Also see:

• Trip Report: Aer Lingus NEW Business Class BOS-DUB

Happy to continue my Ireland series after the good news that the country is moving to legalize gay marriage. I saw the signs up everywhere when I was there to “Vote Yes” or “Vote No” and it seems that they’ve collectively decided to lead the 21st Century. Congratulations to Ireland!

If you’re interested in the new Aer Lingus business class product, you’ll want to also read my review of the BOS-DUB flight.

The key difference is that BOS-DUB is a red-eye whereas DUB-BOS is a daytime/lunch flight.

After an amazing flight over, I was excited to see how the finer points of service would differ during the day flight.

Flight details:

• Aer Lingus Flight 137
• May 5th, 2015
• Depart: 11:50am
• Arrive: 1:45pm
• Duration: Duration: 6H, 46M
• Aircraft: Airbus A330-200
• Distance: 2,983 mi

First impressions

It was nice to see the cabin in the daylight. The colors they’ve chosen for the cabin (light and dark gray with splashes of emerald and lime green), really pop. It’s a really nice ode to the “Emerald Isle.”

The flight attendants on this flight were far more practical and “get ‘er done” than on the flight over. The one flight attendant was all about business, which is fine. But the flight over was more relaxed.

Whereas amenity kits and menus were distributed after takeoff on the flight over, on this flight, they’d already placed both on the seats before we boarded.

The FAs still made sure to ply us with pre-departure beverages. I had a mimosa and Jay had champagne.

The seat

The same seat as the flight over. I didn’t make use of the lie-flat function on this flight, but I did turn on the back massage and kicked back with my feet up. What a feeling!

If you’re traveling solo, I’d recommend getting a single seat on either side of the cabin. That way, you’ll have both privacy and aisle access.

And if you’re flying with a partner, all the other seats that are next to each other are pretty much the same. The only difference is the aisle access. I like being in the middle so that I could get up and “move about the cabin” whenever I wanted to. The 3rd and 4th rows are good – close to the bathrooms but not so close to the service area.

Meal service

This is really what I wanted to focus on, as it would be the single biggest difference from the flight over: lunch instead of dinner.

I’ll show you the menus, then the food pics. Lunch was served shortly after takeoff, then afternoon tea was served about an hour before we touched down at BOS.

There was also an amuse bouche. And, like last time, I ate all of it before I could get a picture. LOL. Before I knew it, it was gone!

I ordered the mozzarella salad for an app, salmon for main course, and the Italian red wine to go with the meal.

After the main meal, we were offered raspberry fool for dessert and coffee or tea.

Flash forward a few more hours, and then I had cheese board, a coffee, and a Bailey’s. When in Ireland… 🙂

I must say, for flight food, the meals were damn yummy. The salmon was tender and flavorful. The wines were well-chosen and very tasty. Even the little things like the side salad and dinner rolls were good. I was impressed with the quality of the meal service on both flights.

Not only that, but the pacing and presentation were both straightforward, not fussy, but still elegant.

In-Flight Entertainment

Slightly different selection than the flight over. There was “Birdman” and “Into the Woods” and a few other recent releases, as well as films shot in/focused on Ireland, of course.

The screen is pretty large, and can be controlled by remote or by touch, which is pretty cool.

There was a reading light attached to the seat, and “mood lighting” that could be switched off to make it really dark so you can see the screen more clearly.

We were also given noise-canceling headphones to use for the flight. I opted to just wear the headphones and type out some blog posts. 🙂

How I Did It

I found Aer Lingus award availability on United.com, then called British Airways to redeem 50,000 Avios for the round-trip ticket.

This particular award (BOS-DUB) was a sweet spot in the Avios program for a long time. Unfortunately, the award has increased to 75,000 Avios round-trip. Even still, for a nice seat in the sky and a direct flight to Dublin, it’s pretty good. Especially as business class tickets can be thousands of dollars.

Also, Dublin is quite a nice hub for European air traffic. You can fly into Dublin and then it’s a quick flight to anywhere in Western Europe.

Even though the value proposition of this particular award isn’t as good with Avios, it’s still worth it if you really want to visit Ireland, and if flying out of Boston is easy for you. So there’s that, at least.

Overall

I loved being able to experience the refreshed Aer Lingus business class while it was still new. You could tell the flight attendants were proud of the refresh and the aircraft. And you know what? They should be. We have a lovely flight that was relaxing and smooth. Couldn’t ask for much more.

And you know what else? Congrats to Ireland on their major democratic victory, and on being the 1st country to vote gay marriage into legislation. Simply wonderful.

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