Aer Lingus has the worst service of any "national" airline. I would recommend taking a tug boat over this airline. The customer service staff is brash and unhelpful and the airport employees are completely useless. Do yourself a favor and take Ryan Air, at least they are up-front about screwing people over.

I only flew twice wit them...from London to Cork and back again. Flight was only about an hour and half. Having said that....i enjoyed the flight. Found the seats comfortable and thought the soft music was a very nice touch ( calming). However we stayed away from food on there as we were warned ...... Since our flight was so short we weren't in need of the flight attendants so if they disappeared we didn't really notice. overall  i found it comfortable and calming.

18 years of flying aer lingus..last 5 service has gone in the toilet, attendents disappear after meal is served and you have to find them to get water..were totally unhelpful in shannon when they added 2 hour delay, missed all connecting flights in boston and the staff closed and left the airport. left me stranded and on my own..i'll be flying with someone else now,,slan aer lingus..it is a sad loss..vgp

Aer Lingus have the rudest staff from check in to cabin crew. They appear to think they are doing you a favour by allowing you to fly with them I suppose this comes from years o government subsidies which thankfully have now been stopped. After all why would you treat you customers well when your airline did not have to make money to survive

Overall EI is an OK airline. If you are flying short haul in Eurpope - why not ? Fares are lower and they are dedicated to safety and being ontime. Long haul is a different story - I have flow long haul with them about 10 times. I have also flown with Delta, AA, BA and Continental and based on my most recent EI experience - they should be avoided long haul. Staff vanish after the initial meal, water is something you need to actively seek out. There is no seat back units to watch the TV. As someone who does not sleep on a long haul flight thse things matter. We had to move seat prior to take off when my assigned seat as broken. Then my travel companion had to move when her reading light did not work as did at leat 5 other proximate passengers. When my colleague asked why such items had not been fixed - she was told we were flying on the most modern fleet in europe. It is a long way from the service levels that previously existed and the long haul prices are not cheap. The lounges on shorth haul are basis but Chicago's lounge has to be experienced for the worist in customer service. Overall OK for short haul but to be avoided for long haul.

Gone bad, too bad and too bad for BA, because thier boss is taking over BA from Rod starting in October 2005. You want to be a low cost airline, well don't pretend to be a full service airline. Just for that I will not fly Aer Lingus!

I have only flown short haul flights (LON-DUB) and have always had a pleasant experience. Their attentiveness to safety is impressive...this might explain why they have never crashed!

I travel on the transatlantic route on a regular basis. Aer Lingus has very bad in flight service. The staff are friendly, however, they seem to vanish about 2 hours into the flight. Unable to select seats in advance and most of the aircraft do not have personal T.V.s in the seatback.

European flights with Aer Lingus are to be avoided. Ground service (check in/information et al) is bad and inflight service is worse.(Food is so bad, last flt, for the first time in my life, I brought my own just to keep me going, even though one does not expect too much from airline food) Business/executive class travel within Europe is undoubtedly and consistently the worst of any scheduled airline, big and small.Aer lingus seems to be caught between budget airline services and non budget prices (except for limited special offers in economy class). Any of the senior cabin staff will agree but say they are helpless in the face of company policy. Trans atlantic service has still got a good reputaion for good friendly service. I am travelling to the US soon, business class, but in the light of repeated european experiences with A L (when I had no alternative) I am thinking of booking with Continental (who are cheaper anyway).

Excellent service, and on time. A little pricy, and the food is only average. The planes are clean and tidy. The help is very professional.

Aer Lingus is one of the best airlines I've ever flown on. The planes are comfortable and the staff friendly. Plus, they bring some of their Irish culture with them wherever they fly with the plaid blankets and Celtic music! The pleasant flying experience makes a trip with them even more worthwhile.