Aer Lingus announces flights to San Francisco and Toronto

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• Roger says:

  6 Jul6 July 07:39

  As you point out, travelling on separate tickets via an intermediate point such as DUB runs the risk of misconnection if the first flight is delayed.

  If you have the time and want the craic, isn’t the way round this and to avoid excessive APD to book an overnight stay in DUB of greater than 24 hours and then have the APD based on DUB?

  • Rob says:

    6 Jul6 July 09:00

    Good question – never actually tried to do this, whilst keeping both on the same ticket. Although, if you’re planning to stay more than 24 hours and 1 minute in Dublin, you don’t have much misconnect risk anyway.

    • Roger says:

      6 Jul6 July 09:06

      I’ve not done it either, though I admit I’m attracted to it, along with US immigration in DUB if on the right flights.

      Including the UK-DUB leg in the ticket with a >24 hour stopover means using the same Avios as ex-UK longhaul without the need of buying a separate ticket to DUB, though a RFS @ 4,500 Avios + £30/35 would fit the bill.

• pazza2000 says:

  6 Jul6 July 07:48

  Glad to hear there is another redemption route to the W.Coast; I never understood why Aer Lingus dropped LAX.

• R. Saunders says:

  6 Jul6 July 07:53

  Don’t forget that it is Easy to get to Dublin from virtually anywhere from Britain using the historic and good value “Rail & Sail” deals.
  I found a group of us stranded in Dublin (don’t ask, it involved Rugby and Beer) facing walk-up fares back to london of around £250 each single flight (there were four of us so £1000.00) and were tipped off about this. A combined rail ticket and ferry ticket cost less than 50e each and was valid with Stena Line and B&I line. The beauty of it is the fact the ticket can take you to virtually any station in Britain!

• Louise says:

  6 Jul6 July 08:03

  This aer lingus link is of great interest to me. I live in Lancashire and avios/ba south bias means spending them is often difficult and we have to go via London which is not really ideal. It’s worth a mention that aer lingus do a daily flight to Dublin from Blackpool airport which I’m assuming you could also pay for with avios. It’s an extra option for northerners who don’t always want the stop in London. I’m now wondering whether if I called ba they would be able to class it as one journey, Blackpool to San Francisco?! Now that would be something!!

  • Mark says:

    6 Jul6 July 08:34

    Hi Louise,
    I live in Blackpool and agree it is great news. However as Raffles pointed out in the article, if you ask BA or Aer Lingus to put it all on one ticket you would be paying hefty APD duty so the taxes would probably increase from approx £75 to circa £500! Far more cost effective to include a night in Dublin to avoid potentially missing your connection….

    • Rob says:

      6 Jul6 July 08:58

      You only pay the APD if its all on one ticket, so another £150 or so for Business Class. You still won’t get fuel surcharges added to the long-haul leg.

• The Lady says:

  6 Jul6 July 11:46

  Though this is the same cost in avios as Club World, the seat Aer Lingus use is not fully horizontally flat, just “lie flat at an angle” which isn’t great for sleeping. More of a Premium Economy experience.

  When you add in the cost of getting to Dublin (maybe £100-£150), and the risk of missing your connection, plus the hassle of it all, particularly on the way home, it’s a marginal saving over a direct, hassle free departure from T5 – where the shopping and lounges are far superior to those in DUB.

  • Alan says:

    6 Jul6 July 11:52

    Although for those of us flying from the regions T5 isn’t direct either – we still have to take a connecting flight to it. Yes, with an Avios redemption it would be included, but Edinburgh/Glasgow to Dublin flights are only £40-50 return. I did this before for a different trip and stayed at the Hilton Dublin Airport for only €35 or so – very good value for a stay credit and some extra points 😀 Remember too for Boston that it’s a lower number of Avios than leaving from LHR and that you also pre-clear US Immigration in DUB, which eliminates lots of hassle at the other end. Agree T5 lounges better, but apart from Dixons there’s little I’m interesting in with the T5 shops.

    Totally agree re. the seats though – personally I’d be happy with an Aer Lingus dayflight westbound and then come back overnight in a fully flat bed with BA (or in my case with United, where you can fly direct into EDI or GLA!)

    • Roger says:

      6 Jul6 July 12:01

      I tried checking revenue flights for EI flights to New York via DUB with a >24 hour stopover in DUB – and a €35 overnight at the Hilton is attractive. 😉 – to see what extras would cost.

      ITA wouldn’t let me combine a Y LON-DUB with a biz fare onward, and the biz choices involved BA biz via EDI or GLA the a Y sector to DUB. What came out of it was that the APD on such an economy fare was just £13 (that’s LON-DUB) and on a biz fare just £26 (that’s LON-EDI/GLA).

      I could put up with the ‘hardship’ of an EI daytime flight with a return leg to LON in biz (especially if to LCY).

    • xcalx says:

      7 Jul7 July 09:38

      I have stayed at the Hilton Dublin Airport ( the friendliest Hilton I have stayed) a few times when dodging the APD .. They also offer a free mini bus service to and from the village of Malahide for a great night out.

  • James67 says:

    6 Jul6 July 16:32

    I usually start my outward journeys in J class from HEL with BA avios or AMS with AA miles to avoid UK APD. Even with my RFS or easyjet flights and a budget hotel for the night I can save at least £100 compared to GLA or EDI departures. Have come to enjoy the overnight stays prior to my longhaul flights, I find it much less stressful.

    • Colin says:

      6 Jul6 July 17:25

      Hi,

      For Avios redemption from HEL how do you get it to work? Trying to book say HEL to NYC on BAEC it routes it back through London.

      • Alan says:

        6 Jul6 July 19:00

        I’m guessing that’s probably the routing that James is meaning – however as your origin is HEL and you’re only connecting in London that means no UK APD 😀

• john says:

  6 Jul6 July 12:02

  this is great. I’m in Belfast so just 90 minutes in the car to Dublin airport!

• Exitcontrol says:

  6 Jul6 July 21:54

  I’m guessing this means the sub 3000mile DUB-BOS rewards will be served by the incoming 757s? Any news in the accommodation up front?

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