Aer Lingus Business Class Review Toronto (YYZ) to Dublin ( DUB) A330 lie-flat

This was my first time on Aer Lingus and also my first time on their Business Class - I was curious how seats, inflight service, and Wifi would stack up against the competition.

Aer Lingus (as a non-aligned carrier especially) has a small footprint in Toronto a major Star Alliance hub. Gladly there were still short lines for check-in and security was quick too.

 

Aer Lingus uses the contracted lounge that also is accessible with Priority Pass. The lounge has a beautiful view over the runway but gets really hot with a huge amount of natural light. It also gets crowds from a number of other departures using the lounge for their Premium passengers.

Snacks and drinks on offer were of low quality but if you are really hungry ( I wasn't) it was certainly edible.

Boarding was right on time and Business Class ended up being just 50% full. I wasn't happy with my seat selection and luckily I could switch to a 'throne seat' just one row in front of me.

The Aer Lingus Business Class is a similar product to what you find on Swiss Business Class for instance. The seats alternate between 1-2-1 and 2-2-2 with the footrests determining the seat configuration left and right of the aisles.

The flight attendants initially struck me as bossy and hard to understand. However this would change soon and I felt they were excellent at their job - clearly very knowledgeable, quick and friendly (after a stern greeting at first).

Everyone seemed in a hurry despite a very short flying time of under 6 hours for the quick hop to Dublin. We got going on time and take-off was into a beautiful sunset over suburban Toronto.

 

 

Dinner service came out quickly and I was surprised how good the quality of appetizers, main course and dessert were. It was very solid airline food - certainly on par with a decent restaurant.

 

 

The purser also came by and provided a voucher code for the Internet - you'd be able to connect one device for free with UNLIMITED data usage. I haven't seen that in a while!

I watched our progress on FlightStats as well:

The seat went fully flat and was surprisingly comfortable with more space than it initially seemed. I fell asleep quickly with a high-quality blanket helping to improve comfort.

As usual, I missed almost breakfast and slept almost landing in Dublin at 5 am local time.

 

Aer Lingus features an Arrivals Lounge next to the luggage belts. I had a quick shower and was on my way to my next flight.

In sum I had low expectations for this flight but was very happy with how it turned out. The staff was highly professional and knowledgable. The food was much above average and the seat was perfectly comfortable for sleeping. I just wish the flight would have been longer!