Porridge Inferno! Riding the Aer Lingus Shamrock from Edinburgh to Dublin

I’ve been very sad about the fact the famous (and delicious!) Aer Lingus Irish Breakfast is no longer. Hopefully it will make its return soon, so I can enjoy it the next time I fly from Edinburgh to Dublin.

After arriving at Edinburgh Airport on the tram, I headed to the busy security screening area. Happily they were efficient and I was through shortly after.

Waiting For A Gate

Airports in the UK are notorious for announcing gates a short time before departure. I cooled my heels for about 20 minutes before Gate 1K popped up on the screen. When checking in online, I had selected seat 27A instead of my usual 3A as I was not prepared to pay the extra €15.99 seating fee. I had a plan though!

Boarding was announced and I sat around, then went for a wander over to the window. The boarding queue continued to dwindle until I attempted to be last to board. Turns out I was third last, but once on the plane, 3A was free and there I sat. Happy days!

EI253 – Edinburgh to Dublin (EDI-DUB)
14 March 2022
Airbus A320 – EI-DVH – St. Ciara
Seat: Economy 3A
Departure: 08:30 Arrival: 09:35

Naturally I then worried in case one of the last two people were assigned the seat, but all was well. The cabin crew closed the doors and announced boarding complete.

The Aer Lingus Cabin

Nothing whatsoever has changed on board an Aer Lingus A320 in years. It’s comfortingly familiar in every way and in some respects, it’s like you’re already home once in the plane.

After the doors closed, the crew gave the safety demonstration (including the bit about remove your face mask before donning the oxygen mask) and we headed off into the sky.

Edinburgh to Dublin!

Since I had not had breakfast, and since I wanted something hot, my only choice was going to be Flahavan’s Porridge. The people in AerSpace (Row 1) asked for coffee and they eventually got to me. Since there are no menus, I asked if they had Latte, no, but how about Cappuccino? Sure!

They sourced one from the back, then I also asked for a Porridge and paid with contactless. I was warned, “It might be a bit hot, so wait a bit!” when the porridge came. She wasn’t wrong – the Cappuccino, with three milk sticks in it, was very hot and the Porridge was an inferno! Nothing a bit of blowing couldn’t fix though and I devoured it all. We then landed into Dublin.

Overall Thoughts

I quite like a Flahavan’s Porridge and have had it before and it goes well with a Cappuccino. For €6.50 (£5.46, US$7.12, A$9.86) it was completely fine. But, it was no Aer Lingus Full Irish Breakfast and the sooner they bring that back, the happier I will be.

Aer Lingus provide an excellent on board service and always have really. They position themselves as a “value carrier”, meaning they’re not a low cost airline nor are they full service – they have elements of both. It does work well, considering the markets they are in.

Have you flown Aer Lingus from Edinburgh to Dublin before? What do you think of the Irish airline? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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