As noted by Head for Points, Aer Lingus is in the process of switching terminals at JFK, and this has some implications for the passenger experience, including for connections and lounge options.
In this post:
Aer Lingus moving from T5 to T7 at JFK
Aer Lingus currently uses Terminal 5 at New York JFK Airport, which is otherwise primarily used by JetBlue. As of April 27, 2023, Aer Lingus will be moving its JFK operations to Terminal 7. This includes the carrier’s flights to Dublin (DUB), Manchester (MAN), and Shannon (SNN).
For context, Terminal 7 is the former home of British Airways, before the airline moved to Terminal 8 recently, where it co-located with American Airlines. British Airways’ lease at Terminal 7 was up, and on top of that Terminal 8 expanded to make room for this move, and make connections more convenient.
More broadly speaking, JFK is undergoing a redevelopment, and Terminal 7 is expected to be torn down in 2026, so you can expect that the airline will only operate out of this terminal for a few years.
While we’ll talk about lounges in a bit, arguably this is a pretty negative development in terms of the passenger experience:
- Ireland has US Pre-Clearance facilities, so passengers arriving at JFK were already landing as domestic passengers, so didn’t have to clear security if connecting in the same terminal
- Aer Lingus has a partnership with JetBlue, which made connections really easy; now passengers connecting to JetBlue will need to take the AirTrain between terminals, which is significantly less convenient
- Aer Lingus has formally joined the oneworld transatlantic joint venture, yet the integration is very strange; Aer Lingus hasn’t joined oneworld, and doesn’t even have reciprocal mileage earning or redemption, or reciprocal elite perks, with airlines like American
So yeah, I’d say that this is a pretty negative development for Aer Lingus passengers, on balance.
Aer Lingus will use the former Concorde Room
When Aer Lingus moves to JFK Terminal 7, the airline will use the former British Airways Concorde Room as its lounge for passengers. That’s British Airways’ most exclusive lounge, reserved for first class passengers. While that of course sounds exciting, expect the soft product to be scaled back considerably compared to what British Airways offered its first class passengers. I suspect there will be no pre-flight dining or Laurent-Perrier Grand Siecle champagne. 😉
Aer Lingus previously operated its own lounge at JFK Terminal 5, and it was the only airline lounge in the terminal.
I can’t help but wonder about the implications of that development. With that lounge presumably shutting down, what will happen to the space next? Will this be turned into retail, or will this finally be JetBlue’s opportunity to create a lounge for JetBlue Mint passengers?
While JetBlue is expanding across the Atlantic, one weak point of the experience is the lack of lounge access. We know that in mid-2022, JetBlue was hiring for the role of “Senior Analyst Lounge Product & Strategy Development,” which at least suggests that the airline is considering opening lounges.
This seems like it could be JetBlue’s opportunity to open its first lounge, so I’m curious to see how this situation develops…
Bottom line
Aer Lingus will shortly be moving from Terminal 5 to Terminal 7 at JFK. This isn’t great news for passengers, as connections to JetBlue were previously easy, but will now require changing terminals and going through security.
On top of that, this has implications for lounges. Aer Lingus will begin using the former British Airways Concorde Room for its passengers, leaving its lounge in JFK Terminal 5 empty. Could we see JetBlue take over this space, or…?
What do you make of Aer Lingus’ move at JFK, and what will happen to the carrier’s Terminal 5 lounge?
What terminal is Aer Lingus to Dublin flying out of JFK presently.
What is not mentioned is where JetBlue will be moving to. If the same terminal with Air Lingus then it will be convenient.
Biggest mistake that the Irish Fianna fail/ PD government made was to sell off
our National airline .
It was done by people who follow Thatcher without question .
Ireland needs its national airline which benefits the country as a whole and not just a few rich stockholders.
Why exactly was that a mistake? The airline has gone from strength to strength in recent years, and it’s not as it it was raking in money for the government. Governments have no business running airlines. Please name any successful airline run by a Government in Europe?
Airline required unsustainable amounts of government subsidy throughout its State ownership. Fares were extremely expensive and flying was for business or rich individuals mainly up to late 1980s. I’d When Ryanair and other budget airlines arrived they changed the business forever. Losses accumulated at Aer Lingus, and it was facing collapse. There is no way it would have survived and expanded routes to the extent it has. It would also have added to the tax burden.
Does anyone know if JB’s next expansion will be with flights to Dublin?
Aer Lingus needs to formally join OneWorld already. Kinda ridiculous the other members haven't forced it yet.
If EI ever gets around to properly joining OW, their newly re-instated BDL flight would be go-to choice for crossing the Atlantic.
