Aerlingus AerClub/Avios

RMDrive · 06-12-2020 11:29am

cson wrote: »

My take is that if you have Platinum status or above on AA, it'll be a superior experience to Aer Lingus in Y.

Yeah, I'm coming around to this too. With Platinum you can select Main Cabin Extra and you get complimentary refreshments. With AL Concierge you get SFA.

Only problem for me is that AA don't have a good service to Chicago

Board Walker · 07-12-2020 10:01am

RMDrive wrote: »

Yeah, I'm coming around to this too. With Platinum you can select Main Cabin Extra and you get complimentary refreshments. With AL Concierge you get SFA.

Only problem for me is that AA don't have a good service to Chicago

I've started flying with KLM to AMS from Cork. The EI aspire lounge in AMS is the pits. its either full of one off paid customers running riot with the free drink or no where to sit in the mornings as most of the place is reserved for Singapore Airlines. Its horrible and its only soup and bread all day long. I'ts a million miles from the aspire lounge in Heathrow or Manchester.

The KLM lounge in AMS is great.

cson · 07-12-2020 4:59pm

If you have a Priority Pass membership, the BA Lounge is worth stopping into in AMS.

Can't wait for the Centurion to open up in LHR.

Board Walker · 07-12-2020 5:21pm

I'd actually rather go to Murphys for food and beer than use the EI lounge for free while i build up my KLM points.

random_banter · 10-02-2021 12:54pm

L1011 wrote: »

Aercard 'free' flights now allowed in former peak periods. Likely because there is no such thing for now; and they'd quite like people to keep the Aercard as its recurring, non flight related income!

After not being able to use the free fares I'd qualified for due to the pandemic, and waiting as long as possible to book them (into the extension period they gave), they told me I needed to book them prior to the 8th February and it needed to be a flight date within 11 months.

Put in the booking, they confirmed a reservation - and I called up to pay the taxes right now and confirm. Was informed that these fares will not come under the change fees waiver policy which Aer Lingus is touting on its website at the moment (change any time before the 30th Sept).

So I said I'd get back to them. 180 euro for fees and charges on the fares that I booked - and the flights are in September - and the govt. is now saying non-essential travel for the rest of the year is likely off the cards, so there's a strong possibility we wouldn't be able to go anyway.

So instead of having the free "fare" perks I could end up losing 180 euro over this. Better off to not use the fares, and probably scrap the card in fairness, since I can't get use out of it at all except for the meagre Avios accrual.

Van.Bosch · 10-02-2021 12:56pm

random_banter wrote: »

After not being able to use the free fares I'd qualified for due to the pandemic, and waiting as long as possible to book them (into the extension period they gave), they told me I needed to book them prior to the 8th February and it needed to be a flight date within 11 months.

Put in the booking, they confirmed a reservation - and I called up to pay the taxes right now and confirm. Was informed that these fares will not come under the change fees waiver policy which Aer Lingus is touting on its website at the moment (change any time before the 30th Sept).

So I said I'd get back to them. 180 euro for fees and charges on the fares that I booked - and the flights are in September - and the govt. is now saying non-essential travel for the rest of the year is likely off the cards, so there's a strong possibility we wouldn't be able to go anyway.

So instead of having the free "fare" perks I could end up losing 180 euro over this. Better off to not use the fares, and probably scrap the card in fairness, since I can't get use out of it at all except for the meagre Avios accrual.

Jaysus - if someone from EI read that you’d have to imagine they would see it as the ludicrous situation that it is.

And that’s meant to be a loyalty programme!

random_banter · 10-02-2021 1:09pm

Van.Bosch wrote: »

Jaysus - if someone from EI read that you’d have to imagine they would see it as the ludicrous situation that it is.

And that’s meant to be a loyalty programme!

It's definitely ridiculous, there is zero reason to use this product if you can't have some kind of reassurance on the flights at the moment.

I was very happy to book and pay my fees, and if the non-essential travel rule was still in place at the time, change them - but there's no way I'm going to throw money for fees into the bin without some kind of backup plan.

I understand the airline is having a terrible time right now but I don't see how it would be a problem for them to extend the same change policy that's in place to these kinds of flights too.

Dublinflyer · 10-02-2021 2:28pm

You would wonder what any of the staff in EI are doing right now as they are certainly not working on refunds for people as I know a good few people still waiting to get anything back, myself included.

If they have any sense they would extend current levels by a year again, cost will be minimal to them and sure to help once it all opens up again.

L1011 · 10-02-2021 3:37pm

Mail shot today, 300 avios for some silly competition entry, and a potential 20k win from the prize draw.

Not that there's much to use them on, >40k now almost entirely from non-flying earnings!

random_banter · 10-02-2021 3:41pm

Update on the Aer Credit Card reward flights -

The team on the Aer Credit Card side got back to my email flagging this issue within two hours and confirmed that they will in fact honour the change fees policy for covid, and they're going to update the main Aer Lingus call centre re: same.

Nice to have an effective customer service experience I have to say, and see that they have changed their policy right away.

Squedward · 10-02-2021 7:16pm

Just wondering if anyone has bought from decathlon via phone or WhatsApp and received Avios. It's meant to be in store only so hard to know if paying with the stores payment link is eligible for the points.

Noxegon · 10-02-2021 8:35pm

random_banter wrote: »

Nice to have an effective customer service experience I have to say, and see that they have changed their policy right away.

Credit where it's due.

Board Walker · 19-02-2021 12:21pm

I was on avios site today to book a hotel through booking.com but it appears the Collect avios section is gone?

