Madam, - I have always been a great supporter of Aer Lingus, but I have noticed a serious decline in quality of service in the past year. On March 28th I flew with Aer Lingus from Dublin to Frankfurt. I was appalled that the "service" provided consisted of poor instant coffee, tea and a choice of stodgy muffin or jaffa cake. To add insult to injury, passengers were required to pay for this and to "please have the correct change".
On the subsequent flight to Vilnius with Lithuanian Airlines we were provided with complimentary drinks and a pleasant snack with extra bread if required. The meanness of Aer Lingus's policy came home to me on the return trip. Our connecting flight was out of Amsterdam on March 31st and there were a number of people from Vilnius on the flight who were journeying onwards from Dublin to Donegal for a conference on social exclusion. I felt embarrassed and ashamed when the trolley came through the cabin, and we were asked if we wanted anything from the "pay bar". I doubt that these first-time visitors to Ireland had euro change on them, so they would have had to forgo refreshment on their journey to Dublin. These customers will have seen at first hand how superior the service on their own national airline service is to its Irish counterpart, since we had earlier been served a complimentary breakfast on the Lithuanian Airlines flight from Vilnius to Amsterdam.
I find it mean-spirited and counter productive to require that people now purchase all refreshments (including water!) on Aer Lingus flights. The obvious conclusion: why not fly Ryanair? - Yours, etc.,
MARY P. CORCORAN, Terenure, Dublin 6w.