[PatJordan]

MCO-DUB (Business )

Booking and check in

This was the homebound flight of a most enjoyable holiday in Orlando, and despite a little sadness at leaving, we looked forward to being pampered by Aer Lingus’ superb Business Class service.

We arrived at Orlando International Airport at 4.30pm for our 8.30pm flight. This is earlier that we would normally arrive at an airport, but past experience of busy US security and dropping off a rental car, led us to allow plenty of time.

Aer Lingus have a number of check-in desks with a dedicated Business Class/Gold Circle desk. Aer Lingus’ handling agent in MCO is Swissport, and check in opens @ 4.30pm, thus we were able to check in our luggage immediately. The check in agent was very friendly, and in no time at all our boarding passes were issued.

Business Class passengers are allowed 3 checked in bags, which is very useful if one has taken advantage of Orlando’s excellent shopping. The agent also took the time to explain the location of the Lounge, how to get there and wished us a pleasant flight.

Orlando International airport has a very good range of shops (landside), including Disney and Universal Studio outlets for those last minute gifts. There are several restaurants, and a food court with a good choice of outlets.

One benefit of Gold Circle membership is the use of the Fast track security lane in many airports. Sadly, this does not yet apply in MCO and we joined the main queue. TSA staff are very thorough, yet quite efficient. The process took less than15 minutes, which was not bad at all. Large illuminated signs give clear information about the expected wait times.

We took the opportunity to visit the duty free shop (beside gates 20 – 29). This is much smaller than those in other airports but has a good range of products on offer. We bought a few last minute gifts, with purchases placed in sealed bags, and collected at the boarding gate.

Lounge (Orlando)

Aer Lingus passengers use United Club Lounge. This is located adjacent to Gate 43 which is in a different part of the airport from the Aer Lingus gates. It’s best to allow about 15 minutes to get to the boarding gate from this lounge.

The lounge is situated on an upper level giving good views of the apron, comfortable seating. There is a business centre for those who need to work, and restrooms in the lounge. There are plenty of power points for charging mobile devices.

The range of newspapers is small (a few copies of USA Today and Orlando Sentinel), the magazines are primarily United In-flight and very little else.

Food is limited to, chocolate covered pretels, cheese, crackers, savoury nibbles, a pasta soup and fresh fruit. Hot beverages are self service, but all others (even soft drinks) are behind an attended bar.

A limited range of alcoholic beverages is complimentary, with premium drinks available for a charge. In keeping with the holiday spirit, I felt a glass of bubbly was in order.

Helpfully, a list of champagne is displayed at the bar. Prosecco is complimentary, a glass of Moet $15, or a half bottle of Veuve Cliquot $38.

I opted for a half bottle of Veuve Cliquot and it hit the spot nicely. So much so that we decided to have another!

Whilst a pleasant area, the reading material, range of food and drinks are less than those available in most European lounges. We left the lounge at 7.15pm, to allow plenty of time to reach the gate, where boarding was due to commence at 7.30pm.

Boarding

Boarding began at 7.30pm, with Business class and Gold Circle passengers being invited to board first. The duty free purchases were available for collection immediately after boarding passes were checked.

The Airbus 330 was immaculate and the cabin crew warmly welcomed passengers, and guided all to their seats.

The New Business Class cabin has 7 rows of seats, the majority of which are configured 1-2-2. Our allocation was 4H & 4K. The seats have a pitch of 58” and 22” wide. The seat extends to a 6.5 foot fully flat bed.

There is ample storage space. Bottles of water were already in place in a neat cubby hole beside the reading light, with amenity kits on the armrest. We were seated in 2H & 2K, and surprisingly, this row does not have the seat storage pockets which were in 4H & 4K on the outbound flight. Pillows were also on the seats, with duvets in the overhead lockers.

Within minutes of boarding pre-flight drinks were offered : a choice of water, juice or champagne (Jean Pernet). As we were still in holiday mode, we both opted for champagne.

