Best airline to fly to Ireland?

[JRSC00LUDE]

Looking to book asap, friend and I are hitting up Dublin for St. Patricks day this year.

Who's been and what's the best airline to get there on?

[kertejud2]

Having done it maybe 20 times now in my life, go to London then to Dublin. Don't try to do the Toronto connection (unless you can get it for real cheap). BA is the best, but I flew Air Canada this summer and was pleasantly surprised. But once you're in London there are a dozen or more RyanAir/AerLingus flights daily for cheap. Don't remember if BM flys into Dublin anymore or not if you're looking for something more 'luxurious'. There are more options than you'd know what to do with really.

However I'd urge you to fuck Dublin and go to Galway. Dublin is overpriced, overpopulated and maybe the most overrated city in Europe. You can see it in a day and a night if need be and you wont miss anything spectacular. The "real" Ireland is on the west coast and Galway is a college town to boot, so if you're looking for a party, go there. To get there you could just fly into Shannon Airport. The West Coast is the best part of Ireland.

But if you really, REALLY want to go to Dublin, find a pub called Doyle's across the bridge from O'Connell Street. Is my favorite pub in Dublin and was my regular stomping ground when I lived there (its also a popular place for the UCD crowd).

[BlueGoblin]

^ I'll second that. Going through London will open up some more choices for flights into Dublin. Dublin can be a fun town, but you will actually hear more Polish accents than Irish ones in the pubs. The Temple Bar area is fun for a night or two, the Guinness factory is fun to see, but it doesn't in any way constitute really seeing Ireland.

If you can avoid it, I would recommend against flying Aer Lingus. I've only done two flights with them and they remain the only airline with whom I've taken issue with the actual quality of their flying. I've been through some rough flights, and landed in terrible weather, but I've never had an airliner bounce a landing in clear calm conditions, and then taxi all the way in to the gate with the spoilers and flaps deployed...

[syeve]

I flew London to Cork for $1 on Aer Lingus. Like stated above, try not to go through Toronto.

[Jim Rome99]

You can fly through Amsterdam with KLM. I flew return from Calgary to Cork through Amsterdam for about $900 last March. Forget going to Galway, it's just a bunch of culchies. It'd be like flying to see Alberta and spending your time in Lethbridge. Stick with Dublin and Cork.

[kertejud2]

Originally posted by Jim Rome99
You can fly through Amsterdam with KLM. I flew return from Calgary to Cork through Amsterdam for about $900 last March. Forget going to Galway, it's just a bunch of culchies. It'd be like flying to see Alberta and spending your time in Lethbridge. Stick with Dublin and Cork.

If you stick with Dublin you're stuck with Northsiders or D4s . In Cork you have to deal with people from Cork (which would be like Red Deer, only you'd spend all your time listening to tales about why Red Deer is the greatest place on Earth for hours on end, whether you like it or not).

[Hi-Psi]

Cheapest way to get to Ireland is to book through CanadianAffair.com, it's the Canadian website for Thomas Cook. A lot of the time you can get flights from Calgary to London for less than $200 Canadian, then just get a cheap flight from London to Shannon or Dublin.

Please take everyone else's advice and hit up the west coast, specifically Galway and Salthill. Both places offer an amazing nightlife and the city is nice and small so it's easy to stumble home from anywhere and the hostels there are top notch and cheap!

Man I miss Galway just thinking about it! 5 months of my life I'd love to re-live!

Jason

[JRSC00LUDE]

Starting to come together now, we're going to go with Cork so thanks for the advice so far. Still looking at flights.....

[kertejud2]

Originally posted by JRSC00LUDE
Starting to come together now, we're going to go with Cork so thanks for the advice so far. Still looking at flights.....

Well I best try and prepare you