Aerlingus AerClub/Avios

Van.Bosch · 14-03-2016 4:42pm

Aer club pushed to July.

pclive · 13-04-2016 9:35pm

Avios appointed an Irish marketing manager a few months back

Any word on an Irish credit card or other ways to earn additional Avios yet?

goingnowhere · 13-04-2016 10:47pm

Word is Super Valu will issue Avios as part of the Aer Club program

MayoSalmon · 14-04-2016 11:51am

goingnowhere wrote:

Word is Super Valu will issue Avios as part of the Aer Club program

Super Valu are launching a new Real Rewards program in the summer. I believe there will be a partnership with EI involved.

Rock of Gibraltar · 17-04-2016 7:08pm

goingnowhere wrote: »

Word is Super Valu will issue Avios as part of the Aer Club program

I wonder if Tesco will follow suit, they do this in the UK; 1 £2.50 Tesco clubcard voucher can be converted to 600 avios.

carq · 21-04-2016 11:45am

How can I sign up to Aer lingus loyalty club??

I am already a member of BA and Etihad but cannot seem to sign up online?
It seems they are between clubs at the moment but how can I be sure my travel will be counted when the new club opens up ?

Anyone have any information ?

AndyBoBandy · 21-04-2016 11:47am

carq wrote: »

How can I sign up to Aer lingus loyalty club??

You'll have to wait until AerClub is launched in July,

Gold Circle applications were no longer accepted once AerClub was announced, so in the window of announcement of the new program to the actual roll out, there is a hold on new applicants joining.

carq wrote: »

It seems they are between clubs at the moment but how can I be sure my travel will be counted when the new club opens up ?

unless you were a GC applicant before they stopped accepting applications, you won't gain any credit from Aer Lingus for flights taken, your best bet would be to get the Avios on your BA account.

carq · 21-04-2016 3:48pm

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

You'll have to wait until AerClub is launched in July,

Gold Circle applications were no longer accepted once AerClub was announced, so in the window of announcement of the new program to the actual roll out, there is a hold on new applicants joining.

unless you were a GC applicant before they stopped accepting applications, you won't gain any credit from Aer Lingus for flights taken, your best bet would be to get the Avios on your BA account.

Aer lingus no longer seem to be a partner to BA.
Not appearing on the list of partner airlines.

brettmirl · 21-04-2016 4:10pm

carq wrote: »

Aer lingus no longer seem to be a partner to BA.
Not appearing on the list of partner airlines.

Still showing here: https://www.aerlingus.com/plan-and-book/plan/our-airline-partners/

LXFlyer · 21-04-2016 5:58pm

carq wrote: »

Aer lingus no longer seem to be a partner to BA.
Not appearing on the list of partner airlines.

Given that they are both part of the same group (IAG), and multiple Aer Lingus flights have BA code share flight numbers I think you'll find that isn't the case.

Van.Bosch · 30-04-2016 8:19pm

Super valu partnership confirmed in IAG quarterly presentation.

pclive · 01-05-2016 9:34am

Van.Bosch wrote: »

Super valu partnership confirmed in IAG quarterly presentation.

Any credit card providers mentioned?

MayoSalmon · 01-05-2016 2:12pm

pclive wrote:

Any credit card providers mentioned?

No and there will not be. Basically as I undserstand it, Revenue in Ireland views the issuance of airline points from a credit card as a form of currency and therefore should be taxable. Nonsense really and explains the non existance of reward credit cards in Ireland.

Tenger · 01-05-2016 2:20pm

I never realised that. Fibally make sense of why we have never had an airline credit card program here. I know that Aer Lingus have a program for US based frequent flyers.

Marcusm · 01-05-2016 2:43pm

MayoSalmon wrote: »

No and there will not be. Basically as I undserstand it, Revenue in Ireland views the issuance of airline points from a credit card as a form of currency and therefore should be taxable. Nonsense really and explains the non existance of reward credit cards in Ireland.

Do you have anything in writing on that? I would find it unusual, there are rewards cards such as AIB Platinum which include cash back; equally Tesco clubcard points are identical. There should not be any basis on which to tax the reward - it is neither income from an asset, investment nor an employment but essentially a manner of a non cash discount

Tenger wrote: »

I never realised that. Fibally make sense of why we have never had an airline credit card program here. I know that Aer Lingus have a program for US based frequent flyers.