Inflight

The Captain gave a brief welcome and details of routing and were delighted to learn that the flight would be almost an half an hour shorter than scheduled.

This was followed by a safety announcement. We pushed back a few minutes early and were airborne quickly. The projected flight time was a little over hours, with an expected landing time of 09.20am (scheduled landing time was 09.50am).

WI-Fi

Aer Lingus offer complimentary wi-fi in business class, and shortly after take off, we were offered wi-fi passes. There are individual charging points for each seat, which is a very useful facility.

Catering

The Aer Lingus website promises:

Restaurant Service
Our attentive cabin crew serve all your meals on Wedgewood China and are on call to top up your Waterford Crystal glass if you so wish.
We want you to be able to close your eyes and imagine that you’re in a top restaurant in Ireland (but one where you can slip off your shoes and recline back in your seat.)
About an hour into the flight, hot and cold canapés were served with a bar service.
Along with a full range of spirits, the following wines are available. The following descriptions are based on this provided on the wine list.

White:

La Pettegola Vermintino IGT Toscana Castello Banafi, Tuscany : said to be a pleasant and intense wine using the best grapes from the Tuscan coast. Pairs excellently with fish, vegetable or white meat disnes.

Pouilly-Fume “Bois Fleury”, Domaine Alain Cailbourdin, Loire Valley France: said to be fruity, elegant and on the nose full of expressive and fruity citrus. It marries easily with fish and seafood dishes, but equally delicious with white meat and makes a delightful aperitif.

Champagne:

Jean Pernet Tradition Brut NV. Said to have a really fine mousse leading to a lightly toasty nose with great freshness and floral notes. On the palate it is pleasingly crunchy with an elegant and long-lasting flavour.

Red Wines:

Black Magic Merlot, Jordan Estates, Stellenbosch, South Africa: said to show juicy aromas of ripe, red plums and dark mocha chocolate on the nose. This wine will pair excellently with any succulent meat-based dishes.

Saitn-Joseph “Les Challeys”, Delas Freres-Rhone Valley, France. Said to be legant, medium bodied spicy offering that shows strawberries, black cherries & liquorice on the nose and an earthy, savoury background. Perfect with lamb and beef dishes.

The dinner menu includes an express tray service option to maximise sleeping time. It consists of Roast Chicken Breast,Ricotta spinach cannelloni, herb butter, ratatouille. Essentially it is a telescoping of the main menu into a single tray service.

MAINS:

Herb Crusted loin of lamb, buttermilk dressing, fondant potato, spinach

OR

Roast Chicken Breast,Ricotta spinach cannelloni, herb butter, ratatouille.

OR:

Roast Cod, harrisa oil, braised cabbage and fennel, cider-braised quinoa, salsa verde

DESSERTS:

Chocolate Nemesis

OR

CHEESEBOARD

A selection of cheese, plum and apple chutney

TEA or COFFEE

The food is served on a tray with crisp white linen, Wedgewood china and is superbly presented. However, glassware is plainer that the crystal used previously.

After canapés and drinks were served, cabin crew asked each passenger for their meal preference. My wife and I both chose lamb. Shortly afterwards, I overheard cabin crew lamenting that so many passengers had opted for lamb. As he passed, I called the Cabin Manager aside and offered to have the chicken instead. He thanked me for doing so.

Before the main course was served, we were given a small salad in a glass bowl.

I was served chicken which was very well presented. My wife was told that there was no lamb left, and asked if chicken would suffice. No problem with this, and she began to eat an equally well presented chicken meal. After a few mouthfuls, my wife was told that lamb was after all available, and the meal was replaced.

Dessert

My wife chose chocolate nemesis, and I opted for cheese. Both were nicely presented and very enjoyable. We declined tea and coffee.

About half an hour after meal trays had been cleared away, I decided to read for a while, and asked for a glass of champagne. Unfortunately, there was none left, and I was offered a choice of red or white wine as an alternative. I opted for red, and without knowing which of the reds I was given, I found it a very pleasant accompaniment to my book, which I read for a further half hour before settling down for a few hours’ sleep.

