Avios points

zell12 · 10-06-2018 10:18am #1

Short on Avios for AerLingus/BA/IB?
Top-up for cheap.
Best value is 8,000points for €99

Get 15% off (max €20) as a new groupon customer
https://www.groupon.ie/deals/avios-points-aerclub

dwasol · 11-06-2018 9:03am

what benefit would this be? I have some points not sure what theyre used towards

thesteve · 11-06-2018 1:11pm

You can use them to buy flights with the avios.

e.g. I booked my family (two adults, 2 kids, 1 baby) to fly to Croatia with Aer Lingus on 62,000 avios (plus taxes)

J.pilkington · 11-06-2018 2:29pm

To be honest avois is a waste of time unless you fly regularly and get to use the tier points to climb the loyalty ladder and get point multipliers. As poster above stated you still pay taxes and some charges on the fare when you redeem which is usually a large portion of the fare itself so if you are talking about spending ages earning and buying avios miles which you then redeem you might find flights like Ryanair are still cheaper.

There are a lot of people wasting their time collecting them in places like SuperValu and not via flights. They will be left with a few thousand points and unable to redeem

ted1 · 11-06-2018 2:35pm

8,000 points is worth about 80 Euro off

Not really a bargain.

you2008 · 13-06-2018 12:01am

zell12 wrote: »

Short on Avios for AerLingus/BA/IB?
Top-up for cheap.
Best value is 8,000points for €99

Get 15% off (max €20) as a new groupon customer
https://www.groupon.ie/deals/avios-points-aerclub[/QUOT

Totally waste ur time&#55358;&#56597;. The tax will kill you as can not use points to pay tax

Time · 13-06-2018 12:15am

I'm a big Avios collector and this is not a deal for anyone who isnt' into frequent flying. Firstly redemption on Aer Lingus is appalling value. Unless you're familiar with using Avios on partners like BA for RFS or JAL for business redemptions then avoid, as someone else said above the taxes will make more expensive than buying the flights outright unless you know how to avoid.

Creamy Goodness · 13-06-2018 12:28am

Time wrote: »

I'm a big Avios collector and this is not a deal for anyone who isnt' into frequent flying. Firstly redemption on Aer Lingus is appalling value. Unless you're familiar with using Avios on partners like BA for RFS or JAL for business redemptions then avoid, as someone else said above the taxes will make more expensive than buying the flights outright unless you know how to avoid.

What’s RFS and how do you avoid the taxes. I’m gold on BA with 150k Avios that I’d like to use the best way

Time · 13-06-2018 12:58am

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

What’s RFS and how do you avoid the taxes. I’m gold on BA with 150k Avios that I’d like to use the best way

RFS is Return Flight Saver, a flat 35 fee for a return flight on BA in Europe zones for 9k in Econ /18k in CE, although Club Europe isn't worth the extra IMO.

Long Haul BA originating from the UK has huge taxes added, whereas the taxes on business to the states on Aer Lingus, when booked through BA are comparatively very low. Similarly Cathay Pacific taxes and charges are under 50 on the inbound from HKG in J . Given thats an expensive route its one i'd recommend. JAL have cheap taxes and fees on a lot of their flights too.

Check out flyertalk and head for points for some really detailed breakdowns.

thesteve · 13-06-2018 11:05am

Time wrote: »

I'm a big Avios collector and this is not a deal for anyone who isnt' into frequent flying. Firstly redemption on Aer Lingus is appalling value. Unless you're familiar with using Avios on partners like BA for RFS or JAL for business redemptions then avoid, as someone else said above the taxes will make more expensive than buying the flights outright unless you know how to avoid.

There are deals to be had though. My taxes on 2 adults, 2 kids (>2) and an infant were less than 200 Euro for Dublin <-> Dubrovnik.

Don't forget too that when you book an Aer Lingus flight with avios you get a 20KG bag per ticket (which when you have small kids - is great to know). They alone would have cost a fortune.

zell12 · 13-06-2018 11:33am

This was more to get avios to use IE->US
Bos/Yyz/Nyc 26000 avios will get you a return + ~€100 tax

phishcakes · 18-04-2019 4:45pm

Bump - Anyone have any tips or tricks for getting Avios points quick??

Time · 18-04-2019 5:42pm

phishcakes wrote: »

Bump - Anyone have any tips or tricks for getting Avios points quick??

Your options are; buy them, fly business class, major spend through the BOI co-branded card, use any of the avios shopping portals while shopping online or get an Amex

VG31 · 18-04-2019 6:17pm

phishcakes wrote: »

Bump - Anyone have any tips or tricks for getting Avios points quick??

