Needing to get to Dublin for a wedding from Newcastle in June and find Aer Lingus' scheduling rather maddening

They only operate Newcastle-Dublin during the football season, though since a certain Irishman no longer manages Sunderland I wonder if they'll re-instate them. Alas I'm not keen on using Ryanair!

Aer Lingus is to make cuts in its Gatwick operations, due to weak demand ... click here for more details.

David

Early indication is that only Gatwick to Dublin, Knock, Malaga and Cork are to remain...(not confirmed).

Nivsy

Weak demand prompts Aer Lingus Gatwick cuts


Aer Lingus has confirmed cutbacks to services at Gatwick due to weak demand.

The fleet based at the London airport will reduce from five to three Airbus A320s from March 31.

The three aircraft will continue to serve existing routes to Malaga, Dublin and Knock and a new route to Cork.

A statement said: "Aer Lingus anticipates that demand will remain soft for the first six months of 2010 and the group will therefore maintain its focus on tight capacity management to improve yields.

"In this context, Aer Lingus has decided to implement changes to its London Gatwick base.

"These changes reflect weak consumer demand and continuing challenges in the UK operating environment, which have impacted aviation sector performance generally."

The airline said it expects to report a small operating profit before exceptional items for the second half of 2009.

"This performance primarily reflects better than expected yields in the second half of 2009, which have been driven by removal of a long haul aircraft in September and tactical route cancellations in November," the Irish carrier said.

It has agreed on the deferral of two A320 aircraft originally due for delivery in October and November 2010 to April and May 2011, respectively.

This is in addition to earlier deferrals previously announced. Aer Lingus negotiated the revised delivery schedule at no additional cost.

Aer Lingus' total passenger numbers last month in were 766,000, an increase of 9% compared to December 2008.

Short haul passengers were 693,000, a 13.2% increase and long haul passengers were 73,000, a 19.8% drop.

With permission from Travelmole

Ahh cheer david ^^^^ the above probably explains why theres are no flights after 27th march from eindhoven anymore! coming home on the 28th, was waiting for a better price and now theres no flights doh!

Looks like im getting up early and catching a train to schipol then.

Hi Fil ... I don't know about that specific route, but I believe that Easyjet are considering some of the routes which Aer Lingus are giving up, and plan to make an announcement within the next few weeks.

David

cheers will hold fire for a bit then.

fingers crossed for easyjet - stansted to eindhoven

but gatwick will do

Aer Lingus and Ryanair are cancelling a number of flights, in anticipation of industrial action by air traffic controllers from 2pm to 6pm on Wednesday. If it goes ahead, the industrial action will affect flights to/from Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports, as well as other flights passing through Irish airspace. Anyone due to fly to/from Ireland on Wednesday is advised to verify the status of their flight with the airline.

David

AerLingus maybe joining the Star Alliance by the end of March. It was during the time of Willie Walsh now with BA that they stepped away from the One World alliance.

Nivsy

Aer Lingus cancelled my flight home from Barcelona to Dublin over a month ago. We were only notified at the airport. No assistance whatsoever at airport as no rep even appeared, just some Spanish airport staff who weren't associated with the airline at all. Everyone had to make their own arrangements to get themselves home. I've written to them twice since then claiming a refund of the flight / reimbursement of costs etc but they haven't replied at all. Anyone any idea how to follow this up when they just won't engage?
Customer service used to be great but obviously no longer.

Aer Lingus as far as I am aware are obliged to notify customers of any cancelled flights. While you were in Barcelona did you have access to your e mail account?

If you have not already done so, check the attached link and also check your travel insurance if you had any.

http://www.aerlingus.com/i18n/en/htmlPopups/conds_of_carriage.html

Nivsy

I have never used them before.

I have just prices GLA-DUB-JFK return in November and I am getting flights for £464.55 for 2 adults.

Is this to good to be true?

I understand they operate a small prop plane GLA-DUB but not sure what they use across the water as website only shows 3CO.

Any ideas?

Helen

helen1985,

Aer Lingus Regional (operated on their behalf by Aer Arann) are operated by an ATR72. Flights to JFK are operated by an Airbus A330-300.

Darren

Aer Arann enters examinership

Aer Arann, franchise partner of Aer Lingus, has entered voluntary examinership this evening following a petition to the High Court in Dublin. The company does not expect services to be affected during this process.

For more info in our Aer Arann topic, please click here.

David

Flying to Malaga from Gatwick on 17th May departs at 11.00, does this include a free meal service or are all refreshments bought on board, if so are they just snacks or hot food? If not can get something at the airport, just need to know. Return at 15.30 same question?

The short answer is "get your wallet/purse out to eat...

the link below should answer your question:

http://www.aerlingus.com/help/help/inflight/#d.en.1595

Nivsy

Irish airline threatens to cancel all flights next week

Aer Lingus has warned that it might have to cancel all flights from next Tuesday after pilots voted in favour of industrial action.

The airline also claims the pilots' decision not to work on rostered rest days or annual leave days and to report an hour late for duty could continue to disrupt flights throughout the summer.

Members of the Irish Airline's Pilots' Association based in Dublin and Cork voted in favour of industrial action after talks with the airline broke down.

Chief executive Christoph Mueller said: "This may lead to a full cancellation of operations from Tuesday June 7 unless IALPA/IMPACT stand down their action."

Aer Lingus said it had invited the unions to further talks to resolve the dispute, which centres around new rosters.

"Should this action proceed, it will have a significant adverse effect on profitability, occurring as it does in the peak summer season," it added in a statement.

With permission from Travelmole

the pilots' decision not to work on rostered rest days or annual leave days

eh? refusing to work when they are supposed to be on holiday will disrupt the airline? Maybe O'Leary has been right about how badly Aer Lingus is run! No doubt his view will be along shortly...

I suspect that this is a badly worded reference to what we used to know as an overtime ban or work to rule! In other words, they've announced that if they are off work then they are off work and there's no point in phoning up to ask them if they will cover for sick or absent colleagues or crews that have been 'timed out'. Depending on how many pilots they have sitting around being paid to do nothing as part of contingency arrangements for such eventualities, this might or might not cause disruption to schedules. It would be interesting to know how frequently Aer Lingus, or any other airline for that matter, needs to call in staff to work on their days off. And whether they do ever cancel crews pre-booked annual leave if they need them on duty.

At the University where I work, staff often end up working weekends or working later into the evening in order to ensure that stuff gets done in order to meet deadlines - especially at this time of year in the run up to Graduation. A refusal to work on our 'rostered days off' or everybody insisting on going home at 5pm would cause chaos and perhaps the pilots are expecting the same?

SM