Entertainment

There is a good range of films, TV, Radio programmes on demand, but we didn’t take advantage of this. However on the outbound flight, my wife made good use of the system and enjoyed two feature films.

Seat for Sleeping

The seat is very easy to operate, and reclines fully flat. The massage function is a very pleasant and relaxing feature. The pillow supplied is a good size, and along with a duvet, the seat is very comfortable for sleeping.

Breakfast

About an hour and a quarter before landing, a Continental Breakfast is served.

The menu promises:

Fruit Skewer

Irish Bacon Roll

A basket of continental pastries.

Tea or coffee

A particularly nice touch on previous business class flights is that the hot drinks were served at the seat in warmed mugs. On this particular flight, pre filled mugs of tea and coffee were brought to the passenger. At this point, my wife discovered that there was no milk on her tray. As I drink coffee without milk, it was easier to give her my jug rather than call the cabin crew.

At this point , I notices a nearby passenger with a tray comprising bacon roll, fruit skewer AND a muffin. I was now slightly confused, and rang my call bell to make enquiries.

Very quickly, a cabin crew member came to my seat and SWITCHED OFF THE CALL BELL, THEN WALKED AWAY. For the first time in ages, I was speechless. I allowed a few minutes to regain calmness, and again pressed my call bell.

This time the same cabin crew member came to ask me if I was ok. I explained that I was a little confused by the breakfast menu: was it a choice of all three items, or only one of them. I was told that it was only one item. I pointed out that my wife’s tray had two items, and a nearby passenger had all three on their tray. The only response to this was to ask if I wanted fruit. By this time, I had finished what I was given, and declined.

It must also be noted that no refills of tea or coffee were offered.

At no time was there a hot towel service offered during the flight.

We landed in Dublin ahead of schedule (at approximately 9.20am), and after a short taxi were on stand. There was a very short walk to passport control, where we were delighted to find only a small number of passengers ahead of us.

Baggage Collection

As we were amongst the first off the aircraft, and as there was no delay whatever in going through passport control we were quickly at the baggage collection area. Business Class bags were the first to arrive on the carousel, and we had only a few minutes to wait before ours appeared.

Revival Lounge

The Aer Lingus Revival Lounge is located beside baggage belt no 6. It is quite small, with seating for six, with six shower rooms. The shower rooms are beautifully decorated and if one choses to shower, a steam pressing service is available. A splash of water on the face was sufficient for our needs on this occasion, but it really is an excellent facility and full marks to Aer Lingus for providing same.

A selection of pastries is available, soft drinks, tea & coffee, and a very good selection of newspapers. It is also a nice quiet area to make telephone calls to family and friends, or indeed work related matters.

Though our time spent in Revivals Lounge was short, it was most enjoyable, and refreshed us nicely.

I parked in the Dublin Airport Authority’s surface car park. This is a very short walk from T2, and while out in the open, it avoids boarding (with luggage) a shuttle to the satellite car parks and subsequent disembarking from the shuttle and trekking to one’s car. It is even more convenient than the covered car park beside T2, and well worth the fee paid (99 Euro for two weeks). It is a very convenient car park for Aer Lingus passengers.

CONCLUSION

This was a mixed experience. Aer Lingus Business Class hard product is faultless: fully lie flat seats, good quality IFE, priority check-in and baggage collection, and in Dublin a new arrivals lounge. Previous experience of in-flight service has thus far been very good indeed. However, there were a number of issues with meal service on this flight; individually, none were particularly worrying, but taken together, a lack of attention to detail emerges. My most vivid memory of this flight was pressing my call bell (to ask a minor question) only to find the cabin crew switching it off and walking away.

It would be wrong to unfairly criticise Aer Lingus for one less than perfect experience, particularly as cabin service is normally excellent. And in all honesty, it did not detract very much from what was an enjoyable flight.

[FDOS_UK]

Good review Pat, shame you had a dodgy crew by the sound of it, I guess it happens on all airlines if you fly enough.

[Author]

Posts