At this stage I think Aer Lingus can no longer claim to offer a higher service level than Ryanair on short-haul routes.
At 'this' stage ???
Aer Lingus are a carbon copy of RyanAir dressed up as a flag carrier.
I honestly don't understand how anyone can say that Aer Lingus are good and in the same breath slate RyanAir off.
At least you know what to expect from RA, whereas AL have this funny idea that
because they're Aer Lingus they get to charge you more and treat you exactly the same way!!! The mind boggles at the number of people who swallow this too !
I flew with AL to Italy last September to get married. The flight left Dublin at 6:30 or so. at the time of checkin, there were at least 10-15 AL flights open for checkin, some transatlantic and other longer haul than ours. There was one desk open...ONE !
there were over a thousand passengers (no exaggeration) queued up to use the kiosks and then queue again for the one desk to check in baggage. The lucky few with only carry-on were an insignificant number. Eventually extra staff arrived to man the desks, about an hour later. The plane then sat on the tarmac for an hour with us on board while they refueled (which I thought was illegal)!!!
AL have sold out a long time ag to the likes of RyanAir....I honestly don't see why they were so worried about Michael O'Leary buying shares in them. They're obviously playing the same game, just one is up front and honest about it !
No affiliation with either (thankfully), just a normal cat in cattle class !
PK