Aerlingus AerClub/Avios

banchang

SB Morer wrote: »

For those saying Avios are worthless, you really need to widen your view on what you can do with them. I'm planning to book a One World Multi-Carrier Award Ticket for Business Class travel to Japan on Cathay Pacific and JAL and should end up saving thousands of euros.

As a matter of interest, how many Avios did this cost (plus taxes & fees I presume) ?

SB Morer

banchang wrote: »

As a matter of interest, how many Avios did this cost (plus taxes & fees I presume) ?

I haven’t booked yet as I’m not going til autumn 2020 so it’s still too early. I’m planning to fly via Helsinki outbound to Tokyo and home from Osaka via Hong Kong using a combination of Finnair, JAL and Cathay Pacific. This means it qualifies as a One World Multi-Carrier Award ticket which clocks in at just under 14,000 miles so would cost 180,000 Avios per person plus taxes in Business Class
https://www.britishairways.com/travel/multi-carrier-avios-costs-zone/public/en_gb

AndyBoBandy

Just an FYI, You can also use Avios on the FlyBe website to get fare reductions on FlyBe flights.

I did it last year and used about 12,000 Avios to get about £80 off a return fare, and another 6,000 or so to get about £40 off a one way fare.

Only time since AerClub started that I've actually used Avios for anything.

SB Morer

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Just an FYI, You can also use Avios on the FlyBe website to get fare reductions on FlyBe flights.

I did it last year and used about 12,000 Avios to get about £80 off a return fare, and another 6,000 or so to get about £40 off a one way fare.

Only time since AerClub started that I've actually used Avios for anything.

Following the Virgin takeover of FlyBe earning/spending Avios on FlyBe flights ends on 30 April.

I would consider spending 12,000 Avios to get £80 a bad deal as Avios are generally regarded as having a value of around 1.2p or 1.5 cents. But £80 off is still £80, and possibly an ok redemption if you don’t generally fly Aer Lingus or a One World airline. It still might have been better to book a hotel with them if flights weren’t an option.

AndyBoBandy

SB Morer wrote: »

I would consider spending 12,000 Avios to get £80 a bad deal as Avios are generally regarded as having a value of around 1.2p or 1.5 cents. But £80 off is still £80, and possibly an ok redemption if you don’t generally fly Aer Lingus or a One World airline. It still might have been better to book a hotel with them if flights weren’t an option.

99% of my travel on Aer Lingus is business, so no cost to me (also why I always book plus fare to get the 25 tier credits), so I'm not really arsed with using avoid on AL.

The FlyBe flights I took last year were personal so the money saved was a big winner for me, regardless of how many Avios I used.

Also, I think it was around 12,000 avoid, I'd need to double check on that.

cson

SB Morer wrote: »

Following the Virgin takeover of FlyBe earning/spending Avios on FlyBe flights ends on 30 April.

I would consider spending 12,000 Avios to get £80 a bad deal as Avios are generally regarded as having a value of around 1.2p or 1.5 cents. But £80 off is still £80, and possibly an ok redemption if you don’t generally fly Aer Lingus or a One World airline. It still might have been better to book a hotel with them if flights weren’t an option.

cpp is all relative though.

Earn & burn, no point waiting for a golden goose redemption.

L1011

Car hire partner added - Avis. I'm Hertz-only though so of no use to me

It is starting to look vaguely like a proper earn and burn system now; status is still a mess. Just need a direct hotel partner or two. We're never going to get like the US has (or had - a lot of these are gone) where there's points on telecoms, restaurants etc that are used by heavy business flyers purely because those markets are too fragmented.

mx5ire

SB Morer wrote: »

I haven’t booked yet as I’m not going til autumn 2020 so it’s still too early. I’m planning to fly via Helsinki outbound to Tokyo and home from Osaka via Hong Kong using a combination of Finnair, JAL and Cathay Pacific. This means it qualifies as a One World Multi-Carrier Award ticket which clocks in at just under 14,000 miles so would cost 180,000 Avios per person plus taxes in Business Class
https://www.britishairways.com/travel/multi-carrier-avios-costs-zone/public/en_gb

So on this upgrade with Avios thing....

So i have some flights booked (and paid) with Cathay soon, Dub to Hong Kong return and a few internals. Is it possible at this stage to upgrade any of those legs with Avios, or can i only do this when purchasing a flight ?

BA Exec club pages say you can upgrade on BA, Iberia or American, i cannot locate anything on upgrading on Cathay with Avios.

I suspect that it cannot be done at this stage, but if anyone has any ideas. Google is not throwing up anything obvious. I suppose i could call Avios themselves.

SB Morer

mx5ire wrote: »

So on this upgrade with Avios thing....

So i have some flights booked (and paid) with Cathay soon, Dub to Hong Kong return and a few internals. Is it possible at this stage to upgrade any of those legs with Avios, or can i only do this when purchasing a flight ?

