Aerlingus AerClub/Avios

The_Wanderer · 26-02-2019 9:04pm

Planning on redeeming avios for a TA flight to the USA later in the year flying EI. What's the best way to do it? Online or I seem to recall some people ringing up.

Any advice welcome.

AndyBoBandy · 26-02-2019 9:50pm

The_Wanderer wrote: »

Planning on redeeming avios for a TA flight to the USA later in the year flying EI. What's the best way to do it? Online or I seem to recall some people ringing up.

Any advice welcome.

You have to book it on Avios.com. Aer Lingus won’t entertain you if you call them looking to book.

Yamanoto · 26-02-2019 10:01pm

The_Wanderer wrote: »

Planning on redeeming avios for a TA flight to the USA later in the year flying EI. What's the best way to do it? Online or I seem to recall some people ringing up.

Any advice welcome.

Shift your Avios over to BA executive club, call BA & ask them to waive the telephone booking fee (tell 'em the dates aren't available to book online).

DUB-JFK or BOS return in Y on EI for 26k Avios + €100 taxes

Van.Bosch · 26-02-2019 11:44pm

Yamanoto wrote: »

Shift your Avios over to BA executive club, call BA & ask them to waive the telephone booking fee (tell 'em the dates aren't available to book online).

DUB-JFK or BOS return in Y on EI for 26k Avios + €100 taxes

Are those right, I paid 26k + 220 to IAD.

Is it cheaper to book via BA than Avios?

SB Morer · 26-02-2019 11:48pm

Van.Bosch wrote: »

Are those right, I paid 26k + 220 to IAD.

Is it cheaper to book via BA than Avios?

Taken from article on Head For Points:
"There are now TWO ways of booking a redemption on Aer Lingus:
Option 1 is to use avios.com. You can book online and you get the widest choice of dates. You will pay around £200 in taxes and charges for a long-haul business class flight from Dublin to North America.
or
Option 2 is to use ba.com. You cannot book online, only by telephone. Anecdotally, there is less availability than you see via avios.com, and you cannot check availability online before you ring. However, you will only pay around £75 in taxes and charges for a long-haul flight from Dublin to North America".

https://www.headforpoints.com/2018/02/06/how-to-redeem-avios-points-on-aer-lingus/

Yamanoto · 27-02-2019 12:04am

Van.Bosch wrote: »

Are those right, I paid 26k + 220 to IAD.

Is it cheaper to book via BA than Avios?

Just checked my e-ticket / receipt.

My last redemption was DUB-JFK return for 2 pax in March 2018, booked by phone through BAexecutive club. 52k Avios + €202.20 taxes for the both of us.

Van.Bosch · 27-02-2019 12:06am

SB Morer wrote: »

Taken from article on Head For Points:
"There are now TWO ways of booking a redemption on Aer Lingus:
Option 1 is to use avios.com. You can book online and you get the widest choice of dates. You will pay around £200 in taxes and charges for a long-haul business class flight from Dublin to North America.
or
Option 2 is to use ba.com. You cannot book online, only by telephone. Anecdotally, there is less availability than you see via avios.com, and you cannot check availability online before you ring. However, you will only pay around £75 in taxes and charges for a long-haul flight from Dublin to North America".

https://www.headforpoints.com/2018/02/06/how-to-redeem-avios-points-on-aer-lingus/

Very interesting - thanks.

Casati · 27-02-2019 8:23am

I booked 5 seats in Y Dub to SFO return in October 2018. Tax for adults was circa 120 each but it was cheaper for the children. I moved all Aer Club avios to BA Exec club and booked over the phone and they had good availability.

L1011 · 27-02-2019 10:11am

BOI dropping SuperValu as a partner meaning that you have to change to the Aer card to get Avios from any BOI credit card.

AndyBoBandy · 27-02-2019 11:47am

L1011 wrote: »

BOI dropping SuperValu as a partner meaning that you have to change to the Aer card to get Avios from any BOI credit card.

Saw the email this morning.

I did a transfer once, but didn't bother doing any more as I felt the SuperValu points were better spent on receiving SuperValu vouchers.

The_Wanderer · 27-02-2019 2:50pm

Thanks for the replies folks. Just a few more questions.

When booking via BA, do you quote the BA codeshare numbers or the EI number? I will be flying DUB-ORD and returning SEA-DUB. I note that the ORD flight has a BA codeshare against it but the SEA - DUB flight doesn't have a BA code. Does this mean I cannot book the return leg via BA if no codeshare on those flights?

