Aerlingus AerClub/Avios

Noxegon

I chose Lufthansa for schedule, as I couldn't be sure I'd make it to FRA in time for the Shamrock flight which was about ninety minutes earlier. As I recall the price was more or less the same.

The service was sufficiently better that they'll be my first choice next time.

And yes, I might be stuck behind someone in the aisle working on the overhead bins, but having the crew blaring about that over the PA isn't going to impact the fact that said individual will want to finish getting his headphones out.

AndyBoBandy

I just burned 2,000 points on an €100 Arrnotts gift card, and will probably burn another 2,000 for a Brown Thomas voucher.

Regarding the conversion rate, I'm thinking (hoping) it's not going to be too bad for us as AL have been pushing hard to try and get people to start using their points (well, me anyway), as the number & frequency of emails with offers has increased a lot in the last 2 months or so. Maybe thats in anticipation of the changeover, or they are told by Avios to do it? either way I guess I've bitten,
I currently have 9,000 points, so losing the 4,000 on vouchers still has me not looking too bad.


Slightly OT but out of interest;

Whats the most amount of points you've ever had in your account? Know of anyone ever having a crazy amount?
I think the most I was ever up to was about 13/14 thousand.

Tenger

If any of you could get clarity on any aspects of the move to AerClub, what would be the most important to you?

Conversion rate GC points to Avios?
Lounge access across partners airlines?
Admittance points thresholds?

Dardania

Tenger wrote: »

If any of you could get clarity on any aspects of the move to AerClub, what would be the most important to you?

Conversion rate GC points to Avios?
Lounge access across partners airlines?
Admittance points thresholds?

Admittance points - how long until I will get access to longues when I fly basically

IRLConor

Tenger wrote: »

If any of you could get clarity on any aspects of the move to AerClub, what would be the most important to you?

Conversion rate GC points to Avios?
Lounge access across partners airlines?
Admittance points thresholds?

I don't give a toss about Avios (because the odds on me getting anything particularly useful out of them are low) but I really care about the Tier Points.

The perks of even the lowest tier in Gold Circle can be the difference to me between a trip being a pain in the hole and being somewhat comfortable.

I'll be planning the bulk of next year's flying over the next 2-3 months so it would be useful to know sooner rather than later whether or not I'm likely to retain status in the new system.

Arbiter of Good Taste

Disgusted. Just off an aer Lingus flight from gatwick. Firstly flight was delayed an hour, but no where was that posted on any boards. The only reason I knew is my Tripcase app kept sending me emails so I stuck around the lounge rather than being stuck in the holding pen half the evening.

Then on the plane, the lady in the seat next to asked the air hostess if she could take away the rubbish left in the seat from the last passenger. No. They are not allowed to take the rubbish until general rubbish collection at the end. Suggested the passenger send an email complaint.

Not acceptable aer Lingus.

Locker10a

Arbiter of Good Taste wrote: »

Disgusted. Just off an aer Lingus flight from gatwick. Firstly flight was delayed an hour, but no where was that posted on any boards. The only reason I knew is my Tripcase app kept sending me emails so I stuck around the lounge rather than being stuck in the holding pen half the evening.

Then on the plane, the lady in the seat next to asked the air hostess if she could take away the rubbish left in the seat from the last passenger. No. They are not allowed to take the rubbish until general rubbish collection at the end. Suggested the passenger send an email complaint.

Not acceptable aer Lingus.

Regular at Gatwick, cleaners do sweet F.A. on the aircraft and Aer Lingus are paying for them ! I've yet to get on a clean plane departing Gatwick airport!
The delay you can hardly blame the airline for .......

Arbiter of Good Taste

Locker10a wrote: »

Regular at Gatwick, cleaners do sweet F.A. on the aircraft and Aer Lingus are paying for them ! I've yet to get on a clean plane departing Gatwick airport!
The delay you can hardly blame the airline for .......

