Early last December Aer John ran me to ask if I had any trips planned for 2015. The reason? He wanted to give me a combined birthday and Christmas present of a flight and where would I like to go? “Oooh!” squealed I, excitedly! “San Francisco, please - and in Business!” Not that I am demanding or anything, but having carted him around the world in UC during his formative years, I felt it was now payback time.
I only had a small window of opportunity to take this trip but dates were decided upon and I sat back to wait for my ticket to arrive. Birthday and Christmas came and went but nothing plopped into my Inbox (and I didn’t get any “replacement” pressies, so I had to trust that everything was OK) until, one afternoon exactly one month after my birthday, my phone pinged and there in all their glory, were two e-tickets; one the economy one and the second my upgrade! They were both standby but I had expected that and a few minutes later, a text message arrived with a photo of the print-out Aer John had received and hand-written on the bottom were the magic words “1st on the list for upgrade” YAY! 
Unless Enda Kenny and his cronies decided that they needed to be in San Francisco, I was good to go. Fortunately the IAG bid for Aer Lingus occupied his time and thus did not thwart my plans!I debated as to whether I would take the (free for me) train to Dublin with the hassle of getting from the railway station to the airport or whether to drive there and swithered between the two options. However Aer John solved it by requesting that he could borrow my car while I was away and so the day before the flight I had a very pleasant trundle up to Dublin, checking into the Carlton Hotel in DUB which I can heartily recommend - after all, I couldn’t ask his flat-mate to vacate her bedroom on a school night. Aer John and his girl-friend (yes, those of you who remember him as a rather churlish teenager, he’s at that stage! After all, it’s about ten years since we first met V-Flyers in the CH in LHR!) joined me for dinner and a very pleasant evening it was too but as we were all tired, we didn’t delay too long.
Next morning I woke up at about 5am and unable to get back to sleep, got up and after breakfast, headed off to the airport where Aer John joined me to walk me through check-in. I have to admit, it made me feel special!
Aer Lingus recommends that you check-in 3 hours before a transatlantic trip and I was within that time frame in spite of his protestations that it was too soon. He was right. Check-in was very quiet, mainly because of the fact that the first bank of early morning flights had left. With a swift glance around the area, he opined that we should go over to the Business check-in which was deserted and the check-in girl was having a nice cosy chat with the girl at the next desk. We fetched up in front of her and John presented her with my documents. Her wide, welcoming smile rapidly faded as she scanned the documents and insisted that we go to the Standby Desk at the opposite end of the concourse. Aer John politely stated that he had checked in at this desk in the past for standby, but no dice. There was obviously a juicy bit of gossip to be finished and so off we went as bidden. 
We waited until another couple had been processed. I was then dealt with by as nice a lady as you could wish to meet. She obviously recognised Aer John’s pride in giving his mum such a treat (long overdue) and pulled out all the stops! She made sure I had my ESTA, did my APD which I couldn’t do beforehand, made sure I had a window seat and rang the duty manager as a protocol and really went out of her way to make it feel special even congratulating Aer John for giving me such a treat (long overdue)! 
Security was a breeze as, even though I went through the business channel, the airport was quiet at that time. There had been no mention of a lounge but, after a quick flit around the shops to pick up one or two items I had forgotten to pack, Aer John escorted me up there to a warm welcome. My flight was at 12.20pm and although my boarding pass said the gate closed at 10.35, I was told I would be called for Pre-clearance at 11am. The check-in lady had said the same so I wasn’t fazed by this information. Aer John gave me a swift tour and then said a fond farewell as I helped myself to a cup of tea and a biscuit
(yes, truly! I was pacing myself and nice as though the lounge was, it was no CH!) Around 11am I started to get my bits and bobs together to make my way to Pre-clearance but as I was passing the desk, the lady there, after checking that I was on the 147, informed me that it was delayed as the incoming aircraft was not due in until 12.15 and that there was a new departure time of 1.15pm. We would therefore now be called at 12 noon. Part of me was thinking that they would never turn around an A330 in an hour but who was I to question that 
and instead, decided that it was now G&T o’clock! Glass in hand, I decided it was now time to explore further and so headed up to the mezzanine area to investigate. Pity that the blinds were down to obscure the view from the viewing area! Overall, though, the lounge was very nice.In the fullness of time, at 12 noon we were called for Pre-clearance (only TATL flights are called in the lounge). At that stage you have gone up two levels for security and the main departure lounge but for boarding of all but the transatlantic flights and for the lounges you go down one level and for pre-clearance you go down one level more to ground level. On arriving there I headed for the Business lane where a family was being processed by the guy checking customs forms. As I waited, a young man fetched up in the lane beside me and when the customs guy was finished, he was waved forward while I was left chuntering away to myself about the iniquity of being overlooked. However Fate/Karma/whateveryouwanttocallit stepped in. Yer man had obviously checked-in on line