just read today’s posting on http://www.turningleftforless.com Michelle had an a very disappointing experience and describes the business class flight as “cheap but not cheerful” and “probably the worst flight I have had”
Sounds like a shocker. I had flown Aer Lingus recently as a last minute change after a BA flight, and had an all round better experience. i was not in an old plane though. Interestingly I side with the reporter on the whole photo thing. I think that an airline worker (cabin crew) has no expectation of privacy, therefore there is no restrictions on taking photos which may accidentally include a member of cabin crew. It might be in their own terms and conditions. There could be restrictions on taking a photo of other passengers as they have an expectation of privacy.
Sounds like the reviewer was a big part of the problem tbh
I agree Harry.
I agree with Harry too. I’ve flown AI Business class a few times from Dublin to East Coast and had no problems at all with the airline or the cabin crew. Spent a night in Dublin the night before and drank copious amounts of lovely Guinness.
A very big +1
+1
Just out of curiosity, what do you think she did wrong?
She got off on the wrong foot in the plane, didn’t put it right with a smile as most of us do in that situation, then compounded the error several ways eg in the plane and also by (restrospectively) deliberately finding fault with the pre-flight service (lounge).
So I was left thinking she was not objective.
Eg – she moaned about drinks on board – she could have had as many drinks as she wanted – but cabin crews go easy in that regard to allow people to sleep – all she had to do was ask.
There are actually no privacy laws as such in the UK, not sure how it works for airlines though!
What about the privacy laws in Ireland, since this flight did not touch a UK airport nor was it a UK aircraft?
Very much as here as far as I can gather, though it might also depend on whose airspace you’re in at the time. I imagine it would be extremely difficult to pursue, though there might be a breach of some specific airline regulation.
Michelle was unlucky to have had one of those old QR planes. We flew J on them years ago with the QR program. Uncomfortable but did the job back and forth to the Mid East for us. Short flights.
Presume EI plan to refit those older planes nowmwith the newer J cabin?
She should ask for compo avios tho, as it was an uncomfortable overnight flight.
Sounds like the crew were particularly bad and crew do contribute to the overall experience, along with seat and food. No wine offered with the main course? Very lazy and disinterested crew it seems – makes BA crew seem attentive! That review has certainly put me off booking anything with them.
I slept on that seat! Er… I didn’t sleep at all either on that seat it had so many gaps in it! Not sure which airline it was, but I well remember it as not worth having as a business class seat.
Interesting, my folks took EI to the USA a couple of years ago and were raving about how good it was!
Let me tell you, IBERIA business from the US is MUCH MUCH WORSE.
I took NYC-MAD redemption for the low taxes (and taking the opportunity of 90,000 Avios promo). The food was abysmal, really really abysmal. “Burger” was a 5-6cm meat without ANY condiments (no cheese).
Coffee machine — ALWAYS broken, from conversation with the crew, at all flights and never gets repaired so back to filter coffee.
There was nothing edible for breakfast except packaged yoghurt. I do not understand how two pieces of bread constitute MAIN MEAL, even if put in middle of plate.
And as usual: Iberia customer service is joke, Iberia handlers on ground in NYC have no clue (they work for handing company), Iberia on-board crew are not welcoming and artificial (even LATAM doing it better with non-Spanish speaking customer, and if you are Spanish speaker, you cant get rid of helping crew at LATAM!!, they always near you, chatting friendly).
On top “BA Galleries Club” in JFK which Iberia uses is the place to be AVOIDED AT ALL COST. Seriously, I would (and I will) fly AA economy before I set foot in Iberia “Business”.
Seychelles to Toulouse in 11 hours? How slowly do they fly?
The passengers must have been peddling slowly.
Slower than long haul aircraft.
Didn’t you make the point they were long haul aircraft?
Long-range short-haul aircraft they are!
The engines are nowhere near as powerful as those on a two aisle long-haul plane. Max thrust on a A330 Trent 700 engine is 72,000lb vs 35,000lb for a typical short-haul engine (apparently).
Is Seychelles to Toulouse in 11 hours really that slow? Seems ballpark what would be expected to me. They may even have built an emergency divert scenario into the flight plan in order to simulate the destination airport being out of action upon arrival.
Narrow Body jets cruise only a small amount slower than widebodys typically, maybe 5-10% slower.
The food’s usually worth paying for on short haul, doubt anyone in business class will object to getting it for free.
In the wider scheme of things this is nothing new in the IAG camp. Stablemates BA and Iberia already operate daily longhaul business class seats between London and Madrid on their B772 and A346 aircraft.
Thats great, I had not realised that, you have brightened up my day!
We are booked on an A346 back from Madrid after a trip to Cuba we arranged with the 90,000 Iberia Offer. I had not bothered checking the details of our flight back to London, but just taken a look at the seat map and realised its a long haul plane! Very happy now!
They do but not on this scale.
2.5 hours LHR to MAD on long-haul plane is fun.
Trans-Atlantic route on the same plane is torture, Iberia “service”/crew do not help. Plus the only airline which has non-functioning toilets/coffee machines/kitchen equipment on long-haul.
Big WOW, who is really bothered to organise themselves to fly a long haul aircraft on a short haul route. Clearly they have to much time on their hands, train spotters comes to mind!