Is there still a US card? There had been a BArclays US one but I know from family that it was cancelled 18 months or so ago.

MayoSalmon · 01-05-2016 3:43pm

Marcusm wrote:

Do you have anything in writing on that? I would find it unusual, there are rewards cards such as AIB Platinum which include cash back; equally Tesco clubcard points are identical. There should not be any basis on which to tax the reward - it is neither income from an asset, investment nor an employment but essentially a manner of a non cash discount

Ill have a look alright. In regards to the cash back reward cards at present, thats just an internal cost AIB or whomever absorb. I know there shoukd be no basis at all but sure theres no basis for changing VRT but revenue still do it!

I'd say Avios themselves will be trying to team up with a card issuer like they do in the UK, they'll have to have talks with Revenue of course though so not sure when we will see this happen if ever.

Marcusm · 01-05-2016 3:57pm

MayoSalmon wrote: »

Ill have a look alright. In regards to the cash back reward cards at present, thats just an internal cost AIB or whomever absorb. I know there shoukd be no basis at all but sure theres no basis for changing VRT but revenue still do it!

I'd say Avios themselves will be trying to team up with a card issuer like they do in the UK, they'll have to have talks with Revenue of course though so not sure when we will see this happen if ever.

I'm not sure if that is supposed to be flippant but VRT was legislated for in 1992 and drafted with the intention of being coherent with European single market principles. That's an entirely different proposition from something on which the tax code is silent and which does not, in the ordinary scheme of things, constitute income.

MayoSalmon · 05-05-2016 2:37pm

Marcusm wrote: »

There should not be any basis on which to tax the reward - it is neither income from an asset, investment nor an employment but essentially a manner of a non cash discount

Unfortunately it is viewed as a form of currency which in theory it is. Revenue view this as a way of increasing your personal income, but like you highlighted it works in much the same way as Tesco clubcard or chargebacks. I can't find any legislation to make a distinction between the two unfortunately.

Not sure what HMRC do in the UK in relation to Nectar/Avios pts etc.

faceman · 05-05-2016 3:25pm

MayoSalmon wrote: »

Unfortunately it is viewed as a form of currency which in theory it is. Revenue view this as a way of increasing your personal income, but like you highlighted it works in much the same way as Tesco clubcard or chargebacks. I can't find any legislation to make a distinction between the two unfortunately.

Not sure what HMRC do in the UK in relation to Nectar/Avios pts etc.

Slightly related, from an income tax perspective there is a section in the BIK documentation online that exempts reward schemes as a result of business travel from being taxed.

Marcusm · 05-05-2016 3:43pm

MayoSalmon wrote: »

Unfortunately it is viewed as a form of currency which in theory it is. Revenue view this as a way of increasing your personal income, but like you highlighted it works in much the same way as Tesco clubcard or chargebacks. I can't find any legislation to make a distinction between the two unfortunately.

Not sure what HMRC do in the UK in relation to Nectar/Avios pts etc.

It's certainly not a form of currency - in most of the participating countries, only governments can create currency or delegate the authority to do so. Likewise, it's mere existence does not make it taxable income, it must fall under a category (schedule or case) and derive from a taxable source (office or employment, possession or asset). There is no meaningful distinction between Avios and Clubcrd points, they are all electronic green shield stamps and in the nature of a non cash discount available to customers generally.

faceman wrote: »

Slightly related, from an income tax perspective there is a section in the BIK documentation online that exempts reward schemes as a result of business travel from being taxed.

That does esn't exempt them per se but is a statement that the Revenue will not assess them as a taxable benefit. The reason is quite simple, as with employer provided parking, civil servants are permitted to retain the points. To assess them for BIK would be to tax them in the hands of civil servants which would be unacceptable!

L1011 · 05-05-2016 3:49pm

MayoSalmon wrote: »

No and there will not be. Basically as I undserstand it, Revenue in Ireland views the issuance of airline points from a credit card as a form of currency and therefore should be taxable. Nonsense really and explains the non existance of reward credit cards in Ireland.

