Aerlingus AerClub/Avios

Dublinflyer

MJohnston wrote: »

What value do they actually get from thinning the herd though? It seems to me that the reason airline loyalty programs exist is because they bring enough prestige or financial benefit to counteract the rather minimal outlay of the tier freebies. Hotel groups seem desperate to retain their loyalty customers during this, I don’t really know why airlines would be any different.

I was always of the opinion that they set the bar a little low to get Silver compared to other airlines and you get a lot of the visible benefits once you get there, fastpass, priority boarding and checkin, use of the lounge and the likes. When you start to move up through the tiers you get things that you don't "see" such as more avios and a chance for an upgrade. I guess one exception is that you get to bring a friend with you in the lounge. Let's face to move past silver you are doing a bit of travelling anyway, maybe across to the US, and may be in business class anyway so get all the benefits anyway.

I just think it was an odd approach, here are some extra tier credits that may well expire before you travel again when most are just freezing for a year. If you were silver and traveled in Europe you may favour EI as you get the few perks but if you lost that you will look at other options especially if you are a few months in to your status year.

AndyBoBandy

Dublinflyer wrote: »

Let's face to move past silver you are doing a bit of travelling anyway, maybe across to the US, and may be in business class

I made it to Concierge only travelling to/from The U.K.

Admittedly, I was always booking Plus fares, so every trip was 50 Tier Credits (I think the last trip I took before resetting my Tier Credits, I needed more than 50 to get me over the line, so 1 leg was booked Advantage).

goingnowhere

Anyone who is above Silver and makes 2 flights in their year are still going to have at least Silver.

I'm at 427.5 and have till December, might work out if EI throws us a few more credits for free.

banchang

Anyone know if Aer Lingus is making any allowances for the usage of the free flight on the AerClub Credit Card ?

One of the benefits is a free flight per annum, but with Covid that benefit is lost for months in 2020 ?

Noxegon

I fell out of Gold Circle a few years ago.

I had a business class round trip to NY in December, and I'd easily have gotten the remaining tier points for silver by my renewal date were it not for the present crisis.

The 25 bonus points won't help me in the slightest. I'm expecting to be back at zero again before my next flight.

a clanger

KLM have extended your current Tier level to cover next year !

Board Walker

a clanger wrote: »

KLM have extended your current Tier level to cover next year !

The biggest mistake i ever made was allocate my Aeroflot points to aeroflot. I was silver By the time i realised i could have allocated them to KLM also as my flights To Sakhalin were through Amsterdam with KLM and Aeroflot.

Stark

Has anyone received their voucher? Still waiting since 28th of March here.

blackwhite

Similar wait time here.

Funnily enough, they were able to change booking status to cancelled within 48hrs of receiving the voucher request, but 6 weeks later haven't managed to issue the voucher

MrDavid1976

Anyone availing of the offer to buy avios? 75% bonus when using the Aer Lingus BOI credit card.

Van.Bosch

MrDavid1976 wrote: »

Anyone availing of the offer to buy avios? 75% bonus when using the Aer Lingus BOI credit card.

I know they don’t expire but I wouldn’t be buying them without knowing when I am likely to use them.

thebiglad

Van.Bosch wrote: »

I know they don’t expire but I wouldn’t be buying them without knowing when I am likely to use them.

My issue is that i'm not sure if they will devalue Avios when flying starts again or increase the base fees (which can be pretty random at best of times).

Maybe next time the offer comes round...

Finally, this years booked holiday is getting moved to next year so won't have too much need of Avios until 2022.

goingnowhere

You are basically giving Willie Walsh a bank loan with no assurance IAG will exist

jesus_thats_gre

Bigger concern would be a devaluation.

rivegauche

My Avios points are the only reason I haven't done a charge back with the creditcard company for the Aer Lingus flight which didn't happen.
I've logged on and I see they haven't given me back my points and the money isn't with my Credit Card company.

MrDavid1976

rivegauche wrote: »

My Avios points are the only reason I haven't done a charge back with the creditcard company for the Aer Lingus flight which didn't happen.
I've logged on and I see they haven't given me back my points and the money isn't with my Credit Card company.

I am still waiting 7 weeks later for a voucher. They are really testing my loyalty. Not to mention free upgrades which I will not be able to use due to the lockdown.

I fully appreciate the challenges they are facing but the way they are treating their customers on processing vouchers is questionable. Do they want us to spend cash in new flights rather than the vouchers?

blackwhite

Over 7 weeks waiting as well now.

I've DM'd them a few times on twitter, and keep getting a boilerplate "It'll be issued soon".

Between myself and my OH we spend a decent sum with EI each year - at least 4 Business Class trips for work annually and one for leisure per year, as well as at least one European flight per month (usually at Plus or Advantage fare tiers when travelling for work). Have always given EI the preference ahead of other carriers to maintain status etc. That goodwill is firmly gone at this stage

Dublinflyer

blackwhite wrote: »

Have always given EI the preference ahead of other carriers to maintain status etc. That goodwill is firmly gone at this stage

I do think this kind of sentiment is lost on Aer Lingus and they are not seeing ow this will effect return customers. This whole thing will act as a big giant reset button for a most people and how they spend their holidays. A lot of people will choose to stay in Ireland for their holidays in the next year as there have been so many stories of people stranded abroad trying to get home, even though the vast majority did get back ok but the press made a lot of noise about the few who had problems.

