Review: Aer Lingus AerSpace, their “secret” business class cabin

Aer Lingus operate an enhanced cabin on certain short-haul flights called AerSpace. It is ostensibly an economy plus service, giving you a middle seat free, priority boarding, lounge access, fast-track security and complimentary food on board.

When long-haul aircraft are used on the routes, those being the Airbus A330 or Airbus A321neo, you sit in the business class cabin. Is it business class or economy class? You decide!

Delays, Delays

London Heathrow had some issue with their runway, which held up a lot of flights. This service was delayed by a little over an hour, but eventually we were assigned gate A26 and joined the scrum. Priority boarding was enforced and I was one of the first on board.

EI155 – London Heathrow to Dublin (LHR-DUB)
15 July 2022
Airbus A321neo – EI-LRA – St. Rowan
Seat: AerSpace 6A
Departure: 09:50 Arrival: 11:20

Happily mask wearing is optional on the Irish airline, so after checking with the crew I popped mine into my carry-on bag. Today’s flight was fully booked.

Aer Lingus AerSpace Cabin

I had deliberately selected a flight operated by the Airbus A321neo as I wanted to sit in the big seats. It has been a long time since I last enjoyed these, so it was nice to be back.

There are 16 seats up front on this aircraft, as you can see on the seat map here. During boarding, another passenger remarked that the single seats looked like thrones, which amused me as that’s what everyone seems to call them.

On Board Service

Eventually everyone was on board and the pilots apologised for the delay. After a manual safety demonstration from the chirpy crew, we took to the sky. Soon enough it was time to eat and the trolley appeared.

Passengers in AerSpace are allowed to get one drink and one item of food from the Bia menu. I asked for the a hot pasta, but they had none. I went for the Chicken and Stuffing Sandwich and a Prosecco, both of which they had to get from the back.

I also asked for some Love Corn from the menu, but they apparently don’t do that anymore. Tayto crisps for me then and once it was all delivered I set about eating it all.

It’s very strange that many of the main items on their menu were unavailable. Either the menu online is not up to date, or something else was going on. Not many people ordered off the menu, perhaps because it is not explicitly mentioned in the announcements that it’s free – probably deliberately!

The Rest Of The Flight

Aer Lingus crews are quite efficient, so they collected the rubbish shortly after I was finished. Before landing I visited the toilet, which anyone can use as it’s not restricted by class. Though we are all one class, remember?

The inflight entertainment and Wi-Fi is all operational, but headphones are not issued on European flights. The guy next to me had his own, so he was happy watching that new Sex & The City show that came out recently. Soon enough, it was time to land and that we did.

Overall Thoughts

Aer Lingus AerSpace is a perfectly nice way to get from London to Dublin. The product is designed for people connecting to and from transatlantic business class, so they will not be shocked to be in economy on the European flights. It’s also available to purchase normally during the booking process.

So is it business class or economy plus? In all of the crew announcements, they referred to it as business class, and it has all the bells and whistles that a normal business class ticket gives. It even books into ‘I’ class, one of the fare buckets reserved for business. The only thing it doesn’t have is dedicated catering, as the menu is the same as what everyone else has, albeit it’s free.

What do you think of Aer Lingus AerSpace? Business class or not? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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