Aer Lingus ends flights between Belfast City and Heathrow

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• Niall says:

  22 Oct22 October 09:03

  Aer Lingus are still selling flights although prices mad in 2023. They must be serious about trying to operate again. Or perhaps they’ll just get BA to operate those flights for them(?) as 3 flights daily from BA will not be enough.

• Mikeact says:

  22 Oct22 October 09:42

  There’s always the Southampton option to get over to Belfast…if you don’t mind being ripped off over pricing.

• Nick says:

  22 Oct22 October 09:59

  Has this changed since last week? I haven’t heard that it has… and if not, it’s not that EI aren’t operating any more, it’s just that they have wet leased it to BA. It will operate from T2 and be coded EI. Important for lounge and points!

  • Bagoly says:

    22 Oct22 October 13:13

    I understand the difference between “marketed by” and the typical “operated by”.
    And I know what a wet lease is.
    But now I am unsure whether “operated by” splits into two cases.
    When providing a wet lease, is it the supplier or the customer which is the Operator?
    i.e. can one have Marketing, Operating, and Flying by different companies?
    Or is it Marketing, “someother term” and Operating?
    If three separate companies, the one in the middle employs, sorry, contracts with a staffing company for, the ground staff – does it do anything else?

    • Nick says:

      22 Oct22 October 13:53

      Operating airline is technically the airline responsible for a flight’s operation. It’s often lazily called ‘metal’ as it usually has the airline’s logo on the side of the plane, but as here this doesn’t always hold true. In this case it’s an EI flight with an EI prime code… so EI do all the seating assignments, pay for points and set lounge policy. All BA does is provide the aircraft and crew – who follow their own safety SOPs (but typically not service ones). It’s exactly the same as the flights Finnair operated for BA earlier this year, or Ryanair operated for BA a few years ago. You’ll be departed using EI systems (not BA’s Amadeus set-up). It gets confusing because BA will also sell these flights directly, but only in the sense they do today. Will end up being quite weird, with a BA codeshare on a EI prime flight actually operated by BA. Hope the pilots get their legal disclosure statement correct!

      It’s the same in other industries. If you buy a coach ticket from company X but they don’t have a vehicle available, they can subcontract a lease from company Y. Your contract always remains with X and you liaise when them for servicing, etc. Bringing it back to this case, if you need to raise an EU261 claim, it will be against EI, not BA.

      • Michael says:

        22 Oct22 October 18:56

        It gets more confusing than that.

        I’m looking at booking flights from BHD to the near continent for work. The options sent include some with a connection in LHR. They involve an EI prime numbered flight from BHD to LHR “operated by Aer Lingus UK” but presumably now wet-leased to BA!

        The worrying thing for us BHD-based flyers is that we know that EI will get you there with minimal delay while BA hide behind excuses: single snow flake, it’s Heathrow, we’re not sure as we don’t pay for a ground service at BHD anymore…. you can ask if/when you ever get to London…..

• brian says:

  22 Oct22 October 10:11

  Just phoned Aer Lingus about an existing avios booking in late November The agent – after checking twice with his managers – assures me there are no changes to this flight and I must wait for an email if there are changes;- Essentially he doesn’t believe you???

  • Nick says:

    22 Oct22 October 12:19

    @Brian, see above – Rob has misreported this news. EI flights will continue – as EI flights – they’ll just be operated by BA under a wetlease arrangement. Sales, seating, terminals, points and lounges will all be under EI codes, not BA.

    • brian says:

      22 Oct22 October 13:54

      Many thanks Nick….slap on the wrist (gently) for Rob methinks…

      • Rob says:

        22 Oct22 October 14:09

        Not sure which bit of it you have a problem with. Aer Lingus issued the statement to us which is in the article. It has got rid of its 30 staff at Belfast City. BA has replaced it in operating flights. The only thing not in the original article was that it is being treated as a wet lease, presumably to keep the slots at Heathrow.

        • Michael says:

          22 Oct22 October 18:59

          It’s only staff based at BHD were cabin crew and those are being offered redeployment to exDUB TATL flights. Flight crew operated on W patterns via LHR with night stops or were taxied in from DUB. Ground services were supplied by Menzies, not sure if they have switched to Swissport to be same as BA.

          Aer Lingus UK are based at BHD but presumably that is just a room somewhere….

• ADS says:

  22 Oct22 October 11:24

  “The last Aer Lingus service will be the early morning departure on Sunday 30th October”

  A flight search on the Aer Lingus website for 30th October shows all three flights “Operated by British Airways for Aer Lingus Uk”

  So it looks like the last EI flight will now be on Saturday 29th October

• James Harper says:

  22 Oct22 October 14:06

  Aer Lingus at Belfast.

  Brexit, the gift that keeps on taking and taking and taking. Soon there will be nothing left.

  • Craig says:

    22 Oct22 October 15:02

    Depends if you like Brussels being your “capital” and being totally subservient to the EU “Lord and Masters”?

    Guess so.

    But anyway… Head for POINTS rather than Head for POLITICS 😉

    • David says:

      22 Oct22 October 16:24

      Craig – what a complete misunderstanding of the EU.

      • Craig says:

        22 Oct22 October 19:45

        David – really? (Yawn)

    • KevinS says:

      22 Oct22 October 18:21

      London is the capital of the uk. Not sure what you’re going on about

      • Craig says:

        22 Oct22 October 19:46

        KevinS – not in EU Land it’s not, it’s Brussels.

        • David says:

          23 Oct23 October 00:14

          Rubbish, you have no understanding of how things work. That’s just nonsense invented by the UK tabloids.

    • Alan says:

      22 Oct22 October 20:29

      Wow, you really still belive that after the chaos we’ve had since then?

    • Callum says:

      22 Oct22 October 22:55

      I can’t believe it’s an apparent shock to you that someone might prefer the EU to the Conservative party – do you reside under a rock?

      There’s also been a very curious silence from those so passionate about democracy that they can’t stomach the EU structure as we’re about to get yet another PM without a public vote, from a party that got a minority share of the vote, from a party who ripped up the manifesto they stood on and from a party that refuses to call a general election despite there being a clear majority of the public who wants one.

  • Alan says:

    22 Oct22 October 20:29

    Yep, still waiting to see one of these unicorn-esque fabled Brexit benefits…

• 1ATL says:

  22 Oct22 October 16:20

  I’m sure you can imagine how many reader emails I receive each week saying ‘Do you know if Marriott is planning to add more brands, because 30 simply isn’t anywhere near enough?’

  Lower single digits surely?

• Michael says:

  22 Oct22 October 19:05

  If you want to feel the full force of Brexit, catch one of the EI flights from LHR to BHD where they are rotating the single BHD-based A320 with a DUB plane. The plane from LHR to BHD will have been catered in DUB (as they don’t upload catering in LHR) so the offer will be tea and coffee and biscuits. No bar (customs related as UK duty would have to be paid on bar). And on the flight I was on there was no food but unsure if that was because they ran out in last flight of day or if EU related.

  Catching last flight of the day after a full day at work and expecting a measly sandwich and G&T is now a thing of the past (was on an AerSpace ticket so part of the offering before anyone starts…)

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