Casati · 27-02-2019 2:56pm

The_Wanderer wrote: »

Thanks for the replies folks. Just a few more questions.

When booking via BA, do you quote the BA codeshare numbers or the EI number? I will be flying DUB-ORD and returning SEA-DUB. I note that the ORD flight has a BA codeshare against it but the SEA - DUB flight doesn't have a BA code. Does this mean I cannot book the return leg via BA if no codeshare on those flights?

I booked them as EI ticketed flights, but when you ring them you’ll just need the origin destination and dates. It’s all manual ringing them but I found them v helpful in finding a flight with 5 award seats still left etc. be prepared to spend time on the phone going through everything

L1011 · 28-02-2019 11:28am

Emails pushing double tier credits on DUB-LGW and LGW-DUB flights for March this morning. Bit late for a promotional push!

If there's any days of cheap availability this could be a viable tier run.

AndyBoBandy · 28-02-2019 11:31am

L1011 wrote: »

Emails pushing double tier credits on DUB-LGW and LGW-DUB flights for March this morning. Bit late for a promotional push!

If there's any days of cheap availability this could be a viable tier run.

They must have a low load planned/booked for LGW in March! Anticipation for the big B? surely not!

Jamie2k9 · 28-02-2019 12:01pm

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

They must have a low load planned/booked for LGW in March! Anticipation for the big B? surely not!

Its interesting, they slashed LHR-DUB by about 40% recently (might have been a glitch) and BA are doing a lot of promotion 60-80 return LHR/LCY.

pclive · 28-02-2019 7:14pm

Is there a Dublin number I can use to phone BA exec?

Chris_5339762 · 28-02-2019 11:46pm

Every single Gatwick flight I ever bought from Dublin netted me 7.5 tier points anyway, so this "double tier" will only ever net 15, which is likely what you'd have expected to get anyway.

ctlsleh · 02-03-2019 8:00pm

Anyone know what the baggage allowances are for an avios plus cash flight to London? just booked some flights for the family

Van.Bosch · 02-03-2019 8:59pm

ctlsleh wrote: »

Anyone know what the baggage allowances are for an avios plus cash flight to London? just booked some flights for the family

Think all Avios bookings are 20kg

Tarabuses · 03-03-2019 5:24pm

ctlsleh wrote: »

Anyone know what the baggage allowances are for an avios plus cash flight to London? just booked some flights for the family

Isn't it a pity that they don't give this information on their booking engine?

The_Wanderer · 03-03-2019 6:36pm

pclive wrote: »

Is there a Dublin number I can use to phone BA exec?

I called +441914907901 today and got through. Attempts earlier in the week failed as the lines "were busy".

The_Wanderer · 03-03-2019 6:48pm

SB Morer wrote: »

Taken from article on Head For Points:
"There are now TWO ways of booking a redemption on Aer Lingus:
Option 1 is to use avios.com. You can book online and you get the widest choice of dates. You will pay around £200 in taxes and charges for a long-haul business class flight from Dublin to North America.
or
Option 2 is to use ba.com. You cannot book online, only by telephone. Anecdotally, there is less availability than you see via avios.com, and you cannot check availability online before you ring. However, you will only pay around £75 in taxes and charges for a long-haul flight from Dublin to North America".

https://www.headforpoints.com/2018/02/06/how-to-redeem-avios-points-on-aer-lingus/

So I finally raided my avios piggybank today and booked flights to North America for 2 people later in the year. Outward to ORD and returning from SEA to DUB with Aer Lingus.

Going onto avios.com as an aerclub member the requirement was for 58500 avios in total and €465 in taxes. Now I had just shy of 51000 avios so would have to pay in cash to make up the balance, which was an extra €100.

Handy tip if you need a large amount of avios (18000) check out the Irish Independent offer. Online edition for €160 a year gives you 18,000 if you live in the ROI. I had planned on getting this but eventually it didn't make sense to spend €160 to save €100 on the flight but it's an option I will consider in the future.

So following the advice from people here, I shifted my avios over to my BA executive account, which has seen little use and rang up British Airways.

For my itinerary I was quoted 46800 avios + €351.36 in part fare + taxes. A saving of €213.68 compared to the website (not bad!). With the Indo offer in the back of my head I asked what the price would be with 58500 avios and was quoted a price of €211.36 for taxes. Still made sense to go with the part cash + taxes offer.