BA Exec club pages say you can upgrade on BA, Iberia or American, i cannot locate anything on upgrading on Cathay with Avios.

I suspect that it cannot be done at this stage, but if anyone has any ideas. Google is not throwing up anything obvious. I suppose i could call Avios themselves.

As far as I’m aware it’s not possible to use Avios to upgrade an existing ticket on a One World partner. I’m guessing you booked directly with Cathay Pacific? If so, you wouldn’t have a BA ticket and would be ineligible for an upgrade even if it were possible. I’m sure Cathay will allow you to upgrade for cash if there’s availability.

cson

L1011 wrote: »

Car hire partner added - Avis. I'm Hertz-only though so of no use to me

It is starting to look vaguely like a proper earn and burn system now; status is still a mess. Just need a direct hotel partner or two. We're never going to get like the US has (or had - a lot of these are gone) where there's points on telecoms, restaurants etc that are used by heavy business flyers purely because those markets are too fragmented.

You'll never get anything approaching US benefits cos of the EU caps on interchange.

Van.Bosch

The e-store isn’t bad if you were going to buy online anyway. Used it recently a few times and got almost 1000 avios. Not bad, was buying the stuff snyway

L1011

cson wrote: »

You'll never get anything approaching US benefits cos of the EU caps on interchange.

That's credit card specific - there are other US specific things, most of them have restaurant and florist (got to send flowers to the missus and the mistress after all :pac:) and mobile phone networks as earn options. Huge market with huge domestic travel vs tiny market and almost solely international travel means we'll never get that coverage.

tnegun

Anyone know if theres lounge access in Schiphol?

Stark

Yes you can use the Aspire lounge

Jamie2k9

Apple Pay and Avias Points to Pay now available on the app.

st1979

Just wondering. I have got to silver tier today with aer Lingus. Got an email to say they are sending me out my card. But I have a flight first thing Monday morning so won't have my card. Can I print off the page showing my card.

tnegun

I didn't have one for the first 6 months or more and just quoted my AerClub number, make sure you have it on your booking too and it will show on your boarding pass.

SB Morer

st1979 wrote: »

Just wondering. I have got to silver tier today with aer Lingus. Got an email to say they are sending me out my card. But I have a flight first thing Monday morning so won't have my card. Can I print off the page showing my card.

Surely the Aer Lingus app on your phone shows your new Silver card?

billy few mates

SB Morer wrote: »

Surely the Aer Lingus app on your phone shows your new Silver card?

Not always, in the past I've been told that I needed the actual card to get through fast track and then the following week waved through but you should still be able to get into the lounge in Dublin anyway.
Maybe just print off the email and show them in case anyone trys to stop you...

Sheep Shagger

Probably saved more in cash today on purchases today at Kildare Village via the Aer Club promotion this weekend that I'll ever get in the programme itself lol.

20% off in a lot of shops when you show the leaflet you collect from the Visitor centre and show your Aer Club card number plus double Avios on all purchases.

AndyBoBandy

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

Probably saved more in cash today on purchases today at Kildare Village via the Aer Club promotion this weekend that I'll ever get in the programme itself lol.

20% off in a lot of shops when you show the leaflet you collect from the Visitor centre and show your Aer Club card number plus double Avios on all purchases.

What shops out of interest? And was the 20% off everything in store? Is the promotion still on tomorrow?

thebiglad

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

What shops out of interest? And was the 20% off everything in store? Is the promotion still on tomorrow?

Yep its on today (Sunday)

Participating brands:

All Saints - Anya Hindmarch - Aquascutum - Asics - Barbour - Bedeck - BOSS - Brooks Brothers - Calvin Klein Jeans - Calvin Klein Underwear - Cath Kidston - Church's - Clarins - Clarks - David Clulow - Diane von Furstenberg - Diesel - DKNY - Dune London - Ecco - Escada - Folli Follie - Fossil - French Connection - Furla - Hobbs - Hour Passion - Jack Wills - Jaeger - Joules - Juicy Couture - Karen Millen - kate spade new york - Kipling - Kurt Geiger Boutique - L.K. Bennett - Lacoste - Le Creuset - Levi's - Links of London - L'Occitane - Louise Kennedy - Magee 1886 - Mint Velvet - Molton Brown - New Balance - N. Peal - Pandora - Penhaligon's - PUMA - Reiss - Samsonite - Signet Jewellers - Savoy Taylors Guild - Sun Fashion Lab - Superdry - Swarovski - Ted Baker - The Kooples - The North Face - The White Company - Thomas Sabo - Timberland - TOG24 - Tommy Hilfiger - Tumi - Umit Kutluk - Vans - Watch Station - Wolford - Zwilling

Sheep Shagger

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

What shops out of interest? And was the 20% off everything in store? Is the promotion still on tomorrow?

