BA news: flights to Lapland launched, Dublin flights now using Aer Lingus lounge

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• Leanid says:

  7 Jun7 June 09:00

  Just booked Ivalo over Xmas period. Real bargain compared to travel agents.
  Looking forward to a once in a lifetime Xmas experience with a family.
  Thank you for heads up HFP!!!

• James C says:

  7 Jun7 June 09:12

  I’m not sure the EI lounge is a step up from the DAA lounge… A sentence I never thought I’d write but Dublin could with an Aspire/ Escape style third party lounge…

  • Blair Waldorf Salad says:

    7 Jun7 June 16:27

    The EI lounge in DUB T2 is a step up from DAA T1 in terms of hard product – private seating, spacious shower rooms, ambience (is that hard product..?

    On food, DAA T1 lounge smacks EI’s ar5e though. A really good breakfast spread and beyond the usual hot breakfast stuff, a lovely variety of fresh breads, scones and pastries. I’m forever mystified by how Brits put up with eating ‘yesterday’s bake’ in hotels and lounges.

• Panda Mick says:

  7 Jun7 June 09:14

  So, some thoughts:

  Saariselka is an amazing place, even if you don’t have kids! Flew with Finn air from London a couple of winters ago, and getting off the plane was a brutal introduction to the cold of a Finnish winter!

  Firstly, Saariselka is NOT Rovaniemi. There’s no brashness or commercialisation, so if it’s Father Christmas you want to see, you’ll be disappointed.

  There’s no air bridges at Ivalo airport where you land, so if you have difficulty with stairs, this may be an issue. I don’t know if BA will be laying on a bus, but there is a scheduled coach from / too the airport, and the view from the coach is lovely!

  I stayed at the main hotel in town (Lapland Hotels Riekonlinna), , right next to the coach stop. Wasn’t expensive (can’t remember the cost). Breakfast was amazing: Spruce tips on your porridge are amazing! You won’t be disappointed. My room had it’s own sauna in too. Within the hotel is a place to rent skis and things if you’re going to do nordic skiing (trails start within a couple of hundred metres of the hotel. I think you can also book tours here as well

  The ski resort in town is a 15 minute walk. Not big hills but there’s something cool about skiing at the northernmost ski resort in the world! Again, wasn’t expensive.

  Dog sledding was a taxi ride away. There’s a million companies, and whilst this wasn’t cheap, it was amazing. Two of you share a sled. Be prepared for much smelliness when you first start, though! But, and incredible experience!

  There’s plenty of places to take a snow mobile too: I rented from the petrol station in town, who kit you out in wonderful thermals. The trails are well marked, but really take you into the back country! Doing 100kmph uphill was just incredible and, possibly, horse riding aside, the most exhilarating thing I’ve ever done! There’s a little cafe in the petrol station too that has the most incredible and affordable food!

  I didn’t have chance to go spend time on the Lake at Ivalo…. If you’re lucky, you may be able to see some of the car manufacturers testing cars: I was lucky enough to have the McLaren team stating in the hotel whilst I was there

  There’s plenty of places to eat in town: The hotel is surprisingly good, and there’s an Irish bar with live music next door: The Finnish Irish band that was playing was REALLY good

  I’m hoping to take my sister and nieces next year for their chrimbo pressies. One of the best holidays I’ve had!

  • Harry T says:

    7 Jun7 June 11:55

    Sounds terrific!

  • SammyJ says:

    7 Jun7 June 12:33

    Thank you, I booked on a whim yesterday for 27-31st Dec and this is exactly the sort of info I need!

  • SBIre says:

    7 Jun7 June 22:51

    Great tips – cheers!

• Kevin says:

  7 Jun7 June 09:37

  I have always found the food in T1 DAA lounge perfectly adequate .Lunchtime onwards soup and excellent sandwiches and salads. Only problem is that its become popular and is very crowded. How does the T2 Aer Lingus lounge compare. I cant find any recent reviews anywhere

  • B Murphy-Ryan says:

    7 Jun7 June 10:50

    It’s virtually identical food to the T2 DAA lounge next door which is priority pass too – apart from maybe a few more snacks and barista coffee (if they make it – usually staff avoid being near to not be asked). The layout is better and a little less rammed usually, they also have showers for long-haul transfers + dare I say it lounge dragons, who are actually friendly as ever but sternly steering away any poor BA Gold member who is flying to a regional airport and can’t come in.