and printed his boarding pass and had failed to complete a customs form. In vain did he plead he had nothing to declare; he was sent away with a flea in his ear to do so, and to join a load of others who also had not been aware of the requirements. I was then called forward and greeted most pleasantly by the American guy who was processing these and I must say it was a joy to be greeted by someone who did not think that I was there to subvert the Constitution. From there it was on to security and I was aware that I had the dreaded SSSS on my boarding pass. I’d kinda half expected it because, as a standby passenger, I was technically on a one-way ticket. I was frisked and swabbed within an inch of my life before being allowed through to the CBP proper. Having ascertained that I had an on-going ESTA, I was directed to the machines - there were about 8 in all. They were relatively easy to use and there was a guy there who was checking that everyone was coping with them. When the print-out came out I was directed to one lane along with many others and looking at it, I had a big X over part of it. At this stage I felt I would have been through quicker if I had gone directly to an agent! When I finally got to the desk, the guy there was the most pleasant and informative I have ever experienced. OK, so I have experienced pleasant ones but this guy explained exactly why I had to go to an agent. He saw that my last entry to the US was via Vancouver and that it was on a new passport and that the positioning of the fingerprints were not quite aligned on that entry to what they should have been in comparison to my old passport! He repositioned my fingers and told me I should have no further problems on entering the US via kiosk. It is the first time I have ever been given feedback from a CBP person and it really was most welcome.
And of course, I was now technically in the USA.Once through, I proceeded to the gate area. It was reminiscent of the holding lounges in both LHR and LGW except that they were only on one side of the corridor so that passengers on flights from opposite gates were in the same area. Further down there was a bar and (according to Aer John, a WH Smith - or equivalent and a duty-free shop. I didn’t get that far!) The waiting area was for both the SFO flight and the later BOS flight. Normally it would not have been so busy but the delay for the SFO did not help. There was the screaming baby and an entourage of family trying to console it, Mr and Mrs Dublin 4 were looking snootily down their noses at anyone who was not suited and booted to their standards (and that was just about everyone) and many were lining the tables along the corridor with pints of Guinness - everything normal there then. My flight was pushed back further till 1.45 pm and in the fullness of time the BOS flight was called and with it, the departure of Mr and Mrs Dublin 4 - but alas, not the screaming baby (who incidentally screamed on and off throughout the whole flight!)!
Eventually the boarding call came for my flight, with the preliminary call for those with young children and needing extra help of which there were no takers and so Business class was called. I happened to be the first at the gate, thanks to a courteous young Indian young lady who yielded to my advanced years! However my boarding pass didn’t scan and after several attempts at a manual input, the gate agent turned to the guy standing beside her. He took one look at my boarding pass and in tones reminiscent of those employed by Her Majesty when Daniel Craig happened to drop by at the Olympics opening, said “Ah, Mrs honey lamb, we’ve been expecting you.” OMIGOD! Was I being parachuted into the aircraft!!!
Not at all! I arrived at the aircraft as a delightful young man took one look at my boarding pass and welcomed me by name - not Mrs honey lamb, but my first name (and no, it’s not honey!!) I was rather amused by this as I made my way to 3K. The first thing that struck me in the cabin was that on each of the seats was a coat hanger with the seat number on it - none of what you get on VS and BA of taking your coat and boarding pass to stick on the said hanger which is a bummer if you are one of these people who like to retain their boarding passes intact. The second thing was the number of cabin crew actually in the cabin for boarding. There were at least four of them. The configuration in EI at present in J is four rows of 2-2-2 so four staff seemed excessive.
However they removed coats, assisted with bags into the overhead lockers and then there was the most welcome sight of bottles of bubbly in the galley. Soon I was in possession of a glass of Jean Pernet Cuvée N.V. which was rather nice.
There was a further delay to the flight as the aircraft needed to be de-iced - not because it was especially cold that morning but because the ambient temperature had failed to melt the ice acquired on the inbound flight. That bit of techy information meant that the glasses were topped up while the rather mundane safety video was shown. Eventually some two hours later than scheduled we pushed back and in no time at all were airborne! Yay!
After take-off the extra crew who had been present during boarding went back to Economy, leaving us with two cabin crew; the Service Manager, a delightful gentleman in his mid-fifties who looked kindly and wise and I could imagine being a great dad and grandad and a lady of similar vintage who was also very nice. Henceforth I shall call them Paddy and Mary. These two sprung into action straight away, she to prepare the drinks trolley and he to distribute what he called “washbags” to the passengers. Remember the VS amenity kit bag which was also touted as an iPad cover? The EI “washbag” was the same size but far more sturdy than the VS offering and certainly more generously filled with toothbrush and toothpaste, mouthwash, socks, eye mask, earplugs, moisturiser, lip balm and a towelette.