Read my post again.

I'm not blaming the airline for the delays. What I'm saying was there was no indication by the airline at all that there were any delays. Passengers were moved into the holding pen as normal and left to sit for an hour while the plane was still stuck in dublin airport.

Re the cleaning, my issue was with the air hostesses downright refusal to remove rubbish left by a previous passenger with the only "helpful" suggestion being send an email to complain.

I hope aer Lingus don't pride themselves on customer service.

AndyBoBandy

As a side note, the new lounge in Gatwuck is quite nice,

So much better than the old cramped one over beside Nandos

Tenger

Arbiter of Good Taste wrote: »

Disgusted............

Then on the plane, the lady in the seat next to asked the air hostess if she could take away the rubbish left in the seat from the last passenger. No. They are not allowed to take the rubbish until general rubbish collection at the end. Suggested the passenger send an email complaint.

Not acceptable aer Lingus.

I've been told that Aer Lingus have recently introduced a policy of no cabin cleaning at destinations. Cleaners empty waste bins in toilets and galleys only. Crew are told this will work if they make several waste collections inflight (not sure when this will happen on a DUB-LGW or DUB-MAN flight!!)
I think its an awful scenario, imagine and aircraft doing Dublin-London 4 or 6 times a day. Not cleaning the aircraft is really counting pennies rather than pounds.

lfc200

Tenger wrote: »

I've been told that Aer Lingus have recently introduced a policy of no cabin cleaning at destinations. Cleaners empty waste bins in toilets and galleys only. Crew are told this will work if they make several waste collections inflight (not sure when this will happen on a DUB-LGW or DUB-MAN flight!!)
I think its an awful scenario, imagine and aircraft doing Dublin-London 4 or 6 times a day. Not cleaning the aircraft is really counting pennies rather than pounds.

As you say I was speaking to one of the crew members the other day, and they are not happy about the new procedures. They suggested that a complaint be written to aer lingus about the cleaning( or lack thereof) of the aircraft...

Arbiter of Good Taste

lfc200 wrote: »

As you say I was speaking to one of the crew members the other day, and they are not happy about the new procedures. They suggested that a complaint be written to aer lingus about the cleaning( or lack thereof) of the aircraft...

But the crew still expect the passengers to sit in filth because they don't like new work practices? I'm not expecting them to brush the seats down and Hoover after each flight but if a passenger hands them a bag of rubbish left by a previous passenger don't lie and say they're "not allowed" to take it. It wasn't management who refused to take it (on two separate occasions), it was crew.

Locker10a

Arbiter of Good Taste wrote: »

But the crew still expect the passengers to sit in filth because they don't like new work practices? I'm not expecting them to brush the seats down and Hoover after each flight but if a passenger hands them a bag of rubbish left by a previous passenger don't lie and say they're "not allowed" to take it. It wasn't management who refused to take it (on two separate occasions), it was crew.

There Is an appropriate time to hand up your rubbish during the demo ,during the final secure check, during the service ,you cannot take rubbish from passengers if you take rubbish from one passenger every passenger will expect the same and it's just not viable!
The crewmember would probably appreciate if you complain to the company about the uncleanly and disgusting state your seat was in and complaints are only way this will change

kevinandrew

I banned someone last week over their rant about Ryanair and safety, so for balance purposes and to stop your airline bashing I'll be giving you a week off from A&A as well

Locker10a

kevinandrew wrote: »

The lack of cleaning at outstations is part of a new policy to improve punctuality, only 45% of Aer Lingus flights departed on time in August 2015 with Dublin and outstations being the main problem. It's also a huge cost saving measure! ..............

