I’m flying to Dublin to attend a couple of Dublin Aviation Week events, and had a bit of a comically bad travel morning that I thought I’d share. I’m sure this will be relatable for many aviation bloggers out there, and even for those that read airline blogs regularly, I figure it might be fun to get “the day in a life” on a bad day.
This wasn’t even a bad morning in the scheme of things – the flight left on time, no misconnections occurred (I was only flying from London to Dublin), nothing was stolen, and I didn’t have to queue for hours anywhere. Rather, many concurrent minor annoyances that the general public complains about when it comes to travel happened – which I notice and care about a fair bit, as someone who’s into the ops of travel and airport experiences.
The reality is that the average aviation blogger doesn’t get a better-than-average experience than everyone else flying in their cabin product. This includes at airports, onboard planes, and throughout the rest of the experience. If anything, the extra stress of documenting the experience contributes to a much less relaxing experience overall (though it is super rewarding when it does work out).
Shenanigans at Heathrow security…
My flight was leaving Heathrow Airport at 9:50 AM in the morning, so I arrived at around 8 AM, expecting to whiz through security. The actual process was so painless – I was through security by around 8:10 AM, and could even take advantage of the new two-litre maximum for bringing liquids through security at Heathrow (and didn’t have to take anything out of my bag).
However, I was hit by all of the little tiny frustrations that you get during air travel:
- While this was specific to me, I was flying Aer Lingus in their AerSpace cabin. I managed to get through fast track security last time I flew the product, despite the website stating it was only available from Dublin, and a few comments suggested that other airports usually allow AerSpace passengers through fast track security as well. I decided to try out using fast track security this time for the review’s sake, and a line quickly formed behind me (despite there only being one person in front when I got there) due to a faulty machine – I was turned back and had to do the “walk of shame” past the line
- I then went through security (which uses some facial recognition technology at Heathrow T2), and my particular machine took forever to recognise my face
- Once I got through to security and was taking things out of my pocket, my “bin” was too close to the conveyor belt into the scanner, which held up the line so I was barked at by a security agent
- I then set off the metal detector (randomly) and my shoes had to be re-scanned
- The same thing then happened to my bag, which was pulled aside for a random secondary screen
This was still an infinitely better experience than a 1h wait at some other airports, but I felt like a bit of a cartoon character today
Incorrectly timing my review of Aer Lingus’ refurbished Heathrow lounge
As an Aer Lingus AerSpace passenger, I had lounge access at Aer Lingus’ lounge at Heathrow. While I’ve visited Aer Lingus’ lounge before, it was refurbished in mid-2024 after my last visit, so I wanted to check it out while it was empty. I figured there couldn’t be that many AerSpace passengers or frequent fliers visiting the Aer Lingus lounge (since no other alliance passengers can use it), as there are a total of four AerSpace seats on most Aer Lingus flights, and it was deserted when I visited the lounge before my evening flight back in 2024.
There was one Dublin flight leaving at 8:50 AM and another at 9:50 AM (and the first non-Dublin flight left at 9:45 AM), so I figured if I arrived just after 8 AM the lounge wouldn’t be too full. Wrong – the lounge was quite near capacity when I entered. So I won’t be reviewing the Aer Lingus lounge this time round, though check out Head for Points’ review from September if you’d like to see what it’s like.
Aer Lingus’ nice-but-quite-crowded lounge at Heathrow T2
At least I was able to enjoy a barista coffee while getting some work done at the lounge (again, while I appreciated barista coffee, it wasn’t amazing).
Having a barista-made coffee at Aer Lingus’ lounge
At least I was first onboard my Aer Lingus flight, right?
Just before 9 AM, I headed down to my A321LR flight, which had just arrived from Dublin. I managed to be the first person in the priority boarding lane, and after a bit of waiting, made it onto the aircraft. Then I heard these dreaded words (for someone who does what I do) for the first time in 13 years of blogging:
“Please do not take photos of the interior of the aircraft. This is for security purposes.”
Okay, that’s not entirely true, I did have a couple of instances where I’d received something similar in the past:
- I had a row with a lead Emirates flight attendant in 2019 when he confronted me on my photo-taking halfway through the flight, though by then I’d already gotten plenty of cabin photos
- On my Turkish Airlines A350 flight in 2022 I was asked not to take pictures by a flight attendant, though the lead flight attendant immediately had a word with her and she then receded the request
Anyway, this was the first time I’d had an incident with a flight attendant at a time that would’ve jeopardised a flight review that I’d specifically sought out to write.
I complied with the lead flight attendant’s request after clarifying that she meant no pictures of the aircraft – not even if crew weren’t in frame. (I continued to take pictures of the soft product, where I wasn’t asked to stop again.) However, I didn’t delete the photos I had already taken at that point, and may have discreetly taken a couple more when nobody else was looking.
Aer Lingus’ A321LR Business Class
While some airlines do have a no-photography policy (which is rarely enforced), Aer Lingus isn’t one of those airlines. I’d specifically gone out of my way to review Aer Lingus’ AerSpace product (otherwise I would’ve just flown Ryanair), so I was a bit bummed that I couldn’t freely take photos of this beautiful plane.
So while I’ve still gotten enough content to publish a full review of the flight, I apologise if my photos aren’t as good or extensive as usual. It’s a bit of a shame, since I was so excited to be on the only direct aisle access business class product you can get flying intra-Europe.
Aer Lingus’ A321LR Business Class Seat 5A
A good ol’ Irish breakfast…or lack thereof
One of the things I’ve been looking forward to trying onboard Aer Lingus is their Irish breakfast. I knew I was really chancing it to be served a hot breakfast on a flight with a flying time of less than an hour, though it’s technically part of the airline’s buy-on-board menu, which is complimentary for AerSpace passengers.
Apart from the photo snafu, the crew were quite friendly on this flight, and offered to check whether an Irish breakfast was loaded for me (which means that it’s sometimes loaded on London-Dublin flights – it just wasn’t in this particular instance). I ended up having a (pretty good) salt and chilli chicken wrap, and was asked whether I wanted a coffee – cappuccino, latte, or americano. I was surprised to hear the menu – were espresso-based beverages really offered on this flight!?
Aer Lingus’ A321LR AerSpace Meal
Lol, no…this was by far the worst powdered coffee I’ve ever had, with sticky lumps of powder floating on the top. I ended up downing this anyway as it was quite a turbulent flight and I didn’t want to spill the coffee, though this was not my favourite catering experience onboard an airline ever (to put it mildly).
Aer Lingus’ A321LR AerSpace Coffee
A cold end to the flight
While our landing was smooth and we even got there early, my low-level frustration travel day concluded at a bus gate, where we were met by some biting cold wind (thankfully no rain).
I love being close up with aircraft, but prefer when it’s not wet and in a bus gate setting
Immigration into Dublin was quick, though once I got in the AirCoach from Dublin Airport to the city centre, I was quite shocked that nobody handles baggage – bags in the bus’ hold could so easily be stolen between stations. Thankfully this didn’t happen to me, though I was half expecting it at this point.
Conclusion
If every travel day was perfect, our aviation community wouldn’t exist. Part of what makes air travel so exciting for us is that we find travel tips and tricks to make the day-to-day travel experience either, and can relate over the parts of travel that don’t get any easier. I had a “bad” travel day today (and even in the grand scheme of things it went smoothly – I never had to queue anywhere for hours, the flight was on time, etc.), and that happens to all of us.
What’s a “not that deep, but bad/frustrating” travel day you’ve had recently?
