Transferring at AMS
Since Amsterdam is in the EU and the Schengen Zone, when you arrive on a flight from outside of the Schengen area, you are in a sterilized area that exists before passport control.
I had arrived in from Washington, D.C. on United in Polaris Business class, you can read that review here: https://flight-report.com/en/report/72099/united-ua946-washington-iad-amsterdam-ams/
Although Ireland is in the EU, it is not in the Schengen Zone because it has a common travel area (CTA) with the UK, which means that there is passport free travel to the UK from Ireland (probably because Northern Ireland is in the UK).
Anyways, that means that I didn’t enter the Schengen Zone in AMS and was able to proceed directly to my gate without going through security or passport control.
We arrived in on a remote stand from my United flight and had to take a bus to transfer to the terminal. We arrived in at where the F gates were.
AMS is a horrible airport to connect in. It took me 35 minutes just to walk to my gate. The signage in this airport is placed in weird spots to where it’s hard to know where you’re going which leads to a lot of confused people trying to navigate around. It’s also crowded and laid out in a weird pier format that had long walking distances. I’d allot a good amount of time to transfer in AMS if you’re transferring.
I didn’t have lounge access today as Aer Lingus doesn’t grant Lounge Access to passengers traveling in economy, and no lounge at AMS grants you access upon arrival in business class.
Boarding, the Cabin, and Seat
I proceeded directly to gate D24 for my flight.
Boarding began at 9:00 a.m., which was delayed. The airline had to do a quick check of my documents because I didn’t check in with Aer Lingus, but it was fast and easy.
I boarded with Group 2, which is what Aer Lingus deems as “passengers with carry on allowance”
Boarding this flight is best described as disorganized chaos. There was no clear direction on where to go or what to do. The ground crew were frantic and barking orders at people to “go this way” or “we’re not boarding your group yet, go back” despite them having just called the group number.
Then we sat on the jetbridge for a while because the cleaning crew hadn’t cleaned the aircraft yet or something. Then, they told us that anyone in rows 15 and above could board via air stairs in the back of the aircraft. I wish that I had that opportunity! Simply because I would’ve liked to have boarded from the tarmac.
I boarded the aircraft and was greeted by a friendly female flight attendant.
The Aer Lingus economy cabin on the A320 is arranged in your standard 3-3 configuration. The seats feature 30 inches of pitch and 17 inches of width.
I have to say that the seat was fairly comfortable. Much more comfortable than Lufthansa although not being much thicker, it felt like there was quite a bit of padding and the headrest actually moved.
Each seat features an individual air vent and an overhead reading light.
Despite having booked a “SMART” fare, which includes advanced seat selection, Aer Lingus would not let me select my seat in advance. No matter what I tried. I even tried calling and they wouldn’t do it. Oh well…
This means that I was automatically assigned a seat when I checked in with United.
I found my seat, 8D, an aisle seat on the right side of the cabin. I was hoping for a window seat because I’ve hear that the views of both Amsterdam and Dublin are amazing from the air, but oh well…
When I was sitting, I saw a guy store his personal item in the overhead bin and proceed to the back of the cabin with his larger roll a board…
When boarding was completed, I noticed that the aisle and middle in row 7 was empty, so I asked a flight attendant if I could switch to that aisle seat. She then said, “Well row 5 is completely empty if you’d rather move there!” I, of course, wasn’t going to say no!
Departure and Climb Out
At 9:35, the captain came on to welcome us aboard and announce our flight time of 1 hour 15 minutes.
At 9:37, the safety demonstration began, and we pushed back.
We had a lengthy taxi to the runway, and I mean lengthy. It felt like we were taxiing around the entire airport. In fact, we did. It’s not surprising because we taxied for over 20 minutes and didn’t stop once.
We lined up on runway 36L at 10:01 am for takeoff.
At 10:04, we reached 10,000 feet and were well on our way to Dublin.
WiFi and Entertainment
Aer Lingus didn’t offer WiFi or any in flight entertainment on this flight. So, be sure to download some offline entertainment.
Cruise
We seemed to level off and reach our cruising altitude at 10:12.
Aer Lingus had a buy on board menu that’s located in the seatback pocket.
At this point, I decided to change my clock to Dublin time, which is one hour behind Amsterdam.
At 9:24 local time in Dublin, the service started with the flight attendants coming around to ask if anyone wanted to purchase anything. I was pretty thirsty after my long flight from Washington so I decided to purchase a bottle of water for €2,50.
The interesting thing was that Row 5 was the last row of economy, meaning that rows 1-4 had their headrests designated as “AerSpace” which is Aer Lingus’s business class product. You’d think that Art Lingus would give free snacks and beverages in business class, but I saw and overheard the flight attendants charging people for it, even asking if they wanted a receipt…
At 9:50, the flight attendants came through to ask if we had any trash to throw out.
Descent and Arrival
At 9:52, our female captain came on to announce that we would be landing in Dublin soon, and that the seatbelt sign would be coming on soon.
At 10:03, we reached 10,000 feet.
At 10:15, we touched down on runway 10L.
We parked at our stand at 10:22 for a slightly delayed arrival.
A note on getting to Dublin City from the Airport
This is my first time in Dublin, and I opted to take the Dublin Exoress from the airport to Aston Quay. I booked in advance and my ticket only cost me €8,00.
I’ll say this- it was €8,00 that was well worth it. I was in the city within 15 minutes! Finding the Dublin Express at Terminal 2 is so easy. Just follow the buses signs and you’ll find it.
The staff at Dublin Express were also extremely helpful! They were asking where you were going and presenting you with the best option possible. I originally and unknowingly booked my ticket to a stop that was farther away and they told me “Oh no! Get on this bus. That next bus comes in 15 minutes, and it’s a farther walk to your hotel from there!”
Highly recommend!