If aer lingus are to sell themselves as being a class of airline above ultra low cost carries then cleanliness and appearance should be taken very seriously, reaching your seat and sitting in it is one of those first impressions you get of an airline and the fact they are now penny pinching in this area is very sad in my opinion.
Ryanair crew may pick up rubbish but the reason this is viable is because they don't have seat pockets, thus making it quick and easy.
I have personally worked as cabin crew for a large well know low cost airline and I can tell you the planes were absolutely filthy by the end of the day, especially after flights with children on board etc. and passengers regularly commented on this, it was a crew tidy that was done and it simply doesn't work if you want the cabin looking clean, presentable and professional.
On time performance is an important factor for all airlines, the likes of ryanair will always perform well here because operating from secondary airports hugely reduces turnaround time, airports like LGW, LHR,AMS,CDG, FCO etc. will always cause delays with congestions and ATC slots etc. that said there are many airlines out there who manage OTP while at the same time being cleaned and catered.
Im very disappointed with this decision by EI and I shall put this to them in form of a complaint

Noxegon

If aer lingus are to sell themselves as being a class of airline above ultra low cost carries

...then they have a hell of a lot to do.

I prefer flying Ryanair these days, especially on a late night/early morning "quiet flight".

PissFlapsDory

Aer Lingus, Ryan Air etc.....many European short haul flights are more or less flying tractors and nothing else. Just something you have to put up with.

Tenger

If anyone else feels the need to drag this any more off topic we can close the thread.

PissFlapsDory

Tenger wrote: »

If anyone else feels the need to drag this any more off topic we can close the thread.

oh..good

Pat Dunne

Locker10a wrote: »

There Is an appropriate time to hand up your rubbish during the demo ,during the final secure check, during the service ,you cannot take rubbish from passengers if you take rubbish from one passenger every passenger will expect the same and it's just not viable!
The crewmember would probably appreciate if you complain to the company about the uncleanly and disgusting state your seat was in and complaints are only way this will change

Thanks for the insight, so would I be right in saying that it is now Aer Lingus company policy, that the fare paying passenger must be prepared to endure sitting in someone else's filth, until the "appropriate time"?

Locker10a

Pat Dunne wrote: »

Thanks for the insight, so would I be right in saying that it is now Aer Lingus company policy, that the fare paying passenger must be prepared to endure sitting in someone else's filth, until the "appropriate time"?

Yes

Pat Dunne

Locker10a wrote: »

Yes

Based on what I'm reading here. Can anyone one offer me any advantages / incentives, as to why I should want to fly Aer Lingus?

J.pilkington

Pat Dunne wrote: »

Based on what I'm reading here. Can anyone one offer me any advantages / incentives, as to why I should want to fly Aer Lingus?

Is this a serious question? This thread is about being a member of the Aer Lingus ff programme and you want pros and cons of flying aer lingus!

I'll humour you but only on the topic of this thread. The vast majority of gold circle members(I'd guess circa 5 people on any flight have ff status so only maybe 5% of total passengers) are business fliers and aer lingus have no competition in this area if you fly to multiple destinations and you want to join a ff programme. To move to Lufthansas programme and gain the necessary status would mean regularly flying star alliance flights whose routes out of Dublin are very limited.

L1011

Pat Dunne wrote: »

Based on what I'm reading here. Can anyone one offer me any advantages / incentives, as to why I should want to fly Aer Lingus?

Because you don't want to connect via LHR and they're often the only option or the only well timed one.

Back when I did have to travel a fair bit for work, I would have lost entire days with other carriers.

Pat Dunne

J.pilkington wrote: »

Is this a serious question? This thread is about being a member of the Aer Lingus ff programme and you want pros and cons of flying aer lingus!

Yes it is a serious question.
Based on what I have read in this topic I have yet to come across one positive comment in regard of the EI points reward scheme. And now that the topic has drifted into discussing the alledged appalling state of cleanliness in their aircraft.
I'll ask again, why should I fly EI?

AndyBoBandy

Member benefits include;

Priority check in.
Fast track security - useful for morning flights when T2 is maxed out
Lounge access - quiet place to chill & relax when the terminal is packed out
Priority boarding - useful on a full flight to ensure you get your bag into the overhead locker above your seat and not 6 rows back.