Rather happy with that today!

banchang · 05-03-2019 5:15pm

The_Wanderer wrote: »

So I finally raided my avios piggybank today and booked flights to North America for 2 people later in the year. Outward to ORD and returning from SEA to DUB with Aer Lingus.

Going onto avios.com as an aerclub member the requirement was for 58500 avios in total and €465 in taxes. Now I had just shy of 51000 avios so would have to pay in cash to make up the balance, which was an extra €100.

Handy tip if you need a large amount of avios (18000) check out the Irish Independent offer. Online edition for €160 a year gives you 18,000 if you live in the ROI. I had planned on getting this but eventually it didn't make sense to spend €160 to save €100 on the flight but it's an option I will consider in the future.

So following the advice from people here, I shifted my avios over to my BA executive account, which has seen little use and rang up British Airways.

For my itinerary I was quoted 46800 avios + €351.36 in part fare + taxes. A saving of €213.68 compared to the website (not bad!). With the Indo offer in the back of my head I asked what the price would be with 58500 avios and was quoted a price of €211.36 for taxes. Still made sense to go with the part cash + taxes offer.

Rather happy with that today!

Sounds good !

Can you pls remind me what the trick/advantage is of moving avios points over to BA Exec Club account ??

The_Wanderer · 05-03-2019 6:53pm

banchang wrote: »

Sounds good !

Can you pls remind me what the trick/advantage is of moving avios points over to BA Exec Club account ??

It would appear the taxes / charges are way cheaper to book over the phone via BA compared to booking on the avios website for aerclub customers. I saved over €200 by doing this for 2 people. Booked on the same flights, same amount of avios required etc etc.

Van.Bosch · 05-03-2019 7:51pm

The_Wanderer wrote: »

It would appear the taxes / charges are way cheaper to book over the phone via BA compared to booking on the avios website for aerclub customers. I saved over €200 by doing this for 2 people. Booked on the same flights, same amount of avios required etc etc.

Great but completely idiotic!

billy few mates · 05-03-2019 7:57pm

Do Avios expire...?
I have about 40000 of them, I have no idea what they're worth or how I go about spending them.

PaulKK · 05-03-2019 9:16pm

billy few mates wrote: »

Do Avios expire...?
I have about 40000 of them, I have no idea what they're worth or how I go about spending them.

Just need one avios transaction every 18 months as far as I know and they don't expire.

mmclo · 05-03-2019 9:21pm

People who have posted about transferring to BA still seem to book Aer Lingus routes. Is it possible to book any BA flight after transferring?

SB Morer · 05-03-2019 11:16pm

mmclo wrote: »

People who have posted about transferring to BA still seem to book Aer Lingus routes. Is it possible to book any BA flight after transferring?

Of course. You can use Avios to book Aer Lingus, BA and Iberia flights via the Avios.com website, but if you transfer them to BA or Iberia you can also book reward flights with any One World Airline - plus the taxes are lower, as has been discussed above.

mmclo · 05-03-2019 11:25pm

SB Morer wrote: »

Of course. You can use Avios to book Aer Lingus, BA and Iberia flights via the Avios.com website, but if you transfer them to BA or Iberia you can also book reward flights with any One World Airline - plus the taxes are lower, as has been discussed above.

So the worlds your oyster :-) surely BA and Iberia have much more interesting destinations

banchang · 06-03-2019 1:49am

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 · 06-03-2019 8:54am

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 · 06-03-2019 10:34am

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 · 06-03-2019 11:00am

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 · 06-03-2019 11:11am

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 · 06-03-2019 3:35pm

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 · 06-03-2019 6:00pm

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 · 06-03-2019 7:09pm

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 · 06-03-2019 7:56pm

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 · 06-03-2019 8:06pm

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 · 06-03-2019 8:26pm

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 · 06-03-2019 8:31pm

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 · 18-03-2019 6:31pm

Anyone know if theres lounge access in Schiphol?

Stark · 18-03-2019 6:43pm

Yes you can use the Aspire lounge

Jamie2k9 · 18-03-2019 11:18pm

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

st1979 · 22-03-2019 11:48pm

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 · 22-03-2019 11:55pm

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 · 22-03-2019 11:58pm

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 · 23-03-2019 8:15am

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 · 23-03-2019 10:54pm

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.

Aerlingus AerClub/Avios

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