The distance between Dublin and Glasgow is less than 300 kms. There are seven direct flights a day: three by Ryanair and four by Air Lingus. Ryanair's flights are of course by B737s - not the most interesting. Air Lingus' flights are however by ATR72s - that sounds a lot more fun and also allows much faster boarding and deplaning. Scheduled flight time is one hour and 20 minutes although actual flight time is usually between 42 and 47 minutes .
I arrived to Terminal 2 about two hours before departure.
All you need is free wi-fi.
Dublin Airport is extremely busy.
I had checked in on-line and I only had hand luggage so I could go straight to security.
I had booked fast track a few days earlier for 9.99€. It was well worth it.
Terminal 2 is quite nice. U.S Preclearance is a huge advantage for Dublin Airport.
I was travelling in economy class (there’s no business class anyway on the ATRs) so I had no lounge access. There are very good options to buy snacks or drinks.
Guinness is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Dublin.
Most of the ATR flights are boarded from this gate area which will not win any architectural awards.
Boarding was by bus and it was a long ride.
We reached our plane in the rain: EI-FSL, built in 2016.
Boarding was in the rain. I was wisely waiting inside the bus.
I boarded last so I didn’t have to queue in the rain.
The plane has 18 rows of seats in a 2+2 configuration in a single economy class. Load seemed to be around 80%.
Legroom is typical for ATRs: not very good.
Push-back was at 18.26 for a scheduled departure time of 18.20. We took off at 18.41.
It was cloudy outside so there was not much to see.
No meal or drink service is included in Air Lingus’short-haul flights. There’s a buy-on-board system but the menu card was missing from my seat. This was a very short flight anyway so I didn’t plan to buy any food.
I just bought some still water for 3€.
Our flight time was only 42 minutes.
We landed at 19.23.
Our pilot taxied at such a speed that I could only hope for him there were no speed cameras on the taxiways at Glasgow Airport.
We were at our parking position at 19.26 for a scheduled arrival time of 19.40.
A view of the cabin after most passengers left.
Thanks for this interesting and rare review on an Aer Lingus Regional ATR 72 on the short DUB-GLA route!
The interior looks pretty nice and new, but yes it seems legroom is usually worse on ATRs than on comparably sized Dash 8s. I think it has to do with ATR modifying the ATR 72-600 cabin, originally meant to accommodate 68 pax to add an extra row, with now the standard being 72 pax. Still it's fine for a short flight like this, I suppose--should be about 30" of seat pitch so still better than most LCC's 28-29" pitch.
It's a shame they don't offer even water for free. Sister IAG carriers BA and IB, also do BOB but at least offer a cup of water for free. But again, not a huge deal on such a short flight--and I also understand EI need to compete with FR on home turf.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi KévinDC and thank you for your comment. I love flying on smaller aircrafts even if legroom is usually not so good. It's still more fun than an extra legroom seat on a Ryanair flight.