Points can be redeemed for flights, or various gifts/gift cards.

For me, the benefits of flying exclusively with Aer Lingus are well and truly worth it.

goingnowhere

Priority check in is nice
Front of aircraft seating
First in line for upgrade to business class
For DUB/LHR/DUB move to earlier flight if your flight is delayed and space available

L1011

goingnowhere wrote: »

For DUB/LHR/DUB move to earlier flight if your flight is delayed and space available

Once managed to get two of the last three seats on an earlier LHR-DUB in that scenario when I had Gold - my brother who has no status was travelling with me. Mary Byrne from X Factor (it was that year) got the last one!

J.pilkington

Pat Dunne wrote: »

Yes it is a serious question.
Based on what I have read in this topic I have yet to come across one positive comment in regard of the EI points reward scheme. And now that the topic has drifted into discussing the alledged appalling state of cleanliness in their aircraft.
I'll ask again, why should I fly EI?

You do realise it's not a case of 'deciding' to take the odd flight with them? To gain status you need about 12 / 15 short haul flights over the first year at the right fare, then you have your status and only then do you start enjoying the perks and then you need a similar number of flights to maintain the status.

Half the appeal is the exclusivity, ie if everyone had it there would be no benefits hence why it's not for the occasional flyer.

Anyways if you are serious all this very basic info is on the website

Pat Dunne

J.pilkington wrote: »

You do realise it's not a case of 'deciding' to take the odd flight with them? To gain status you need about 12 / 15 short haul flights over the first year at the right fare, then you have your status and only then do you start enjoying the perks and then you need a similar number of flights to maintain the status.

Half the appeal is the exclusivity, ie if everyone had it there would be no benefits hence why it's not for the occasional flyer.

Anyways if you are serious all this very basic info is on the website

Thank you J.pilkington, I appreciate your response. I am very aware of how frequent flyer programmes work and the "exclusivity" aspect attached to them.

My question is based solely on what I have read in this topic. Comments posted here appear to be very negative towards EI in relation to their management of the Gold Circle scheme along with the perceived uncertainty of its future.

What has also struck me most forcefully are the more recent posts making allegations of poor cleaning practices on EI aircraft.

That is why I asked my question.

Locker10a

Pat Dunne wrote: »

My question is based solely on what I have read in this topic. Comments posted here appear to be very negative towards EI in relation to their management of the Gold Circle scheme along with the perceived uncertainty of its future.

What has also struck me most forcefully are the more recent posts making allegations of poor cleaning practices on EI aircraft.

That is why I asked my question.

Hopefully with the Introduction of the new AerClub the reputation of poor management will change and this will breathe a new life into the programme,
In relation to EI planes and cleanliness, in my opinion it's a cost saving measure to far but it will only mean their planes are as clean as their low cost competition!
I kind of thought EI were branching away from the ultra low cost model and stepping things up a notch, hence why this backward step has left me disappointed, but it's really a trivial thing

AndyBoBandy

Maybe the lack of cleaning at the other end is just a short term cost cutting measure,

And once fully integrated into IAG, EI will have the use of BA/IB cleaning services at the other end?

Maybe they were/are just cutting their ties with their current cleaning contractors, as maybe the contract was due to expire and rather than sign another long term agreement, they are holding out the few weeks/months until they will have access to the IAG cleaners?

Willie Walsh is too cute to start suddenly lessening the quality of the service for what in the grand scheme of things, probably isn't a whole lot of cost! Considering AL is small fry compared to BA/IB, the additional cleaning costs are probably minuscule.

ButtersSuki

Hi folks,



Genuine question re. BT vouchers....I'm a GC Member for years but never heard of this option, don't know how I missed it tbh but I obviously have. I've pretty much only used my points to date to upgrade to the US on holidays, never managed to find a 'free' flight that suited me and also have 4,000+ points about to expire in the next few days that I'd rather cash in for a voucher than lose.



