Forgive me, Virgin, for I have strayed
Posted: 30 Mar 2017, 17:15have been wanting to try Aer Lingus Business Class for some time now, and am currently writing this from outside the lounge at Gatwick.
My route today is Gatwick - Dublin - Boston, Aer Lingus weren't the cheapest (that honour goes to Norwegian and Icelandair, who offer a different kind of business class) but were almost £1k cheaper than BA and VS. And it turns out that there's a reason for that, as Aer Lingus offer a different kind of business class too.
My journey started with the Aer Lingus app.
It's not very good, but after multiple attempts to reset my password and a few Twitter exchanges, I managed to log in.
For my flights, mobile check in was not offered so I went to the desk top website.
Seat selection (or re-selection) was not available so no opportunity to pick different seats. Oh well. That's not a hardship.
At Gatwick this morning, went to the Business Class Check In and was ignored by the one member of staff on duty, so joined the back of the Economy queue. I should add, I'm not one to make a scene. Quietly seething suits me
and anyway, I don't like having to ask for something that I am entitled to, if that makes sense.
Boarding pass in hand, I notice that there's no Gatwick Premium sticker on it. I think the sticker is just for show, but it's reassuring, should the bar code fail.
Fastrak is anything but, but really, that's no hardship.
I have walked through the shopping area to the Clubrooms where I am turned away, apparently my boarding pass is the wrong sort, and I should have known to ask for an invitation from the check in agent.
So here I am, people watching in Gatwick as the Aer Lingus Twitter feed has gone mysteriously quiet, pondering what my day would be like had I stuck to my usual Virgin Atlantic service.
My route today is Gatwick - Dublin - Boston, Aer Lingus weren't the cheapest (that honour goes to Norwegian and Icelandair, who offer a different kind of business class) but were almost £1k cheaper than BA and VS. And it turns out that there's a reason for that, as Aer Lingus offer a different kind of business class too.
My journey started with the Aer Lingus app.
It's not very good, but after multiple attempts to reset my password and a few Twitter exchanges, I managed to log in.
For my flights, mobile check in was not offered so I went to the desk top website.
Seat selection (or re-selection) was not available so no opportunity to pick different seats. Oh well. That's not a hardship.
At Gatwick this morning, went to the Business Class Check In and was ignored by the one member of staff on duty, so joined the back of the Economy queue. I should add, I'm not one to make a scene. Quietly seething suits me
and anyway, I don't like having to ask for something that I am entitled to, if that makes sense.Boarding pass in hand, I notice that there's no Gatwick Premium sticker on it. I think the sticker is just for show, but it's reassuring, should the bar code fail.
Fastrak is anything but, but really, that's no hardship.
I have walked through the shopping area to the Clubrooms where I am turned away, apparently my boarding pass is the wrong sort, and I should have known to ask for an invitation from the check in agent.
So here I am, people watching in Gatwick as the Aer Lingus Twitter feed has gone mysteriously quiet, pondering what my day would be like had I stuck to my usual Virgin Atlantic service.