There are rewards cards (Tesco, AIB) and were more in the past - Ulster, BOI, Amex Blue, Pigsback etc. They died due to banks wanting more money and reducing retailer rates for cards, not Revenue.

As there's no work involved I imagine it would come under the CAT thresholds rather than income tax; which would be rather implausible to reach.

MayoSalmon · 05-05-2016 7:46pm

Marcusm wrote:

It's certainly not a form of currency - in most of the participating countries, only governments can create currency or delegate the authority to do so. Likewise, it's mere existence does not make it taxable income, it must fall under a category (schedule or case) and derive from a taxable source (office or employment, possession or asset).

Is Bitcoin not a currency then?

Marcusm · 05-05-2016 8:25pm

MayoSalmon wrote: »

Is Bitcoin not a currency then?

Different views exist as to whether Bitcoin is a currency, an electronic commodity or simply a tokenistic approach to a payment system. Irrespective, gold circle points, Avios etc are not accepted by 100,000 or more vendors and are not even freely transferable between members of their respective systems so irrespective of whether Bitcoin might be a currency, Avios and GC points have few similar characteristics.

MayoSalmon · 05-05-2016 10:20pm

Marcusm wrote:

Different views exist as to whether Bitcoin is a currency, an electronic commodity or simply a tokenistic approach to a payment system. Irrespective, gold circle points, Avios etc are not accepted by 100,000 or more vendors and are not even freely transferable between members of their respective systems so irrespective of whether Bitcoin might be a currency, Avios and GC points have few similar characteristics.

No different views don't exist. Bitcoin works without a central repository or single administrator/ government and the U.S. Treasury categorizes it as a decentralized virtual currency so yes it is a currency and used worldwide by more than 200,000 vendors.

Again Avios in theory "could" be accepted by thousands of vendors worldwide and it is easily transferred between members albeit at a cost.

carq · 11-05-2016 2:44pm

lxflyer wrote: »

Given that they are both part of the same group (IAG), and multiple Aer Lingus flights have BA code share flight numbers I think you'll find that isn't the case.

Well when i log into BA to claim missing partner miles, AER lingus is not on the drop down list for partner airlines.

AirBerlin
American Airways
BA
Cathay Pacific
Dragon Air
Finn air
Iberia
LANCHILE
Malaysia Arilines
Meridiana
NIKI
Quantas
Quatar
S7
Sri Lankan
TAM

Dingle_berry · 11-05-2016 3:06pm

carq wrote: »

Well when i log into BA to claim missing partner miles, AER lingus is not on the drop down list for partner airlines.

AirBerlin
American Airways
BA
Cathay Pacific
Dragon Air
Finn air
Iberia
LANCHILE
Malaysia Arilines
Meridiana
NIKI
Quantas
Quatar
S7
Sri Lankan
TAM

Those are the one world alliance members. Aerlingus isn't in the the one world alliance, it's listed under 'other airline partners' with Alaska airlines and Meridiana. You can't claim tier points for Aerlingus flights but you can claim Avios, just not as many as for the same flight with an OWA member. http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/executive-club/collecting-avios/flights

The_Wanderer · 23-05-2016 7:39pm

Anybody have any idea when Aer Lingus send out their monthly Gold Circle Statement?

steve-o · 23-05-2016 8:24pm

The_Wanderer wrote: »

Anybody have any idea when Aer Lingus send out their monthly Gold Circle Statement?

Due in the next day or two.

Dardania · 25-05-2016 9:26am

steve-o wrote: »

The_Wanderer wrote: »

Anybody have any idea when Aer Lingus send out their monthly Gold Circle Statement?

Due in the next day or two.

just out of curiosity would you mind letting know when it arrives, as I recently entered GC, and from experiencing their delays with crediting flights, I want to keep an eye out that they have me set up correctly

I'm a bit suspicious that they mightn't have, as when I go to their old site:

http://classic.aerlingus.com/cgi-bin/obel01im1/bookonline/myAerlingus.do

it shows the correct, almost up to date points, but still as applicant

L1011 · 25-05-2016 10:59am

Couldn't find the link for that recently. No idea how I apparently have 1000 points currently, at the rate of my future bookings (another 500 points worth in the next two weeks) and how delayed AerClub is I might actually get status again before the changeover! :pac:

Aerlingus AerClub/Avios

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