Review: Flying Aer Lingus Regional economy class from Dublin to Glasgow

Aer Lingus Regional flights are operated by Emerald Airlines which are a new airline on the scene. They replaced Stobart Air, who used to operate the franchise and they have elected to use the same aircraft type as their predecessor.

I was not supposed to be on this flight at all. British Airways cancelled my Dublin to London service and I was re-routed Dublin to Glasgow to London. The connection in Scotland was exactly one hour, so I needed this flight to be on time.

Check-In and Delays

I spent a good hour and 10 minutes in the Aer Lingus check-in queue at Dublin Airport. It was the beginning of the busy summer holiday period, so I knew not to expect an easy breezy quick experience. Once the bag was checked, it was half an hour in the security line and then I was through and ready to rock.

At this point, the flight was listed as 20 minutes delayed. That kept on increasing until eventually the flight was two hours delayed. I mentally bid farewell to my connection.

EI3224 – Dublin to Glasgow (DUB-GLA)
1 July 2022
ATR72-600 – EI-HDH – St. Colgan
Seat: Economy 18A
Departure: 10:20 Arrival: 11:30

Happily it wasn’t raining, as we all queued up outside our aircraft on the tarmac. Things proceeded slowly and as I was in no rush at all, elected to board almost last.

While waiting, I was amused watching a Dad take a photograph of his little boy with the plane in the background. Not long after I was lucky enough to have another Aer Lingus Regional ATR pass by, which you can see at the top of this article.

On Board Aer Lingus Regional

There are 18 rows of four seats (the total being 72, hence the aircraft type name, the ATR72!) which you can see on the seating plan here. These are similar to any turboprop aircraft designed for short flights, which means utilitarian at best.

Since I was in the last row, I was guaranteed a speedy exit to facilitate my connection. Of course, that was a moot point by departure time, but still, handy enough.

Inflight

We eventually took to the sky and set course for Glasgow. The friendly crew came by offering food and drinks for purchase and several people availed of the offering.

For once I decided not to have anything, so I sat back and enjoyed the view. Soon enough, we descended and landed in Glasgow, where we boarded the bus which would take us to Ireland arrivals.

Overall Thoughts

Aer Lingus Regional is still the same as it always was, even with a totally new airline running it. The aircraft are the same and while the cabin interiors differ slightly, it is all just as it was pre-pandemic.

While nobody appreciates a delay, it happens and there’s not much you can do about it. In my case, I was extremely inconvenienced, but I’m ambivalent about it. You do what you can at the time to minimise it, what’s out of your control is out of your control, so why get annoyed by it?

Have you flown with Aer Lingus Regional since Emerald Airlines took over the contract? What do you think of them? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

Like planes? See my “Does anyone remember” series.
Flight reviews your thing? Mine are all indexed here.
Follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.