Aerlingus AerClub/Avios

SB Morer

Board Walker wrote: »

How much would a Upgrade be to JFK one way?

Also, could i upgrade my wife too or just myself if i had the points?

https://www.aerlingus.com/aerclub/using-aerclub/spending-avios/#/tab-2-upgrades-to-business-class

tony1980

How many points would you get for a return from Dublin to Chicago?

Will be doing this a lot the next few months.

Casati

SB Morer wrote: »

Actually it’s 37,000 Avios Off-Peak or 44,750 Peak for a one way upgrade to the Eastern US. And that’s subject to availability- there’s no guarantee a seat will be available.

That’s a lot more than I was thinking, you’d need to be doing serious traveling to earn that kind of avois

Creamy Goodness

Casati wrote: »

That’s a lot more than I was thinking, you’d need to be doing serious traveling to earn that kind of avois

Welcome to the world of loyalty programs. They're not trying to give the flights away, and it's not unique to AL, every loyalty program is designed this way.

Many people build up their points in other ways via promotions or signing up bonuses to credit cards. Thanks mainly to the EU for forcing low interchange rates (not the main reason but one of them), reward credit cards aren't a big thing here like in the US where you'd get 50k points for signing up to a card and spending $5k on it.

SuperValu can convert to Avios, BOI have credit cards that give Avios, Kildare Village give you Avios when you spend, but to get the real points you need to be flying a lot and flying on fully flex tickets.

Sottol

I have 72,000 avois, 52k in my Aer club account and 20k in BA Account. I’m looking for 2 return business class flights to states - on the same flights, sitting together. Utilizing all the points in the most efficient way and obviously paying some €€€

The 37k upgrade, is subject to availability so if I booked one business class ticket and one economy I wouldn’t be guaranteed to get the upgrade on the economy, plus need seats beside each other. Can you upgrade both legs of the one fare?

Should I use the points for a biz ticket outright on avois.com or phoning BA and then buy the other ticket?

Any advice appreciated ðŸ˜႒

SB Morer

Casati wrote: »

That’s a lot more than I was thinking, you’d need to be doing serious traveling to earn that kind of avois

I earn almost all my Avios from non-flying activities. Mainly through SuperValu, and shopping/booking hotels though SuperValu eShops or the Aer Lingus and BA Avios eStores. I don’t travel abroad for work so only take 2 or 3 flights a year so hardly earn any that way. Yet after about 2 years of collecting I’ve managed to redeem 250,000 recently for 2 return flights in Business Class to India. Plus I still have about 80,000 Avios left over.

Casati

SB Morer wrote: »

I earn almost all my Avios from non-flying activities. Mainly through SuperValu, and shopping/booking hotels though SuperValu eShops or the Aer Lingus and BA Avios eStores. I don’t travel abroad for work so only take 2 or 3 flights a year so hardly earn any that way. Yet after about 2 years of collecting I’ve managed to redeem 250,000 recently for 2 return flights in Business Class to India. Plus I still have about 80,000 Avios left over.

To earn 100,000 Avios via SuperValu, would you have an idea of the kind of spend with SuperValu that would translate to? Must look into this more closely - though never shop there

SB Morer

Sottol wrote: »

I have 72,000 avois, 52k in my Aer club account and 20k in BA Account. I’m looking for 2 return business class flights to states - on the same flights, sitting together. Utilizing all the points in the most efficient way and obviously paying some €€€

The 37k upgrade, is subject to availability so if I booked one business class ticket and one economy I wouldn’t be guaranteed to get the upgrade on the economy, plus need seats beside each other. Can you upgrade both legs of the one fare?

Should I use the points for a biz ticket outright on avois.com or phoning BA and then buy the other ticket?

Any advice appreciated ðŸ˜႒

I’m afraid you’re going to need a lot more Avios if you want 2 tickets in biz. Return biz class flights on AL off-peak to the eastern US are 100,000 each so you’re 128,000 short. If you really want to book you’re best option is to find AL availability on Avios.com. Transfer your points to BA, and phone BA to book. However the value you’ll get for your Avios will be very poor this way.

SB Morer

Casati wrote: »

To earn 100,000 Avios via SuperValu, would you have an idea of the kind of spend with SuperValu that would translate to? Must look into this more closely - though never shop there

I actually don’t do a huge amount of grocery shopping there either. You’ll get 1 Real Rewards point per €1 spent. That will get you 1.5 Avios when a bonus offer is on. I used to be able to earn much more here when you earned RR points on your Bank of Ireland credit card.

