Review of Aer Lingus flight from Doncaster to Dublin in Economy

Airline: Aer Lingus Regional (Operated by Stobart Air)
Aircraft: ATR72-600 EI-FCZ (1.6 years old)
Flight: EI3411 Doncaster Sheffield (DSA/EGCN) to Dublin (DUB/EIDW)
Date: 08/01/16
Departed: 09:35am (20 minutes early)
Arrived: 10:30am (45 minutes early)

Our flight path
My first flight of 2016 I chose one from a more local airport to me. I arrived at the airport at about 08:30 in the morning with departure scheduled for 09:55. I entered into a very empty check-in area and made my way to security which was very quiet and I was through to the departures lounge in less than 5 minutes from the moment I entered the terminal. Unfortunately there was not much to see on the apron and so I bought a magazine from a newsagent. Other than the newsagent, the departure lounge also has a bar/restaurant, a duty free shop and apparently a business lounge. The airport does have an extension to the departure lounge with more seating and another restaurant but it is only open during peak season.

Lanside at Doncaster Sheffield Airport

The Check-in area

The departure lounge
My aircraft arrived at 09:06 ahead of schedule. It quickly taxied to a stand in front of where I was sitting. Within 10 minutes boarding had begun for the return trip. Boarding took no time due to there only being about 20-30 passengers onboard our flight. We pushed back at 09:33am. We taxied very quickly to Runway 20 for takeoff and began what was a very short takeoff run partly due to how full our flight was. As we took off the ATR propellers made a great loud roar during takeoff which was a surprise as I hadn't been on an ATR before. We climbed out of Doncaster heading West over the Pennines. Our Cruising altitude was 22,000ft. There was some minor turbulence during our flight. As we continued on we passed by Holyhead before travelling across the Irish Sea.

EI-FCZ landing at Doncaster Sheffield Airport

Taxiing in

Just before boarding EI-FCZ

The view from seat 3F
The interior was clean, light and pretty comfortable. The seats were extremely slim and towards the end of the flight my seat was starting to become uncomfortable. There is also no seat pocket to fit personal items such as iPads. Legroom was ok (I am 5ft 4) but the length of the flight would probably make it bearable. There was a more limited drinks and snacks service (non-complimentary) than compared with the mainline Aer Lingus service. I had a small sized can of Diet Coke and Walkers Shortbread. There was also a short duty free service offered but some of the products such as a plastic Aer Lingus ATR model were not available on the flight.

Legroom was alright, storage underneath the seats was ok.

The seats are quite slim

Climbing out of Doncaster

My small can of diet Coke and Walkers Shortbread

Bia is the name of the drinks and snacks sevice

The range of products was more limited to small drinks and snacks.
As we flew closer to the Irish Coast we banked left beginning our descent towards Dublin. We then banked right to line up with Runway 28. Both our descent and finals into Dublin were very steep. The plane was also battling some strong gusts during its approach. We touched down on runway 28 and vacated the runway. We taxied to a remote stand near the T1 low cost pier. Disembarking took some time with passengers at the front being held back until the cabin crew informed us to get off. We were taken by bus to Terminal 2 where I transitted through to Terminal 2 departure lounge for my return journey.

Pulling up alongside ATR42 EI-EHH

Cargo door open

Onboard a bus to take me to the terminal
Below is the onboard video from the day