How does one go about cashing them in for a voucher. Does anyone have a link to the relevant section on the website?



Thanks!

ImDave

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Hi folks,

Genuine question re. BT vouchers....I'm a GC Member for years but never heard of this option, don't know how I missed it tbh but I obviously have. I've pretty much only used my points to date to upgrade to the US on holidays, never managed to find a 'free' flight that suited me and also have 4,000+ points about to expire in the next few days that I'd rather cash in for a voucher than lose.

How does one go about cashing them in for a voucher. Does anyone have a link to the relevant section on the website?

Thanks!

Here is the link from the most recent email:
https://www.brandforce.ie/Gift-Cards/

They have been sending loads of emails lately to get vouchers for points - maybe GC have an old email address for you?

Bigcheeze

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Hi folks,



Genuine question re. BT vouchers....I'm a GC Member for years but never heard of this option, don't know how I missed it tbh but I obviously have. I've pretty much only used my points to date to upgrade to the US on holidays, never managed to find a 'free' flight that suited me and also have 4,000+ points about to expire in the next few days that I'd rather cash in for a voucher than lose.



How does one go about cashing them in for a voucher. Does anyone have a link to the relevant section on the website?



Thanks!

I'm guessing they don't have an up to date email address for you. The BT and Arnotts vouchers offer comes by email.

Link for claiming BT: https://www.brandforce.ie/Gift-Cards/

Link for Arnotts: http://www.aerlingusgoldcircleclub.com/arnotts.asp

Pat Dunne

Locker10a wrote: »

Hopefully with the Introduction of the new AerClub the reputation of poor management will change and this will breathe a new life into the programme,
In relation to EI planes and cleanliness, in my opinion it's a cost saving measure to far but it will only mean their planes are as clean as their low cost competition!
I kind of thought EI were branching away from the ultra low cost model and stepping things up a notch, hence why this backward step has left me disappointed, but it's really a trivial thing

Thanks you Locker10a for your reply, your responses have been very direct and realistic to my mind in highlighting and acknowledging problems that would appear to currently exist within the EI "scheme of things".

For the next 12 to 18 months I will adopt a await and see attitude, as to how EI are integrated within IAG.

ButtersSuki

Bigcheeze wrote: »

I'm guessing they don't have an up to date email address for you. The BT and Arnotts vouchers offer comes by email.

Link for claiming BT: https://www.brandforce.ie/Gift-Cards/

Link for Arnotts: http://www.aerlingusgoldcircleclub.com/arnotts.asp

Actually that's a good point, I haven't got an email from them in years. Thanks for this, genuinely appreciate it.

AndyBoBandy

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Actually that's a good point, I haven't got an email from them in years. Thanks for this, genuinely appreciate it.

your account statement should come every month, showing your recent activity, the BT & Arrnotts emails have been coming almost weekly now for a few months.

goingnowhere

What really hurt was the cull of lounges about 2 years ago, bye bye PRG, SXF, CPH and a pile of others

I've managed through madness to pull in 21000+ points in less than 4 years and never paid business class, got to the point of being able to tell the registration of the plane from the interior condition. Has anyone in EI GC ever reached out for a survey or opinion, not a chance.

A huge problem has been the IT behind gold circle doesn't work

• With the exception of Madrid (Iberia do the check in and use the BA system) points never post unless its EI who check you in using the stone age Astral
  
• The mysterious seat allocation voodoo, is it a human or a machine? Only works from Dublin
  
• Then there is the redemption problem, no seats available, pay cash, board plane, 20+ empty seats. Since we pay all taxes and charges anyway its basically free to carry you and business logic should be to try to get you on to less busy flights so they can make money on the busy ones.

Things have certainly changed in 2015.