As he distributed them, he also obligingly handed down items such as handbags which had been stowed in the overhead bins for take-off to all the passengers. Incidentally there were only eleven of us in the cabin so it really seemed airy and spacious. Following that he came round with complimentary wi-fi cards as EI’s long-haul flights are wi-fi enabled (having said that I was unable to get a connection during the flight - such first world problems!) The drinks trolley came around served by both crew. To my delight there was Tanqueray on board and without my asking, two miniatures and cans of tonic were in my possession, together with a plate of canapés which included paté, a mini cream cheese and pesto tart and some olives.
A few minutes later Mary came round with hot vegetable samosas and handed two to each of us. They were delicious. After that snack, Paddy came round with hot towels which really was most opportune as by this time our fingers were all greasy from the samosas.
Having been given enough time to enjoy our drinks, tables were set and trays brought out. For starters I chose the seafood plate which consisted of smoked trout, smoked salmon and BBQ salmon along with a salad.
The menu said that there was a selection of breads, but the selection seems to have been “Take it or leave it” as a basket of identical rolls was offered. The portion was generous and by the time I had finished it, I was feeling rather full. For a main course I chose the loin of lamb with sweet potato mash.
It was very tasty but a tad overcooked and the sweet potato mash was a bit watery and insipid. I think I would have preferred a good old floury spud! For dessert there was apple pie or apple and cinnamon cheesecake. Now I am one of the very few people who doesn’t eat cooked apple - I find it too acidic. However when I refused dessert, Mary went away and whisked up a fresh fruit salad for me along with some cheese and biccies.
Oh and the lamb was washed down by a rather nice Valpolicella. Altogether a very nice meal in spite of my earlier criticisms. While they were clearing the dishes, Paddy noticed that my glass of wine was nearly empty and he offered to top it up. I initially acquiesced but then I decided I would rather have a G&T and said so and before he could ask which one, asked for Tanqueray. Fair does to him, within minutes I was in possession of two more miniatures and cans of tonic.
While this was going on, I had turned on the IFE to see if the flight was going over my home place - not the one in County Cork but the ancestral home in County Mayo. However, the pilot took a little wiggle of a turn and went further north. If he had stayed on track going directly west I might have been able to glimpse the area I am originally from - it happened once on a VS flight to JFK and it was magical! *deep nostalgic sigh*. Instead I turned to the IFE. There was a limited selection (compared with other airlines) of recently released films but I really liked the selection of Classic movies on demand and decided for starters with Home Alone. (There were others I decided to watch later but time and the consumption of alcohol mitigated against this!) When that was finished, I turned to my iPad and tried to connect to the internet but failed miserably. However, my phone beeped with sundry text messages and though I responded to them but the reality was that none of them arrived until long after I did.
At one stage, Paddy fetched up beside me and offered me a cup of tea. How did he know that was the one thing I longed for? He offered to bring me a sandwich but really I was full. However he still brought it along with a couple of digestive biscuits. To be honest the sandwich was a bit dry and not up to the standard I had experienced on short-haul. Someone had forgotten to add the mayonnaise!
In spite of this, somewhere along the line two words were resonating in my brain - “mind blowing!” OK, there were some minor lapses in the food and the 2-2-2 config is outdated, but the service I was getting was as good as, if not better than the service I have received on many VS flights in UC and certainly way better than BA First - and I told Paddy so. And it was not directed at me personally. As far as I was concerned there was no evidence that I was being treated any difference to anyone else in the cabin.
The other thing I should mention was the fact that, like the VS A333, there was no crew rest area. I don’t know what Paddy and Mary did but at intervals, I was aware that one or other of them was missing and one of the crew that had been in the cabin pre-take- off was now in situ in the J cabin. The pilots used 4JK behind me.
