Aer Lingus introducing AerSpace business class on UK and European flights

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After more than a decade without business class on its short-haul aircraft, Aer Lingus has decided to introduce AerSpace, a halfway house between what you get from British Airways Euro Traveller and Club Europe. It will be available from 1st September 2019.

Don’t confuse AerSpace with the earlier announcement that Aer Lingus will be flying some of its new long haul A321LR aircraft on short haul routes.

The A321LR aircraft, arriving this summer, will feature 16 fully flat business class seats and will be flying some European routes to keep the aircraft busy during the day before an overnight trip to North America. Dublin to Heathrow on a flat bed sounds good to me, but only a handful of daily flights will get this service.

AerSpace is being added to the existing Aer Lingus short haul fleet which only has standard seating. It is basically a copy of Vueling’s ‘Excellence’ product which was dropped last year. This means that the key in-flight benefit is an empty middle seat in line with British Airways and most other European legacy carriers. It is unclear whether Aer Lingus will install a middle-seat table, like on BA.

Importantly, it appears that there will only be one row of AerSpace – the front row. It will be capped at four seats per aircraft. Air Lingus has not officially announced this but the booking system only lets you buy four seats and the seat map only shows the first row as having missing middle seats.

What other benefits do I get with AerSpace?

It’s not just about an empty middle seat – although it almost is! As you would expect, AerSpace also comes with:

lounge access

fast track security

priority boarding

a free 20kg bag (you get two 32kg bags with BA’s Club Europe for comparison)

a dedicated overhead luggage bin

free flight changes and

a complimentary choice of snack and drink from the existing Aer Lingus buy-on-board menu

The food is the biggest difference between AerSpace and Club Europe, since British Airways has separate catering for Club Europe customers.

Not all routes will feature the product. So far it has been confirmed for the following:

From Heathrow: Belfast, Cork, Dublin, Shannon

From Gatwick: Dublin, Knock

From London City, Birmingham and Manchester: Dublin

….. as well as a variety of European destinations out of Ireland – see the Aer Lingus website here for the list.

What miles and points will I earn with AerSpace?

In terms of frequent flyer miles, all we know so far is that – in Aer Lingus AerClub – AerSpace will earn 50 tier points per flight. I imagine that, for Aer Lingus flights booked as a British Airways codeshare, it will earn 40 tier points in British Airways Executive Club.

Remember that you do NOT earn BA tier points if you credit an Aer Lingus flight booked under an Aer Lingus flight number to BA Executive Club, although you will earn Avios. You can learn more about earning Avios from Aer Lingus in this HfP article.

It is not clear if AerSpace will be bookable with Avios.

Conclusion

My guess is that the introduction of the new AerSpace product is to offer a slightly more cohesive product when the A321LR aircraft arrive. Given that passengers transferring to A321LR short haul services will get a flat bed seat, Aer Lingus needs to do something for those who end up transferring to standard short haul aircraft.

More importantly, AerSpace will allow Aer Lingus to offer business class ticketing from gate-to-gate. Since there is no business class offered on the current short haul aircraft, anyone on a business class ticket would be seated in economy on the connecting flight. This is enough to put off some high yielding connecting passengers.

As Aer Lingus continues to grow its long-haul routes it will become increasingly reliant on passengers who are starting their flights outside Ireland and it makes sense to offer a more cohesive product for those willing to pay for it.

You can learn more about AerSpace on the Aer Lingus website here.

Want to know more about redeeming Avios on Aer Lingus?

This HfP article shows you everything you need to know about how to redeem Avios points on Aer Lingus which can lead to substantial tax savings when flying to North America.

Category

Aer Lingus and AerClub

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Riku says:

10 May10 May 04:04

sounds very underwhelming . If only row one is allocated to AerSpace then you’re almost guaranteed a full row of economy passengers in row 2 bumping the back of your seat and zero possibility of moving row for some peace and quiet like you can have towards the back of a proper european business class “cabin”.
- Erico1875 says:
  
  10 May10 May 05:57
  
  How awful! And the smell too. Maybe they could leave row 2 empty to separate from the riff raffle.
- ChrisC says:
  
  10 May10 May 19:00
  
  Very few European airlines have a dedicated business class cabin on short haul and they vary the size by simply moving the curtain so it is very unlikely there would be any spare rows.
  
  I’ve been on BA where the ‘cabin’ is two rows long with the curtain behind row 2 and when it has been 7 rows long with no spare rows
  
  Which airlines were you thinking of?
  - riku2 says:
    
    11 May11 May 05:26
    
    I was thinking of British Airways and Finnair where there are often empty rows when I fly London-Helsinki. The nicest european business class flight I had was Rome-Helsinki in exit row 10 with an empty row behind and four empty rows in front.
David S says:

10 May10 May 06:23

We have a long haul BA flight into Gatwick in CW connecting to Dublin on Aer Lingus to Dublin. (Same ticket). Since currently we are booked into economy since Aerspace is not currently offered, is there a chance they will be booked into row 1. Flight is not till December.
IslandDweller says:

