Finally a daytime flight to Ireland from the US!
I’ve been waiting for this for the 35 years I have been going back and forth across the Atlantic.
Aer Lingus announced yesterday “the introduction of a third daily flight from New York to Dublin from June through August. The service’s 12 noon departure from New York represents the area’s earliest departure available.”
I bet it will be jammed.
I know it is only a start but it will work.
There was never any reason why everyone from America had to land in Ireland at an ungodly hour around 5 or 6am.
In Britain and the rest of Europe there were lots of flights that left in the AM and arrived in time for a good night’s sleep.
Every time I asked about it or wrote about it I was always told it had to do with the positioning of the aircraft.
My response was “What about the positioning of the passengers, wrecked after an overnight flight?”
You know the kind of positioning I mean – sprawled in hotel lobbies desperately waiting for their rooms to be ready.
Lots of cranky kids, elderly folk all waiting and waiting.
Or trying to figure out the rental car left-hand drive while exhausted and jet-lagged by the dawn’s early light.
Worse, the hotels did not have the room ready for hours, usually 12am at the earliest.
For business travelers it was equally wrong to get off the plane and plunge into important business with jet lag forcing your eyes to close.
Now this flight will arrive in around 11.30pm, I presume, allowing for a decent night’s sleep and a fresh start the next day.
A business traveler could even go back on the afternoon flight the next day.
For people from Ireland returning home it means they can sleep in their own beds and go to work the next day if necessary.
In my own case, no more booking a hotel for the night before so I can go straight to bed when I get in.
Well done to Aer Lingus for this experiment. A generation of less cranky kids and satisfied parents will thank you.
Long overdue, but I’m certain it will fly.
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