Aerarran > Reviews > Aer we go no more

Author's product rating:   

Food Quality	Poor
Customer Service	Very unhelpful
Punctuality	Good
Space	Fairly Comfortable
Value for Money	Poor

Advantages:	Good basic flights
Disadvantages:	little shabby looking

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

I flew with Aer Arran on the Belfast to Dublin service, this was to avoid traffic jams and 3 hours on the train journey and as the fare was on a special of just £50 return including taxes it was an offer not to refuse.This was for a same day return as I left on the 8.15am flight and returned at 15.55pm allowing me a full day of business meetings. Unfortunately they have stopped the service and this is the update as they really messed me about I would no longer recommend them as a a good airline for customer service.
On the second time of booking I was informed two days prior to travelling that the flight was cancelled due to operational reasons, so ok I rescheduled my appointments and rebooked for the next Monday they said that was fine. Saturday morning they rang to tell me the flight was cancelled yet again I was a bit peeved so asked why and was told that the aircraft was not in operation but they could bus me down that is a 3 hour journey and how am I supposed to get to my meetings on time when they could not even tell me when the bus would arrive in Dublin, so I drove.
The Refund was given only after prompting 4 weeks later aaaargh.
On the tuesday the press release was given saying they were cancelling the service so that made me realise that the only operational reasons were that they didnt want to run the service for the days before it would be cancelled , how dishonest.
The apology email said that they will still fly to Dublin from Sligo 106 miles away from here so thats helpful isnt it.
Anyway my advice would be check first to see that they will not do the same to you if you are booked with them.

Check In
This opened one hour before the flight from Belfast as it was a morning departure of 8.15am. You only get 15 kilos of luggage not the usual 20kg. As there were few travelling there was no shortage of seats to choose from. The check in on the return at Dublin Airport was easy as well and again seat selection prior to boarding is great I hate the scramble of easyjet and Ryanair.

Aircraft
The Aer Arann fleet is made up of eight aircraft; five 50 seater ATR42's and three 66 seater ATR72's. The aircraft provides passengers with a similar cabin environment to that of larger jet airliners but are the slower turboprops. It is noisy on take off but ok during the flight. As the weather was good the flight was smooth and only took 30 mins take off to landing.The seats are standard with ok legroom and I notced a disabled traveller being very well looked after being brought onboard in a wheelchair at Dublin and taken off on a lift at Belfast City airport.

In Flight Service
There is only a restricted service on the flights I was on only Water or Orange juice was offered.
Flight safety was as usual informative and very well presented.

Destinations served.
Dublin,Cork,Belfast,Galway,Kerry,Knock,Sligo,Donegal,
Waterford

UK Mainland destinations
Luton,Manchester,Bristol,Southampton,Isle of Man
and Glasgow Prestwick.

In summary as much as you would expect from a smaller airline and definitely good value for money as long as they fly and dont trust them their word is not as it should be.