Jamie2k9 · 19-02-2021 12:24pm

Board Walker wrote: »

I was on avios site today to book a hotel through booking.com but it appears the Collect avios section is gone?

Needs to be Aer Club estore, normal avios site no longer supports collecting.

cloudhopper19 · 19-02-2021 12:30pm

Board Walker wrote: »

I was on avios site today to book a hotel through booking.com but it appears the Collect avios section is gone?

Collect with avios is now part of the estore. Also you can download the AerClub rewards app from the App Store
Makes it very easy to collect avios and see what’s available.

Van.Bosch · 19-02-2021 10:12pm

cloudhopper19 wrote: »

Collect with avios is now part of the estore. Also you can download the AerClub rewards app from the App Store
Makes it very easy to collect avios and see what’s available.

I made a purchase through the app and no sign of the points yet. Might be better to stick to desktop for a bit. It could just be timing but they aren’t showing as pending yet, despite other purchases since showing up.

VG31 · 20-02-2021 12:08am

Board Walker wrote: »

I was on avios site today to book a hotel through booking.com but it appears the Collect avios section is gone?

Try this link: https://sp.booking.com/index.en-gb.html?aid=1174296

Squedward · 03-03-2021 11:50pm

Squedward wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone has bought from decathlon via phone or WhatsApp and received Avios. It's meant to be in store only so hard to know if paying with the stores payment link is eligible for the points.

So to answer the above, yes you earn Avios when using decathlons ship from store.

Dublinflyer · 04-03-2021 5:04pm

I wonder if EI will extend everyones current Tiers again? I can't see it myself but they are in a sticky spot. I really feel for them at this stage and there is not much hope of a summer recovery.

BigMoose · 04-03-2021 6:02pm

I have been wondering the same as there's no chance of me building status by November but also suspect they wont extend again. That said, if they don't, they'll be starting with pretty much 0 tier members when things eventually restart. You'd assume it's in their interest to keep loyal travelers choosing them when folk get flying again. If my economy class work trips to SFO pick up again and I've got no status with EI I'll definitely assess options of building points up elsewhere. But that's not going to happen until well into 2022 at the earliest!

goingnowhere · 04-03-2021 6:34pm

The lounge in Dublin was/is being refurbished but haven't been to the airport since September

Its costing EI nothing currently as no one is flying. It would be a foolish commercial decision to not extend as it would be handing business to Ryanair and others.

The lounge in Dublin, JFK, LHR are sunk costs and as long as there are business passengers they will exist, the program really doesn't cost them much to run given how little we get out it.

Board Walker · 04-03-2021 11:57pm

I was wondering this myself. I hit the middle tier last February so i didn't get the benefit. I cant even remember what the middle tier was called? I wont be traveling until August regardless of vaccine or not. Shell wont allow us as one of our colleagues in Rotterdam is quite Ill. I haven't traveled since last August. I traveled in July also but that's it since early March and the year before i completed 24 return flights for work in 2019.

Dublinflyer · 06-03-2021 3:47pm

BigMoose wrote: »

I have been wondering the same as there's no chance of me building status by November but also suspect they wont extend again. That said, if they don't, they'll be starting with pretty much 0 tier members when things eventually restart. You'd assume it's in their interest to keep loyal travelers choosing them when folk get flying again. If my economy class work trips to SFO pick up again and I've got no status with EI I'll definitely assess options of building points up elsewhere. But that's not going to happen until well into 2022 at the earliest!

Same here, I used to travel in both Europe and to the US but that changed and it was only the US before covid, normally about twice a month. I stuck with EI as I was on the top tier and if I drop down like yourself I will look at other options that may work better for me. That's assuming we have any routes left when it all opens up again, but that a whole other thread.

AndyBoBandy · 08-03-2021 10:41am

Since January 2018, I've taken 3 trips abroad with Aer Lingus, and still find myself a member of AerClub!!! (2 of the trips were to/from U.K.)

goingnowhere · 08-03-2021 11:41am

Soft landing

That sounds right if you were Concierge, you drop to Platinum, you drop to Silver next year. There is some token minimum flights taken requirement, Platinum is 4, Sliver is 2 so you just slid in there.

billy few mates · 09-03-2021 5:33am

Every other airline FF and hotel chain loyalty scheme that I belong to have frozen my status exactly where it was at the start of the pandemic until some point in the future when they hope things return to normal and members will start using them again. I gave up on Aerclub a few years ago so I don't even read the emails but reducing your membership benefits because you're not travelling as much in a global pandemic is a bit short sighted if you ask me.

Noxegon · 09-03-2021 7:57am

At the end of 2019 I flew a round trip to JFK in business class.

Part of the reason for upgrading from economy was to get myself most of the points needed to get lounge access on future European flights.

Those points were wiped out a year later because I hadn’t hit the magic threshold through no fault of my own.

When the world recovers I suspect I’ll just get a Priority Pass.

billy few mates · 09-03-2021 11:21pm

Noxegon wrote: »

At the end of 2019 I flew a round trip to JFK in business class.

Part of the reason for upgrading from economy was to get myself most of the points needed to get lounge access on future European flights.

Those points were wiped out a year later because I hadn’t hit the magic threshold through no fault of my own.

When the world recovers I suspect I’ll just get a Priority Pass.

When the world recovers people will just get their coffee from Butler's and claim it back on expenses...

Board Walker · 10-03-2021 11:44am

I think they will extend again, otherwise the Lounge will be empty.

goingnowhere · 10-03-2021 12:36pm

And the staff cost is fixed full or empty

Aerlingus AerClub/Avios

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