• A clear effort to implement priority boarding started in LHR and has rolled out across most locations, still its ignored at many (hello SXF and TXL)
  
• Points from BA tickets finally started to post automatically for me at least
  
• New check in area in Dublin (back where it was originally at the front door)
  
• Extra redemption options, wider voucher range.

L1011

Has Astral not been retired by now? It was implied at least a decade ago that it was to be dumped, but its not something I'd heard anything else on. Actually, are any other poor bastard airlines still renting it from them?

goingnowhere

Astral is still very much alive with all kinds of bits attached to it. Its still green screen and text in Dublin. Staff to be fair really know how to get around quickly and I doubt any replacement will be quicker. With the new website playing tricks at least Astral remains consistent. There was some fanciful plan to build a new system but I guess it will be IAG IT soon enough

For reference Astral is a knock off of IPARS, which is knock off of PARS which was built to face off against SABRE. EI made a killing with IPARS and Astral in the 60's and 70's.

It's 40 cent a PNR if you want to run your airline on Astral

L1011

goingnowhere wrote: »

Staff to be fair really know how to get around quickly and I doubt any replacement will be quicker.

My former employer had that problem when the system they produced went from (multi coloured, admittedly) text to GUI - people who'd been using it since 1987 couldn't ever build back the speed they had.

Are there any airlines actually using it beyond EI anymore though?

goingnowhere

Kuwait was the last, not sure if they are still on it or not

Tenger

goingnowhere wrote: »

Astral is still very much alive with all kinds of bits attached to it. Its still green screen and text in Dublin. Staff to be fair really know how to get around quickly and I doubt any replacement will be quicker. ....

For reference Astral is a knock off of IPARS, which is knock off of PARS which was built to face off against SABRE. EI made a killing with IPARS and Astral in the 60's and 70's.......l

Feck me, I hated Astal when I was in EI. Horrible system, and I'm not particularly computer literate.
I probably still have my astral guidebook in my box of EI stuff from 10 years ago. (it was a photocopy of a photocopy....) handed down from EI staffer to staffer since the 1980's.

lfc200

Anyone here have any ideas when we are going to hear about our aer club tier level?
I got a string of emails last November/December about the change and that gold circle is closing at the end of March and we would hear 1 month before it closes but nothing heard yet...

eusap

I seen a post elsewhere showing the new tiers, and they are not great many unhappy travellers in the near future, the normal green card will only get you 5 entries to the lounge. It did not mention the number of points needed for each tier so that could correct the mismatch

Tenger

eusap wrote: »

I seen a post elsewhere showing the new tiers, and they are not great many unhappy travellers in the near future, the normal green card will only get you 5 entries to the lounge. It did not mention the number of points needed for each tier so that could correct the mismatch

I was told (from an EI staffer who got a briefing on AerClub) that EI plan to reduce lounge access under the new system. Apparently this is to create "exclusivity" around the higher tiers. They are adapting a 3 tier system into 4 tiers.

Yamanoto

GC winds up on the last day of the month, so they'll have to start notifying members where they stand soon enough.

lfc200

Tenger wrote: »

I was told (from an EI staffer who got a briefing on AerClub) that EI plan to reduce lounge access under the new system. Apparently this is to create "exclusivity" around the higher tiers. They are adapting a 3 tier system into 4 tiers.

There will be a lot of very unhappy flyers over this! I travel most weeks Cork-LHR and in the last 2 months only 4 of my flights have counted for points. So out of approx 16 flights only 4 counted.
If I lose access to the lounge for every trip because of so many of my flights not counting I'll be very p****d off!

Arbiter of Good Taste

Tenger wrote: »

I was told (from an EI staffer who got a briefing on AerClub) that EI plan to reduce lounge access under the new system. Apparently this is to create "exclusivity" around the higher tiers. They are adapting a 3 tier system into 4 tiers.

Any idea about fast track check in and security? I could possibly tolerate reduced lounge access if I didnt have to go back to queuing for ages for by drop and security.