Aer Lingus vs American
American scores 7.5/10 against Aer Lingus at 7/10 on seat, screens, lounge and fare.
By Jon Miksis · cabin data verified · fares for travel November 8–14, 2026
Best product each one flies
Scored on what can be verified. Service, food and ground recovery are absent deliberately: they need someone in the seat, and they live in the reviews rather than here.
One caveat on the Value line, stated rather than buried: Value is computed from business fares, and a carrier with too few of them does not get a Value score at all. Where you see a dash, we have fewer than three priced business routes for that airline and did not want to invent a figure from one or two — so its product score is the mean of three dimensions rather than four, and it is not directly comparable to a score built on hundreds of fares. The airlines with the most fares behind them are named on the business-class ranking.
Aer Lingus
A330-300
- Seat
- 5/10
- IFE
- 8/10
- Lounge & bags
- 10/10
- Value
- 5/10
- Product score
- 7/10
American
787-9P (Flagship Suite)
- Seat
- 10/10
- IFE
- 8/10
- Lounge & bags
- 10/10
- Value
- 2/10
- Product score
- 7.5/10
Dimension by dimension
Seat: American
5/10 on the A330-300 against 10/10 on the 787-9P (Flagship Suite).
IFE: level
Screens, connectivity and power: 8/10 against 8/10.
Lounge & bags: level
What the fare includes before you board: 10/10 against 10/10.
Value: Aer Lingus
Median premium over the cheapest carrier on the same route: 5/10 against 2/10.
Where both were priced on the same dates
Every fare is November 8–14, 2026, so a difference between two rows is a difference between two airlines and nothing else. These are economy fares, while the cabin scores above describe the business product — read them as how each airline prices against its competitors, not as what its business seat costs.
| Route | Cabin | Aer Lingus | American | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOS → FCO | economy | $777 | $719 | American by $58 |
| LAX → ZRH | economy | $996 | $783 | American by $213 |
| BOS → LHR | economy | $794 | $823 | Aer Lingus by $29 |
| ORD → BCN | economy | $794 | $811 | Aer Lingus by $17 |
| RDU → CDG | economy | $799 | $1000 | Aer Lingus by $201 |
| BOS → EDI | economy | $852 | $803 | American by $49 |
| ORD → LIS | economy | $1181 | $804 | American by $377 |
| PHL → DUB | economy | $1012 | $827 | American by $185 |
| MIA → DUB | economy | $1065 | $849 | American by $216 |
| RDU → FCO | economy | $1497 | $849 | American by $648 |
| SAN → DUB | economy | $3021 | $861 | American by $2160 |
| MIA → EDI | economy | $1204 | $985 | American by $219 |
| PHL → EDI | economy | $1230 | $1003 | American by $227 |
| ORD → EDI | economy | $1234 | $1078 | American by $156 |
| RDU → AMS | economy | $1090 | $1337 | Aer Lingus by $247 |
| RDU → DUB | economy | $1162 | $1115 | American by $47 |
| LAS → DUB | economy | $1240 | $1167 | American by $73 |
| ORD → CDG | economy | $1201 | $1203 | Aer Lingus by $2 |
| RDU → EDI | economy | $1204 | $1286 | Aer Lingus by $82 |
| ORD → LHR | economy | $1336 | $1707 | Aer Lingus by $371 |
| PHL → LHR | economy | $1442 | $1445 | Aer Lingus by $3 |
| PHL → AMS | economy | $1943 | $2157 | Aer Lingus by $214 |
| ORD → CDG | business | $5488 | $10366 | Aer Lingus by $4878 |
| ORD → BCN | business | $5727 | $8569 | Aer Lingus by $2842 |
| ORD → EDI | business | $5798 | $8556 | Aer Lingus by $2758 |
| PHL → AMS | business | $5847 | $13031 | Aer Lingus by $7184 |
| PHL → DUB | business | $6279 | $6541 | Aer Lingus by $262 |
| PHL → EDI | business | $6601 | $6564 | American by $37 |
| PHL → FCO | business | $6784 | $7352 | Aer Lingus by $568 |
| PHL → CDG | business | $6919 | $11736 | Aer Lingus by $4817 |
| MIA → EDI | business | $7665 | $7869 | Aer Lingus by $204 |
| SFO → EDI | business | $7727 | $7893 | Aer Lingus by $166 |
| RDU → DUB | business | $7920 | $7925 | Aer Lingus by $5 |
What happens if the aircraft swaps
Both carriers are paying-the-same-fare-either-way propositions on some frames. The worst product each one flies:
Aer Lingus
A330-300
- Seat
- 5/10
- IFE
- 8/10
- Lounge & bags
- 10/10
- Value
- 5/10
- Product score
- 7/10
American
777-300ER / 787 (Flagship Business)
- Seat
- 8/10
- IFE
- 8/10
- Lounge & bags
- 10/10
- Value
- 2/10
- Product score
- 7/10
Aer Lingus: A staggered mix of 1-2-1 and 1-2-2 rows, so roughly 90% of seats reach an aisle directly and the paired seats do not. Un-retrofitted ex-Qatar frames are worse again.
American: Reverse herringbone, direct aisle access from every seat, no privacy door.
Common questions
- Is Aer Lingus or American better to Europe?
- American scores 7.5/10 against Aer Lingus at 7/10 on seat, screens, lounge and fare. On the four dimensions we can verify, Aer Lingus wins 1 and American wins 1. Service and food are not scored here because they cannot be read off a spec sheet.
- Which is cheaper, Aer Lingus or American?
- On the 33 routes where both were priced for the same week (November 8–14, 2026), Aer Lingus was cheaper on 19 and American on 14. Every pair of fares is the same departure and return date in the same cabin, so the difference is the airline rather than the dates or the cabin.
- Does the aircraft change the answer?
- Yes. American scores 10/10 on the 787-9P (Flagship Suite) and 8/10 on the 777-300ER / 787 (Flagship Business). Check the equipment on your date before deciding.
- Has Jon flown either of these?
- Neither, so this page is product facts and fares only. Any review we publish of either will be labeled Researched until that changes.
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