However you can earn a LOT of RR points on SuperValu eShops when they have bonus offers on, which is actually quite regularly. They often give 500 bonus points per purchase on travel, or regularly have 250 bonus points for any purchase. I’ve managed to get 250 points for buying an eBook for 99c on iBooks. I also recently spent about €130 on ASOS. I split it into 5 orders which still qualified for free delivery but each order got me 3 RR points per €1 plus 250 bonus points. So I earned about 1640 RR points which I converted to 2460 Avios.

Sottol

SB Morer wrote: »

I’m afraid you’re going to need a lot more Avios if you want 2 tickets in biz. Return biz class flights on AL off-peak to the eastern US are 100,000 each so you’re 128,000 short. If you really want to book you’re best option is to find AL availability on Avios.com. Transfer your points to BA, and phone BA to book. However the value you’ll get for your Avios will be very poor this way.

Thanks - I understand I don’t have enough and will have to pay for one of the biz flights in full. It’s using the points to get the other one confirmed on the same flight and seats next to each other! Perhaps this is impossible!

I thought the upgrade at 37k each way was good but not knowing if it’s available to upgrade until after you have the economy booking is the issue

Draco

Board Walker wrote: »

How much would a Upgrade be to JFK one way?

Also, could i upgrade my wife too or just myself if i had the points?

I got my wife upgraded on a flight from Seattle with my points - 46K. You need to e-mail aerclubupgrade@aerlingus.com with the flight details and your aerclub details and they'll have a look. They take 48 hours to get back to you and acknowledge your request. If it's successful, you'll get a mail a few days before hand (but it may not happen until you actually check in).

Doylers

Booked one way business Dublin to Toronto, only 50$CAD in tax via BA, great deal

thebiglad

Casati wrote: »

That’s a lot more than I was thinking, you’d need to be doing serious traveling to earn that kind of avois

Not really, easy to collect this with Supervalu and then convert their points to Avios with the bonuses they provide quarterly

If you are shopping at Supervalu anyhow the points soon build up.

tomwaits48

Draco wrote: »

I got my wife upgraded on a flight from Seattle with my points - 46K. You need to e-mail aerclubupgrade@aerlingus.com with the flight details and your aerclub details and they'll have a look. They take 48 hours to get back to you and acknowledge your request. If it's successful, you'll get a mail a few days before hand (but it may not happen until you actually check in).

If you are flying AL to the US but transferring on, does the business class upgrade follow through to the second leg? I'm flying Dublin->Chicago->Austin next Spring.

Sottol

Doylers wrote: »

Booked one way business Dublin to Toronto, only 50$CAD in tax via BA, great deal

With how many points?

thebiglad

Casati wrote: »

To earn 100,000 Avios via SuperValu, would you have an idea of the kind of spend with SuperValu that would translate to? Must look into this more closely - though never shop there

To get the large numbers does require some work - you need to look at the estores of Aerclub and Supervalu as well as weekly shops.

example Supervalu give 1,000 points for car insurance (if its competetive, why not - if its not, move on, nothing lost for trying)...

Recently took a holiday, booked hotel via e-store at €1,500 - there was an offer of 20 points per euro at that time - so 30,000 avios for a hotel I needed to book somewhere anyhow.

Much shopping can be done via the estores - just look out for the deals and try to focus your spending via the estore - i.e. you go into Debenhams, see something you want, go to the estore and order for collection instore instead of picking up there and then.

As I say, takes some work and committment but the points can rack up for stuff you are buying anyhow.

AndyBoBandy

Don't forget to bring your AerClub card with you if you're going to Kildare Village.

SB Morer

tomwaits48 wrote: »

If you are flying AL to the US but transferring on, does the business class upgrade follow through to the second leg? I'm flying Dublin->Chicago->Austin next Spring.

I can’t see how it would. To the best of my knowledge AL will only upgrade you on their own flights and the upgrade tables specifically only mentions AL destinations. Austin is not on it. So your upgrade would only be DUB-ORD and would cost 37,000 off-peak or 44,750 peak.

jackc101

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Don't forget to bring your AerClub card with you if you're going to Kildare Village.