At some stage (and at a much later stage in a UC flight to SFO) I felt the need to snooze and so I did for about an hour. I woke about an hour later and realised that two things were happening. The first was that a second meal service was in place but, in truth I was not hungry and so I passed even though such delights as cranberry and white chocolate scones were on offer complete with jam and cream (*Memo to self* - if ever flying EI in J again don’t have a snack between lunch and the second meal service!) The second was that the seat behind me was now occupied by a couple. Up to then it had been uninhabited other than by a pilot. Hmmm!? After the meal service, in which no doubt the interlopers in 4JK availed of my abstinence, the male member of the couple demanded his suit carrier which has been closeted in Business and therefore had travelled far better than its owner. I recognised him immediately as a Minister of State (a Junior Minister in the UK) and got annoyed as he then blocked the J toilet as he changed into his suit. Paddy told me he was due to speak in San Francisco about Aer Lingus and, ironically because of the delay was going to be late for his meeting. My heart bled for him - not!! Later on I was waiting to use the loo and he fetched up beside me as he had decided to change his pants and held them meaningfully in front of himself, expecting to defer to his importance. Sorry! I needed to freshen up before landing and waiting for me to finish wasn’t going to delay him one little bit as we were still some way off landing. Waves of DYKWIA battered me but my DYKWIA shield was up and so bounced back to him! Eventually, I graciously allowed him to use the restroom having taken my time over my ablutions!!
Shortly after that the cabin was prepared for landing. Paddy was making a final check and as he came to me, I beckoned him down to ear level, “I’m right in thinking that yer man wasn’t there at the start of the flight, aren’t I?” He confirmed that was so and that 4JK were the rest seats for the pilots. Yer man had asked to be brought forward so that he could leave the plane quickly as he was going to be late for his function. *Hmmmmmm. the flight was due to land at 5.30pm. What kind of function would start before 7pm which would be plenty of time to get into the city?* Before I could comment though, Paddy, no doubt as disillusioned as I at our present government, told me that he had tried a DYKWIA at both check-in and on boarding! Up till then I had been mildly impressed but surprised that he had chosen to fly Economy but my esteem, low enough as it was in the first place, plummeted. There was Aer John, using his hard earned pennies to give his mum a treat (and to be absolutely honest he owed me some dosh from when I bailed him out when his card had failed in Barcelona and I cancelled that debt on receipt of the upgrade which was far more than I would have expected him to pay for a birthday + Christmas present for me) and here was a politician earning at least 4 times, if not more than my son earned trying to blag an upgrade. The best part, though was that half the cabin didn’t recognise him and the other half were unimpressed! Oh, how are the mighty are fallen!
Finally we were on our final approach to San Francisco. Alas in the K seat I was missing the view as we approached over the GGB before gliding in past the hotels in Burlingame. We arrived at the G gates. It was really pleasant not to have to face Immigration lines and there was no scurrying to get into the hall before everyone else. My e-ticket had said that Aer Lingus would be in Terminal 1 but once I had exited and gone through the terminal (where there was no separation between landing and arriving passengers) and collected my case from the domestic carousel I headed for the Hotel Shuttles stop and suddenly realised I was in front of the International Terminal. In time, the shuttle arrived and soon I was ensconced in my hotel room ready for my new adventures!
So how did I rate Aer Lingus. Regular readers of my TRs will know that my main point of exit from this little island on the western fringes of Europe is from Cork to London which route I fly about 4-5 times a year, and that I have taken the occasional jaunt to parts of Europe from both Cork and Dublin. It is no secret that I like Aer Lingus but I also describe my flights as bog-standard - in other words, it takes off, I have a G&T and it lands. That is no way decrying the service; the planes are clean and comfortable, the cabin crew pleasant and friendly but hard-working - after all they only have 50 to 60 minutes to do a food and drink service and perhaps a tax-free run, sometimes reduced to “If you want to avail of in-flight shopping, please use your call bell” when the flight is quicker and the approach into LHR relatively quiet. I had no great expectations one way or another when embarking on my first transatlantic flight with them but was just interested to see how they would stack up against the other airlines on which I had flown long-haul, VS, BA, Emirates and Singapore Airlines. I must say it was excellent. OK, so there were some minor flaws but we have all experienced those on different flights but they have not spoilt the overall experience of the flight. It was certainly better than any BA or Emirates flight I have experienced and certainly up there with VS and SQ. The plane, EI-LAX is the oldest in the long-haul fleet having come into service in 1999 but the cabin was absolutely pristine. The 2-2-2 configuration was redeemed by the fact that there was no-one in the seat next to me and in fact all the single passengers were in that happy position. The seats were more like the old J2000 ones and were sleeperettes but unlike the EK ones which seemed to arch in the middle, they were comfortable enough. The jewel in the crown though was, as we say time and time again, the crew. They were pleasant and friendly and nothing was too much trouble for them. OK, so apart from boarding, I wasn’t addressed by name but to be honest I really don’t mind that and I’m not particularly impressed when it happens after a cabin crew has read my name off a manifest as happens with SQ. would I fly with them transatlantically again. If the price was right (or Aer John was paying) most certainly I would.
Oh, and have you been SHOCKED!? Notice something missing? Yep! No disasters! Not one! Admittedly a little wobble with the delayed flight but that’s it.
*Memo to self - Must try harder*
