Madam, - Jim Dunne (September 8th) is well off the mark. Aer Lingus was never a member of the Star Alliance, which has Lufthansa and British Midland as prominent players.
Aer Lingus has been part of the Oneworld alliance, along with British Airways, and the whole thing was working very well as far as I, a frequent traveller, could see.
Aer Lingus has been my airline of choice because it is Irish, and because its frontline staff across the world have been Irish, and have understood the Irishness in me, and done their best to be the best.
And then it all changed. Aer Lingus contracted out, did away with Irish staff at Heathrow and elsewhere abroad, and stopped being an Irish airline at point-of-contact. And service standards diminished. Now they will diminish further.
If I am going on holiday or, say, to the wedding of my best friend's first-born, I will seek the cheapest option. But if I'm going to work on an aeroplane, which is a large part of my life (and I'm by no means the only person on the Irish portion of the planet doing that), I don't see why I should be expected to compromise, any more than I should be expected to opt for a hostel, rather than a hotel, at my destination.
If Aer Lingus won't do it for me any more, I'll use another carrier. Their choice. My choice. I wish them well. But I don't think it's going to work. - Yours, etc.,
GEORGE HAMILTON,
Delgany,
Co Wicklow.