Aer Lingus need to step up their game a bit to attract people back to them and they seem to be behind the curve on the whole "how we are getting you back flying" things that a lot of the other airlines are doing, even Ryanair are putting up slick videos on social media.

shanemul

BA just announced Tier status extension for another 12 months so lets hope Aer Lingus will follow suit

AndyBoBandy

shanemul wrote: »

BA just announced Tier status extension for another 12 months so lets hope Aer Lingus will follow suit

Doubtful.

BA is the IAG premier brand.

Aer Lingus is its 'low cost' brand.

They will want to squeeze as many out of AerClub as they can.

MJohnston

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

They will want to squeeze as many out of AerClub as they can.

Why?

goingnowhere

Every single person through fast track costs them
Every 3rd party lounge must be paid for each visit
The free business class upgrade is revenue they are losing

Removing lounge access from Sliver would be the right thing to do to align with every other program out there.

MJohnston

goingnowhere wrote: »

Every single person through fast track costs them
Every 3rd party lounge must be paid for each visit
The free business class upgrade is revenue they are losing

Removing lounge access from Sliver would be the right thing to do to align with every other program out there.

Except, is all of that outweighed by the advantages of locking people into sticking with them?

If and when we get back to business flights being a regular reality, I certainly know I would very strongly consider the United SFO flights instead of EI. United offer a Premium Economy product that is covered by my travel policy, Aer Lingus don't. But I stick with EI because of the Aer Club benefits.

Dublinflyer

MJohnston wrote: »

Except, is all of that outweighed by the advantages of locking people into sticking with them?

If and when we get back to business flights being a regular reality, I certainly know I would very strongly consider the United SFO flights instead of EI. United offer a Premium Economy product that is covered by my travel policy, Aer Lingus don't. But I stick with EI because of the Aer Club benefits.

100% agree, if EI don't hold status over for 12 months they are going to lose business travellers. I am a regular to JFK and always stuck with EI as I have the status but if I lose that, and it's looking like I will, I will reset and look at the other options. Lots of people will do the same I think.

micosoft

MJohnston wrote: »

Why?

Because the Silver membership is perceived as too easy to get vs peers. Not saying I agree though.

micosoft

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Doubtful.

BA is the IAG premier brand.

Aer Lingus is its 'low cost' brand.

They will want to squeeze as many out of AerClub as they can.

Actually the AL placement is much more complex then that especially TAL level. It is not a Ryanair doppelganger yet does not have the cost base of BA. It was an interesting and significant growth opportunity prior to Covid and where a lot of IAG money was moving towards. AL was doing "functional" TAL business really well IMHO and with LHW not getting a new runway... Dublin had some serious growth potential.

AndyBoBandy

MJohnston wrote: »

Except, is all of that outweighed by the advantages of locking people into sticking with them?

6 1 way flights in AerSpace fare will get you 300 Tier Credits, 1 Tier Credit off Silver, so in total, 7 1 way flights can get you silver status.

Once you are silver, you have priority check in, fast track security & lounge access.
So you can blitz it in a week or 2, then have the status for the rest of the year to use the benefits if you take the odd AL flight thereafter...

It's too easy to get status, and that basic level of status gives you about 95% of the useful benefits of being an AerClub member.

In Gold Circle, I was gold (basic level) for 8 years straight, then in the great AerClub changeover debacle, I was booted down to green (no status at all), and within a year had made it to Concierge. I did this by booking mostly Plus fares (25 tier credits per 1 way flight), all to/from the U.K.

Mortelaro

The BA status extension means someone who actually renewed this year already gets status now untill their renewal in 2022
So effectively 2 and a half to 3 years of status
At 400tps for silver up to now this year (450 from today on) that's very good value versus aer lingus status and much easier to get with much better benefits

micosoft

Dublinflyer wrote: »

100% agree, if EI don't hold status over for 12 months they are going to lose business travellers. I am a regular to JFK and always stuck with EI as I have the status but if I lose that, and it's looking like I will, I will reset and look at the other options. Lots of people will do the same I think.

Worst you move down one - Concierge to Platinum or Platinum to Silver....

I got my 350 points in April so expect them to add another in July. Would be foolish because I've always been between BA and AL on TAL and this gives an opportunity especially as AL lacks lifetime points.

That said at the moment pre Clearance and avoiding LHW is too much of an advantage to reroute via BA. So would probably move to Delta/Skyteam.

micosoft

Mortelaro wrote: »

The BA status extension means someone who actually renewed this year already gets status now untill their renewal in 2022
So effectively 2 and a half to 3 years of status
At 400tps for silver up to now this year (450 from today on) that's very good value versus aer lingus status and much easier to get with much better benefits

Look I'd agree except for the value statement - Club World is consistently more expensive than AL J fare. If it's the company paying fine... but if it's you. So assume AL has less leeway to extend and relationship is just much more transactional.

As for benefits... I got seven upgrades last year (four I asked for from concierge entitlement for personal trips - Seattle as well so proper long distance) and three at the gate.

Gold on BA give you two upgrades to the next cabin. That means WT might only give you an upgrade to premium (please correct if that's wrong). AL always straight to Business even if you got a €199 special. And Plat gets two and Con gets four. That's a big deal if you fly west coast much.

So swings and roundabouts but I wouldn't be so harsh on AL. A lot of the Executive Club benefits are fluff vs hard benefit of a bed to SFO for €199.