10 May10 May 07:43

“It is unclear whether Aer Lingus will install a middle-seat table, like on BA.”
Clarification. Like BA for now on some aircraft. New BA aircraft such as NEO series (and those going through refit with new seats) don’t have the middle seat table.
Trent says:

10 May10 May 07:52

They won’t install a table or even a cabin divider. The aircraft will be used on non AerSpace routes as well, so none of that messing.
Charlieface says:

10 May10 May 10:34

What I can’t understand when airlines launch this kind of business-lite product is why they don’t argue more strongly for the lower rate APD. My armchair lawyer says this isn’t much extra legroom or comfort to justify classifying it in the higher rate.
- Chris L says:
  
  10 May10 May 11:30
  
  The higher rate of APD applies to any class of travel other than ‘the lowest class of travel available on the plane” OR where the seat pitch is greater than 40 inches. In this case, the former would apply, regardless of the legroom, due to the empty middle seat. The 40 inch rule catches services which are all business class.
  - Charlieface says:
    
    10 May10 May 13:34
    
    But is it really a different class of travel? It’s the same seat, just they guarantee an empty middle. And what about Cityflyer or KLM Cityhopper, they have no empty middle?
    - Chris L says:
      
      10 May10 May 13:47
      
      If it costs more then it is considered a different class.
      - Charlieface says:
        
        10 May10 May 15:47
        
        Not true. E.g. just extra legroom seat is not charged at the higher rate.
        The legislation isn’t clear, it just says “lowest class of travel”
        Gov.uk guidance says this:
        
        The following on their own do not affect the class of travel, but may do so if they form part of a package of benefits:
        
        buying goods and services on board unless they add up to an upgrade
        paying extra to choose a seat, as long as it is not a better class of seat
        paying extra to sit next to an empty seat
        paying for an empty seat
        paying extra for a seat with extra legroom, as long as:
        the seat is not separated from the ordinary seats in any way
        there are no other benefits linked with the seat
        paying extra for benefits such as:
        pre-booking
        reduced check in times
        fast track through security
        priority boarding
        access to VIP lounges
        transport to or from the airport
        better baggage allowances
        
        The key here is “may do so” it seems HMRC aren’t sure either
      - Rob says:
        
        10 May10 May 16:02
        
        I think the lack of a curtain and the lack of different food means it won’t apply, although if BA starts selling it as ‘Business Class’ on the codeshares then clearly HMRC will take that into account!
      - Shoestring says:
        
        10 May10 May 15:52
        
        I guess HBO and +1 checked luggage (ie on BA) both pay the same APD, as both are Economy
        
        so better baggage allowance is not a game changer on its own
      - Charlieface says:
        
        10 May10 May 16:17
        
        But that’s what I’m saying: why would airlines voluntarily call European Business Class as such? Vueling and others just call it Excellence/Premium/etc and I don’t think you pay higher APD on it
      - riku2 says:
        
        11 May11 May 05:33
        
        APD is only a tax in the UK and airlines don’t have to design their offering based on the tax in one country they fly to. Even when I fly BA I rarely pay APD since i’m not starting my trip in the UK and the connection at LHR is under 24h.
        Not sure why an Irish airline would have to design its cabins around the tax charged on flights from the UK .. I do think they’re an independent country now.
Shoestring says:

10 May10 May 12:54

At least on this plane there won’t be Business numpties giving you a ‘look’ if you’re in Economy but use the forward loo.

I usually manage to get Economy seats in the 7-10 or Exit range, so going to the forward loo makes more sense than tramping to the back, plus at the back there’s more of a queue.

Had a few looks from passenger numpties but *never* a word or a look from cabin crew. I doubt even if it’s BA policy to ‘enforce the curtain’ as regards using the loo, however much Business passengers think it’s theirs in exclusivity.
- Doug M says:
  
  10 May10 May 13:21
  
  Never took you as the sensitive type, the nasty Business types giving you the evil eye. Apart from the last row of business how do they even know? I’m pretty sure there’s no policy on the part of BA, and given the number of seats and toilets using the forward toilet makes prefect sense. However, if a queue formed that’s a bit crap for your masters up front to have unwashed masses from economy in close proximity.
  - Shoestring says:
    
    10 May10 May 13:59
    
    Never bothered me. I would listen to cabin crew but nowadays they don’t ask passengers to keep to ‘their’ loo, either over the loudspeaker or in person & I simply don’t believe that BA would enforce what is in effect a fairly silly rule when there aren’t enough loos to go round in the first place. I don’t recall exclusive use of the front loo being touted as an advantage of travelling Club 🙂
- Larry says:
  
  10 May10 May 19:21
  
  Have you watched the Cure Your Enthusiasm episode covering this scenario (vice-versa!) ??
  - Larry says:
    
    10 May10 May 19:21
    
    Curb, not Cure!!!
- Crafty says:
  
  11 May11 May 10:51
  
  Cathay Pacific crew told me off for this, even though we were in PE and flying with a toddler. The business loos were 2 yards from our seats. The economy loos were right at the back of the plane.
HAM76 says:

10 May10 May 22:03

Reminds me of when airberlin introduced business class for its European flights. They did charge a business class price, even when their offer was subpar.