From an email I received: "As an added treat this Easter, you’ll get 20% extra Avios on every purchase you make via the AerClub eStore between 18 April and 5 May 2019."

There is also a 50% bonus when you purchase Avios through Iberia Plus until 24 April. It's not as good value as the recent Groupon offers but it's still not bad.
https://onemileatatime.com/buy-iberia-avios-promotion/

Alex Cohen · 15-05-2019 2:54pm

Is it actually worht the purchase cost though? Or only for regular flyers?

aquarius10 · 02-08-2019 8:11pm

Looking for advice please.

Planning family holiday to Orlando Halloween next year and have budgeted €2.5 for flights. That’s the cheapest return flight direct with AL, Dub - Mco.

I have 6,000 avios now and avios are offering a ‘deal’ on buying avios at the moment.

I’ve priced the flights with avios reward and it’s 130,000 av + €595 in taxes for 2 ad & 2 kids or 45,600 av + €1475.

However I can buy the points I’m short and from calculations the best deal is buy €39,000 av for €569 along with my 6,000 av and taxes we get to Orlando for €2,044.

If my calculations are correct we could save €500 as Halloween will be slightly higher prices ??

I’ve never used avios for reward flights before and I’ve a few questions if anyone can help

1. Are bags and seats included with reward flights?

2. Are the number of reward seats limited ?
We have booked hotels in Disney so we are not really flexible on dates.

3. If I buy the avios required and if no flights/seats are available for the dates we want can we use those avios with Aer Lingus to then reduce the price of the flight to equal what we spent Buying the avios?

Sorry for all the questions but am new to this and if it works we’ll have €500 more for spending

Thanks in advance

Former Former · 02-08-2019 8:25pm

aquarius10 wrote: »

1. Are bags and seats included with reward flights?

2. Are the number of reward seats limited ?
We have booked hotels in Disney so we are not really flexible on dates.

3. If I buy the avios required and if no flights/seats are available for the dates we want can we use those avios with Aer Lingus to then reduce the price of the flight to equal what we spent Buying the avios?

1. Yes, bags and seats included, you pay taxes and charges.

2. Yes, definitely limited. Might be fewer than 10 reward seats on a transatlantic flight.

3. I think so. Certainly BA allow you to use cash + Avios

aquarius10 · 02-08-2019 8:45pm

2. Yes, definitely limited. Might be fewer than 10 reward seats on a transatlantic flight.

Do you think we’d get 4 seats or is it very risky ??

The avios sale Is only on till 11 August and the flights we want won’t be out until Christmas/January but is it worth the risk buying now ? What ya think ??
Thanks

conor_mc · 03-08-2019 9:24am

Have you a backup plan for what you could do with 45,000 avios. Could you afford to “bank” the 500 euro avios purchase for a subsequent holiday (e.g. UK/European) if it didn’t work out and you ended up paying full fares + avios purchase?

Also, check out via BA, you can transfer your EI avios to Exec Club and purchase more there. Might be better availability on going via UK, if a little more awkward obviously.

aquarius10 · 03-08-2019 9:46am

conor_mc wrote: »

Have you a backup plan for what you could do with 45,000 avios. Could you afford to “bank” the 500 euro avios purchase for a subsequent holiday (e.g. UK/European) if it didn’t work out and you ended up paying full fares + avios purchase?

Also, check out via BA, you can transfer your EI avios to Exec Club and purchase more there. Might be better availability on going via UK, if a little more awkward obviously.

Thanks for the reply.
Will have a look at BA flights to Orlando and have a plan B in my head. Dublin direct would be perfect if it worked out

aquarius10 · 03-08-2019 9:49am

Sorry another question

Can you pool avios ? My husband has some in his own name - can he pool them into my account ?
Thanks

zell12 · 03-08-2019 10:29am

You are better off asking these questions on Flyertalk
I don't think buying Avios this far in advance is a good idea. Other sales will appear. Too many 'what ifs' this far ahead of Oct 2020

This deal came up Sept 2018 for travel in July 2019 - keep your eyes peeled
Virgin Atlantic - Belfast to Orlando £1029 return for 4 people

conor_mc · 03-08-2019 11:20am

aquarius10 wrote: »

Sorry another question

Can you pool avios ? My husband has some in his own name - can he pool them into my account ?
Thanks

Not sure about EI, but you can create a household account and pool points with BA Executive Club.

Avios points

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