Was only Saturday and Sunday.

Most places had the 20% off everything in store so made stuff pretty good. Nike and Underarmour and a handful of others only had 10% off.

st1979

SB Morer wrote:

Surely the Aer Lingus app on your phone shows your new Silver card?

Yes. Thank you for this comment it worked today used it for fastrack and lounge. I would doubt it would work in Dusseldorf though on my way back

AndyBoBandy

st1979 wrote: »

Yes. Thank you for this comment it worked today used it for fastrack and lounge. I would doubt it would work in Dusseldorf though on my way back

I’ve used the app for lounge access at our stations before.

I’m sure it won’t be the 1st time they’ve been shown an app showing status as opposed to a card.

IQO

:eek: sure

Time Magazine

Jaysis AerClub is still a bit of a disaster. Booking transatlantic and wanted to make sure I got the full 50 Tier Credits each way. With full fare credits it's three return trips make it to 300 points, but six return trips on the promo fares. I travel an awful lot but I got snared on that a few times last year and barely passed the threshold for silver.

Transatlantic Flights|
Fare Type | Tier Credits (one-way flight)
Saver | 15
Smart (Sale or promotional fares - A, Z, W, T, O and R fare classes) | 25
Smart | 50

Website says to ring them to get the Smart fare class, so we have problem number 1: need to ring them to get a non-promotional fare. Can't buy online. That's not ideal.

But it's not the end of the world so I spend half an hour on the phone but eventually get the full fare, paying a bit more than the price shown online.

But then the confirmation email arrives and we have problem number 2: says I'm in an A fare class... but the whole point of the phone call was to avoid fare class A, Z, W, T, O, R.

Quick chat on Twitter confirms it's half tier credits but problem number 3: they can't alter bookings, so they refer me to Upcoming Travel Enquiry form. Emails comes back and we have problem number 4: "we must require all changes that cannot be processed by our website to be processed by phone. So neither Twitter nor the Upcoming Travel Enquiry Form people can help me.

So we're back on the phone. Agent confirms booking is in fare class A but insists that it's a "special fare code A", different to online fare code A, that will get me full tier credits. Problem number 5: who's in the right? The website that says fare class A is half tier credits and the Twitter who confirmed it, or the person on the phone?

This is all madness. Who am I to believe?

SB Morer

Time Magazine wrote: »

Jaysis AerClub is still a bit of a disaster. Booking transatlantic and wanted to make sure I got the full 50 Tier Credits each way. With full fare credits it's three return trips make it to 300 points, but six return trips on the promo fares. I travel an awful lot but I got snared on that a few times last year and barely passed the threshold for silver.

Transatlantic Flights|
Fare Type | Tier Credits (one-way flight)
Saver | 15
Smart (Sale or promotional fares - A, Z, W, T, O and R fare classes) | 25
Smart | 50

Website says to ring them to get the Smart fare class, so we have problem number 1: need to ring them to get a non-promotional fare. Can't buy online. That's not ideal.

But it's not the end of the world so I spend half an hour on the phone but eventually get the full fare, paying a bit more than the price shown online.

But then the confirmation email arrives and we have problem number 2: says I'm in an A fare class... but the whole point of the phone call was to avoid fare class A, Z, W, T, O, R.

Quick chat on Twitter confirms it's half tier credits but problem number 3: they can't alter bookings, so they refer me to Upcoming Travel Enquiry form. Emails comes back and we have problem number 4: "we must require all changes that cannot be processed by our website to be processed by phone. So neither Twitter nor the Upcoming Travel Enquiry Form people can help me.

So we're back on the phone. Agent confirms booking is in fare class A but insists that it's a "special fare code A", different to online fare code A, that will get me full tier credits. Problem number 5: who's in the right? The website that says fare class A is half tier credits and the Twitter who confirmed it, or the person on the phone?

This is all madness. Who am I to believe?

Jaysis indeed! That’s a clusterf*ck

Van.Bosch

SB Morer wrote: »

Jaysis indeed! That’s a clusterf*ck

Made the same point about the BOI credit card flight booking process - it’s like the internet has just been invented in some aspects at EI.

I see Level are allowing people to order food etc on board through an app and it gets delivered to your seat.

VG31

Van.Bosch wrote: »

I see Level are allowing people to order food etc on board through an app and it gets delivered to your seat.

You can go that with easyJet as well.

The passport card doesn't work with Aer Lingus online check-in despite the passport card being Irish. Yet with Lufthansa's app you can scan your passport card and it inputs all the information for you. The scanner on LH's check-in kiosks can also read them.

Also mobile check-in doesn't work for multi city bookings. Not being able to change your seat after selecting it (even if you've prepaid) is very frustrating as well.