    • Brian says:

      7 Jun7 June 12:04

      How recently has the T1 DAA lounge got more crowded? I tried to get in the last time I was passing through DUB with a priority pass but they were not accepting entrants. I put it down to the fact that it was an abnormally busy day as there were mass cancellations the previous day (possibly due to bad weather). Prior to that I never had any issue getting into either the T1 or T2 DAA loungers with PP. I’ll be there 3 times in the next 6 months so not gaining access to any lounge could end up being the deal breaker for me resulting in me walking away from PP.

      On a slightly similar note, I’ve heard that Aer Lingus now operate a lot of their LHR flights out of T1 gates? Has anyone experienced this?

      Also, Aer Lingus DUB – LHR redemption availability and pricing is great at the moment. Secretly hoping it doesn’t become more widely used going forward.

      • Blair Waldorf Salad says:

        7 Jun7 June 16:30

        Quite normal for EI short haul services to depart from a T1 gate. T2 has the US pre clearance and was built for US-bound ‘clean’ passengers on lower level, and European short haul gates on upper level. Over time as US routes have expanded, the US clean area has had to extend up to the upper level. For a time this involved DAA hi vis staffers putting a tensabarrier across and shooing away any non-US bound passengers who approached the far end of the upper level. Doors are now in place.

        • Brian says:

          7 Jun7 June 17:00

          It’s a long time since I’ve made it to the far end of the lower level so wasn’t aware the US clean area has extended up that far. I’ve flown short haul Aer Lingus out of T1 a few times but what I read recently is that all flights to LHR go from T1 now. Doesn’t particularity bother me if I can continue to get into the T1 DAA lounge with Priority Pass as I prefer it (but it’s never been overly busy when I’m there).

• NorthernLass says:

  7 Jun7 June 10:32

  Flying in BA ET, DUB-LHR, in November, I will be either silver or gold and OH blue – will I be able to guest him into the DUB lounge or is it just the status pax who gets access?

  • Earthman says:

    7 Jun7 June 12:36

    You will be able to guest

    • NorthernLass says:

      7 Jun7 June 14:07

      Thank you! I was possibly getting mixed up with EI rules.

• riku says:

  7 Jun7 June 10:36

  It is nice that Ivalo flights also get the higher tier points that Finnair flights to Helsinki still get. Now that BA don’t fly to Helsinki, the points to the UK are out of line with other Finnair destinations (you get more tier points for HEL-MAN than HEL-DUB even though the flight to Dublin is longer than to Manchester)

• Jack says:

  7 Jun7 June 11:45

  The DAA lounge is far superior to the EI lounge in T2
  The EI lounge has appalling food choices, its usually just soup and sandwiches.. sandwiches which are not put out until 11AM. Other than beer / wine no hard liquor put out till after 11AM too. The lounge tends at times to be actually full to the rafters, mostly in the morning to early afternoon with TA passengers, most of whom are American using their credit card issued lounge access for the EI lounge

  The DAA lounge can get busy too but has a better food choice with their Lounge in T1 offering a hot buffet style breakfast in the mornings. They also do not impose the stupid “No hard liquor” before 11AM rule that EI impose

  • Nick says:

    7 Jun7 June 12:09

    Agree with the other commenters on Dublin lounge, the just-left one in T1 is pretty decent now they’ve brought back hot food, and BA customers got prioritised (= never turned away) if it was busy.

    The EI lounge in T2 has a very poor food selection and feels more cramped. It does have free-pour booze rather than a staffed bar though, which is all that counts to many on here.

    Most of the effort at DUB went into the post-pre-clearance lounge, not the regular ones.

    • Blair Waldorf Salad says:

      7 Jun7 June 16:33

      The post-US pre clearance lounge though controversially does not serve pork. Because they won’t bother with the hassle of the paperwork required to ‘import’ it into the US part of DUB. Thus no pork sausages or bacon in the mornings. The astonishment for new visitors at this state of affairs is audible.

• BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

  7 Jun7 June 12:28

  The terminal change does appear to have made doing a true back-2-back at DUB much easier than it was at T1

  This post has a good description and photos

  https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/36287078-post104.html

  Though there are currently 2 experiences so far so there may be some minor changes and tips to improve the experience to come.

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