I take it you’re not a regular Flyertalk reader then! 🙂
@Myers, over here!!! I will organize all our flights just to get on wide bodied aircraft with a proper business class seat when ever I can. Next week I have to go to Madrid, and going via Frankfurt just to pick up the Latam flight from there and returning on it a few days later. I’ve also changed my schedule to include Sichuan Airlines PRG-ZUR fifth freedom flight. Even if I turn up at the gate and they’ve switched aircraft to something with a less than desirable business class offering (old BA 767’s come to mind) it’s not given I will get on it. This Aer Lingus news is really welcome and I hope other carriers will take note.
Welcome to Headforpoints @Myers.
In theory EI already offers lie flat on a couple of european routes with the A330 on DUB > FAO & AGP.
Cannot wait to try the A321 around Europe also – cheers
So, it seems like it’s only Mr & Mrs me that are prepared to give it a go late next Summer…..out to the West Coast and then we will head North by road and inland , way off the beaten track again.
I don’t really see the worth of a lie flat seat on a short European sector from Dublin. You won’t have time to get any meaningful sleep and surely that’s the whole point?
They’re proper Business seats, for a start – as opposed to pseudo-Business seats on many European flights, take BA’s Club Europe seats as one of the worst examples
Not really. BA are pretty much the same as all European carriers. The only major airline to run a US first type cabin as business is Turkish.
The fact that BA/SAS/AF/KLM/SWISS downgraded to economy seats (and now sometimes without blocked middle!!) does not make it an agreeable “Business Class” option.
Please do not spread the same old false story that Club Europe is the same as all other airlines. Well it’s not. Airlines like Swiss, Aegean etc have extra pitch for European business class and for some of us it makes a huge difference on a 3-4h flight.. It might not be flat seats but at least I don’t have to crash my legs like in BA. Even low cost Volotea had bigger pitch at the front seats than BA front row in club Europe!!
@Dimitri – Lufty is the same pitch as BA. As are Austrian and Brussels. I’ll agree regarding AF and SWISS. Aegean may be larger but lets face it is of limited use (although I find them very pleasant). It does depend on height I agree – I’d rather sit in an emergency exit seat than any a320 business seat on Euro carriers apart from Turkish. I don’t really care about food and booze on a flight of this length I’d rather have the extra room.
I agree entirely regarding BA Club Europe – a woeful product. I suppose it will come down to a trade off between length of flight, comfort and cost. Anything below 3 hours flight time and I would stick to economy unless the upgrade cost is marginal.
Agree CE is not a proper business product
It really is a lot more comfortable, especially when Dublin to some places in Europe can be 4+ hours, but agree not worth paying too much extra for. US airlines, TK, QR, QF have a nicer seat in their short-haul business cabins but the price premium over their economy flights is a lot higher than BA’s and European airlines’ premiums for Eurobusiness seats
+1. QR also have an annoying habit of pricing their short-haul business class as First with First prices when the seats are still in business.
That’s a bit like British Airways seems to be doing : pricing their short-haul Economy class as Club with Club prices when the seats are still as good as in an Economy cabin.
I agree Mike.
In the USA and Asia where domestic business is 2 x 2 narrow body aircraft with wider seats with more recline this is perfect for the job.
Unfortunately in Europe business class now means an economy seat with lounge access and a free meal.
It probably wouldn’t have been more profitable but I think if BA had gone 2 x 2 for business and operated a policy of bumping up status holders (or flex ticket holders etc) to business when economy is full I think it would have created a much better customer perception of the airline.
They could even run 3 cabin classes if they wanted, “proper” business 2×2, premium eco 3×3 with complimentary food and bagggage then economy HBO with anything extra paid for.
It’s clear from the LCC’s the demand for HBO is huge, BA need to find a way of getting some of that market without compromising the brand image, they’ve failed on the second part of that currently.
Business Class also gets you another piece of luggage, and possibly up to 32kg each piece rather than just 23kg, on a lot of airlines.
Airline profits have rocketed sky high in the past 2 or 3 years. Passengers are now being made to pay literally £00’s for what we used to have included in every fare before. Specifically for BA, travelling Business Class avoids excess charges that weren’t there before. The British Airways charge for luggage has now reached £200 per piece of luggage longhaul and the real gobsmacker – £65 per piece shorthaul. Business gets luggage included. So these charges are not added just to get a piece of luggage – that you will more or less always need particularly longhaul – onto the plane with you now.
HBO fares, as predicted, have been a “3 card lady” trick to achieve this. HBO fares were introduced at a slightly lower fare charge than a luggage-inclusive previous basic fare. Now the airlines have the process underway, of removing luggage from the fares most people can afford without status.
So again, lounges and free food/alcohol is not the only benefit of status. Due to these wheezes by the airlines, luggage being included with status is worth far, far more than a few drinks. British Airways, the Lufthansa grouping, have now caught up with these too.
*these charges are not added –> now added correction
Yeah but the difference between HBO & Economy Plus is only £16, so that’s the real cost of a piece of checked luggage (in Europe).
And luckily Avios reward flights include 1 item of checked luggage.
You’d have to be a bit of a harebrain to pay £65.
I do hope you are right Harry but my assessment on the first two items you mention is
“That’s “for now” “.
Give it another 18-24 months or so and watch the 3-card lady trick complete.