George Nugent Travels

Background

I was booked to fly with Aer Lingus Regional from Glasgow to Belfast for a day trip on July 1st, however, the operator of those flights, a company called Stobart Air collapsed cancelling all Aer Lingus flights to Belfast (apart from London Heathrow flights.)

Therefore, Air Lingus themselves stepped in to operate an emergency timetable to some destinations. Although Glasgow was not one of those saved, Edinburgh was. So I was rebooked onto a flight from Edinburgh returning the next day, (not great, but could have been worse)

Boarding the flight

This was a painless experience and was done in a Covid safe way to minimise queues and human contact.

The aircraft was boarded from the back working forward so you didn’t need to walk past people. Small groups were called in order of seat number.

To minimise contact, you scan your own boarding pass, and briefly pull down your mask when showing your ID so they can verify it is you.

The Photo’s below are from the Aer Lingus Media Centre and show the process I have outlined above.

The crew were waiting at the door of the aircraft and greeted everyone who boarded, in my opinion this is important as it allows you to interact with the crew, who make or break many flights.

Within 20 minutes all 69 passengers were onboard the Airbus A320 waiting to take us to Belfast. The captain announced that the flight would take just 27 minutes and there would be some good views departing Edinburgh.

The Flight

The flight was uneventful. No onboard service was provided partly due to the short flight time and due to a lack of catering facilities at Belfast for Aer Lingus (the original plan was these flights would be on ATR-72’s not A320’s)

Despite the different aircraft being used the views immediately after take-off were one of the best I have ever seen from a plane.

Despite the lack of service the crew were actively walking through the cabin and checking that all the passengers were comfortable. Water was offered to any passenger who wanted it, and before we knew it we were descending into Belfast City.

Descending into Belfast City was smooth apart from the cabin crew accidently saying “we have now began our decent into Dublin.”

My Final Thoughts

• On-Time departure and early arrival.
• Friendly Crew
• Comfortable Seat
• Able to save money with Avios Points

• £18 Admin Fee charged by the airline
• Only 1 flight per day considering the original frequency of 2 flights per day

Ultimately, Aer Lingus were a great airline to fly on and definitely one that I would fly on again. However, if I was doing a short flight to Northern Ireland I would fly with the cheapest airline on the route.

I can’t wait to fly Aer Lingus again, either back to Ireland or on one of their long haul flights to America.