Aer Lingus has been growing their US route network significantly the past few years, in a steady but consistent way:
- Just last month Aer Lingus added flights to Miami
- In 2016 Aer Lingus added flights to Los Angeles, Hartford, and Newark
- In 2015 Aer Lingus added frequencies to New York and San Francisco, and added a new route to Washington Dulles
- In 2014 Aer Lingus added flights to Toronto and San Francisco
Aer Lingus has just announced their next US destination, which is already bookable. Aer Lingus will begin flying 4x weekly between Dublin and Philadelphia as of March 26, 2018. The route will operate with the following schedule on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays:
EI115 Dublin to Philadelphia departing 1:50PM arriving 4:15PM
EI114 Philadelphia to Dublin departing 5:30PM arriving 5:10AM (+1 day)
The flight will cover a distance of ~3,270 miles in each direction, and is blocked at 6hr40min eastbound and 7hr25min westbound.
This new route will be operated by one of Aer Lingus’ leased 757-200s, featuring 12 business class seats and 165 economy seats. In business class Aer Lingus has an impressive fully flat product, with two rows featuring a 2-2 configuration, and two rows featuring a 1-1 configuration.
Philadelphia seems like a “safe” choice for Aer Lingus to expand to. The flight between Philadelphia and Dublin is short, and the city (and suburbs) has a big Irish population.
American also operates a daily flight using an A330 between Philadelphia and Dublin, so Aer Lingus does face some competition there. Eventually Aer Lingus is supposed to join oneworld, given that they’re owned by IAG, though it seems like that’s constantly being delayed. Late last year IAG’s CEO said that he wanted Aer Lingus to join the oneworld transatlantic joint venture by the end of 2017, though we haven’t heard anything about that in a while, so I’d assume it’s not happening for now.
If you’re looking to redeem miles on this flight, the best value is probably redeeming British Airways Executive Club Avios. This flight will cost you 20,000 Avios one-way in economy, or 60,000 Avios one-way in business class. Taxes and carrier imposed fees should be minimal.
Earlier this year Aer Lingus’ CEO said that the airline planned to add flights between Dublin and Las Vegas this winter. Further details haven’t yet been announced regarding that.
What do you make of Aer Lingus adding flights between Philadelphia and Dublin?
Totally agree that Dublin Pre Clearance is a nightmare and can take hours!
Las Vegas was shelved unfortunately, quite a lot of people here were looking forward to that route to.
Lot of disappointment here that they chose this route, it's already served and is a short journey from other east coast destinations they serve. Seattle or Texas would have been great,
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/aer-lingus-stays-pokerfaced-as-it-shelves-plan-for-direct-dublinlas-vegas-route-36175238.html
@winterbourne- depends on when your flight to the US is scheduled. If its after 12:15 PM you should be totally fine. But there are a lot of flights in the late morning, so it apparently gets backed up from 9:30-11 AM. But with Global Entry you should be fine no matter what.
Also, re: timing, the AA flight leaves PHL at 9 PM and arrives around 8:45 AM, so MUCH better timed for actually getting...
@winterbourne- depends on when your flight to the US is scheduled. If its after 12:15 PM you should be totally fine. But there are a lot of flights in the late morning, so it apparently gets backed up from 9:30-11 AM. But with Global Entry you should be fine no matter what.
Also, re: timing, the AA flight leaves PHL at 9 PM and arrives around 8:45 AM, so MUCH better timed for actually getting at least a little sleep. A 5:30 departure sounds awful, you would be arriving just aa you get really sleepy.
@henry LAX -- I had the exact same thought, particularly because these eastbound TATL flights tend to arrive pretty early due to favorable winds in that direction. I can see this flight arriving at 4:30am. That SUCKS for adjusting to local time.
Lucky, I second @Mike Barbis, while I recognize they won't be making any corporate announcements off the record, maybe you know someone in IAG (or even AA) who has a sense of how far this process is along? That would be really useful thanks!
While Philly does have a big Irish population, I can't personally imagine EI are planning to go head to head with AA on this in the long-term without joining OW and...
Lucky, I second @Mike Barbis, while I recognize they won't be making any corporate announcements off the record, maybe you know someone in IAG (or even AA) who has a sense of how far this process is along? That would be really useful thanks!
While Philly does have a big Irish population, I can't personally imagine EI are planning to go head to head with AA on this in the long-term without joining OW and tapping into the AA connecting flow, especially as AA is already has so much more capacity on the route.
If Aer Lingus does join OneWorld do you think their partnership with United will end? Because I will be a sad person when that happens
It does not sound like there is any news but could you reach out to your contacts at IAG to get a better feel for where things are with EI joining OneWorld? Thanks
Could someone advise how much time one needs for pre-clearance at DUB if connecting from an intra-EU flight? I have a flight coming up with a 90 minute layover there. No baggage, just carry-on, and I have Global Entry. Should I be concerned? I'd normally think this is plenty, but I too have heard that it's an absolute zoo over there.
on a separate note, a 1730 eastbound departure for a such a short flight with 0510 arrival is just about the worst arrangement you can get for getting some rest and adjusting jetlag.
Totally agree with GuruJanitor. DUB post pre-clearance is SUCH A DUMP. I haven't seen how some Caribbean islands do it, but both DUB's and AUH's experiences leave MUCH to be desired. Only Canada seems to do pre-clearance right.
While I'm happy for Aer Lingus and welcome more expansion and competition, DUB needs to seriously consider expanding the USA Preclearance gates as EI grows. It is absolute mayhem down there leading up to the afternoon departures, they need more food options, more seating and better lounge options in the sterile zone.