You don't really need the card. I had the aer club number on a spreadsheet and called it out on two different visits without issue to collect points there

SB Morer

thebiglad wrote: »

To get the large numbers does require some work - you need to look at the estores of Aerclub and Supervalu as well as weekly shops.

example Supervalu give 1,000 points for car insurance (if its competetive, why not - if its not, move on, nothing lost for trying)...

Recently took a holiday, booked hotel via e-store at €1,500 - there was an offer of 20 points per euro at that time - so 30,000 avios for a hotel I needed to book somewhere anyhow.

Much shopping can be done via the estores - just look out for the deals and try to focus your spending via the estore - i.e. you go into Debenhams, see something you want, go to the estore and order for collection instore instead of picking up there and then.

As I say, takes some work and committment but the points can rack up for stuff you are buying anyhow.

20 points per €1? I’ve never seen a rate that good. What retailer was that with and I’ll keep an eye of for it next time ðŸ‘

Time Magazine

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

I've only flown once this year, so will most likely no longer be in the club after November (unless they do the 1 tier drop from Platinum to Silver, same as the Concierge to Platinum drop they gave me last year despite not even making enough credits for Platinum).

Lads, is this a thing? If you're Platinum and barely fly for a year, do you drop to Silver or are you out completely?

AndyBoBandy

Time Magazine wrote: »

Lads, is this a thing? If you're Platinum and barely fly for a year, do you drop to Silver or are you out completely?

I'll tell you at the end of November.

So far only 1 return trip taken this year amounting to 50 Tier Credits.

Last year I only got about 400 Tier Credits and dropped from Concierge to Platinum.

thebiglad

SB Morer wrote: »

20 points per €1? I’ve never seen a rate that good. What retailer was that with and I’ll keep an eye of for it next time ðŸ‘

It was expedia on the Aer Lingus e-store - February 2018.

VG31

SB Morer wrote: »

20 points per €1? I’ve never seen a rate that good. What retailer was that with and I’ll keep an eye of for it next time ðŸ‘

I got 10 Avios per €1 with Expedia last year. It was advertised as 8 per €1 but I got 10 for some reason. The best I've seen for hotel booking sites was 12 per €1. I think it was eBookers or Hotels.com.

Kaligo Hotels had an offer recently where you got 2,000 bonus Avios for a first booking. I got 2,500 Avios for a one night hotel stay.

cson

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Welcome to the world of loyalty programs. They're not trying to give the flights away, and it's not unique to AL, every loyalty program is designed this way.

Many people build up their points in other ways via promotions or signing up bonuses to credit cards. Thanks mainly to the EU for forcing low interchange rates (not the main reason but one of them), reward credit cards aren't a big thing here like in the US where you'd get 50k points for signing up to a card and spending $5k on it.

SuperValu can convert to Avios, BOI have credit cards that give Avios, Kildare Village give you Avios when you spend, but to get the real points you need to be flying a lot and flying on fully flex tickets.

Elite multipliers in J class is where you make bank outside of credit card promos. Though I think a lot of corporates are rowing back on J in their policies, hence the proliferation of PE which caters to monied leisure travelers and tightened expense accounts.

Sottol wrote: »

The 37k upgrade, is subject to availability so if I booked one business class ticket and one economy I wouldn’t be guaranteed to get the upgrade on the economy, plus need seats beside each other. Can you upgrade both legs of the one fare?

EI and Avios systems aren't integrated so if you did one on each you'd need to call to get seats beside each other. If you book via Avios you have to call to get a seat assignment to begin with.

Sottol wrote: »

With how many points?

Fixed award chart here -> https://www.aerlingus.com/media/pdfs/EI_routes_avios_amounts.pdf

cunnerz21

Anyone know if they'll let more than one guest accompany you to the lounge in Dublin? I'm Platinum and travelling with two others. Worth a try or I waisting my time?

The_Wanderer

cunnerz21 wrote: »

Anyone know if they'll let more than one guest accompany you to the lounge in Dublin? I'm Platinum and travelling with two others. Worth a try or I waisting my time?

Cant answer that but if not just split the €30 cost between you. €10 each.

Board Walker

How do you claim Avios from Apple? i bought an Iwatch lately, can i send them a receipt?

Also, AVIS are not rewarding my avios points any more.

L1011

Retrospective claims are not supported for anything other than flights normally.

One More Toy

What's the best way to collect avios for someone who rarely flies?