EI operated a handful of flights a day out of T5 and its lounge is sized accordingly. If B6 wants lounge space for for Mint customers on transcons, London and Paris, it will need much more space.
My bet is Priority Pass takes over the old EI lounge. Its likely too small to interest Chase, C1 or Amex and B6 have no interest in lounges. If they had, they would already have negotiated access with existing operators.
"Will this be turned into retail, or will this finally be JetBlue’s opportunity to create a lounge for JetBlue Mint passengers?"
Not likely that it will be turned into retail since the lounge is all upstairs from the concourse level. I expect it will either be turned into a B6 lounge or retained for EI in some form for when they return to T5. EI has quite a bit of money invested in that lounge, but it's hard to not see this becoming a B6 lounge, finally.
B6 needs a lounge at JFK for sure, for the MINT product and the international long haul network.
It would make sense for jetblue to build a lounge over there. Did they ever manage to fill that position for the Sr Analyst? Do we know who took the role?
Given Air Lingus' substantial footprint that provides flights to DUB from tons of markets, this would seem to be primarily a New York issue. And, yes it sucks for New Yorkers - but they're already pretty used to suckiness given where they reside. Everyone else can simply fly to DUB from one of the many US markets served by the airline and connect onward from there.
What stupid comment, clearly written by an uneducated American red-neck.
Most likely this has something to do with making room for the upcoming T6 redevelopment. JetBlue will temporarily lose some parking spots between T5 and T7. By moving Aer Lingus to T7 this gives JetBlue more gate capacity in T5 to make up for the loss of a couple hardstand spots.
Eventually (if everything holds between EI/B6) Aer Lingus will rejoin B6 under the same roof once T6 is done.
Finding Aer Lingus business class award space to/from JFK is virtually impossible. So, hard pass.
I find this interesting overall. While there are some connections to/ from JetBlue, the majority of passengers are going to/ from JFK. Despite T7 not being quite as nice as T5, I dont think this is really a huge issue.
You also mentioned the following as a negative aspect of this move:
"Aer Lingus has formally joined the oneworld transatlantic joint venture, yet the integration is very strange; Aer Lingus hasn’t joined oneworld,...
I find this interesting overall. While there are some connections to/ from JetBlue, the majority of passengers are going to/ from JFK. Despite T7 not being quite as nice as T5, I dont think this is really a huge issue.
You also mentioned the following as a negative aspect of this move:
"Aer Lingus has formally joined the oneworld transatlantic joint venture, yet the integration is very strange; Aer Lingus hasn’t joined oneworld, and doesn’t even have reciprocal mileage earning or redemption, or reciprocal elite perks, with airlines like American"
Not sure how this has anything to do at all with the terminal move either way, despite it definitely being a great observation about how weird the JV with BA And AA functions.
Also, will this lounge in T7 still be called the Concorde Room, or will they rebrand it to an Aer Lingus lounge like they had in T5, meaning that it'll simply be using the space that the former Concorde Room occupied?
Unlikely that it would still be called the Concorde Room; that's a British Airways trademark. Probably just using the space. We'd have to wait and see how it's furnished, if any of the former CCR furniture still remains or not.
What a shame. Terminal 7 is a dump. It has lousy retail and dining options, very dated, and cramped. The only advantage to EI being there is that with US pre-clearance already in place in Ireland, the walk from plane to curb at JFK T7 is fairly short.
T7 will be torn down once the first phase of the new T6 is completed. The second phase of T6 will be built on the footprint of T7.
I wonder if this will lead to JetBlue opening a Mint lounge in JFK, to become more competitive on TATL routes. They won't neef to change the color palette of the lounge all that much...
I wonder if this move is to help Aer Lingus expand its partnership with Alaska Airlines? Alaska operates out of terminal 7 and lost same terminal trans-Atlantic connectivity at JFK when BA moved to Terminal 8.
Doubt it. With the exception of Portland and San Diego, aer lingus flies everywhere from Dublin that Alaska does from nyc. Aer lingus makes more money flying passengers to San Francisco or Seattle and having them transfer to Alaska in those cities to get to Portland or San Diego, and Alaska displaces fewer local, higher yielding customers out if nyc by doing it that way too. Jet blue probably just told them to get out...
Doubt it. With the exception of Portland and San Diego, aer lingus flies everywhere from Dublin that Alaska does from nyc. Aer lingus makes more money flying passengers to San Francisco or Seattle and having them transfer to Alaska in those cities to get to Portland or San Diego, and Alaska displaces fewer local, higher yielding customers out if nyc by doing it that way too. Jet blue probably just told them to get out as they needed the gate space, and their lease was up. I wouldn’t read anything more into it than that.