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Bits: all Aer Lingus UK flights now BA codeshares, Qatar’s business class sale ends today

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News in brief:

All Aer Lingus UK flights to become BA codeshares

From 11th November, all Aer Lingus UK routes will become British Airways codeshare services.

BA was already codesharing on most Aer Lingus services from Heathrow and Gatwick.  This new arrangement will add the following:

  • Heathrow to Belfast City
  • Gatwick to Knock
  • Dublin to Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool

This will mean:

  • These flights will be bookable on ba.com under a BA flight number
  • You will earn Avios and tier points when flying under the BA flight number
  • Aer Lingus services which could previously only be booked as part of a connection to a BA long-haul flight will become bookable on a standalone basis

Qatar 787 350 business class

Last chance to book a Qatar Airways sale flight from £695

I know that I have been banging on about the great Qatar Airways sale fares this week, but I make no apologies for reminding you that these deals end today.  If you are planning to book, remember that the fares will probably disappear at midnight in the city of departure and not midnight UK time.

My two articles on the sale are here and here.  These articles list the best fares from each departure city.

When you have business class fares as low as £695 to the Middle East, £860 to Bangkok or Singapore, £818 to The Maldives and £1,500 to Australia, you should take a close look.  

Add in the facts that Qatar Airways has exceptionally high levels of service, has excellent seating on their A380 / 787 / A350 aircraft and earns you Avios and BA tier points when you fly and you have a great package.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

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Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

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There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

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British Airways American Express

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You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

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The Platinum Card from American Express

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You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

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There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

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American Express Business Gold

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Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Category

Aer Lingus and AerClub, British Airways and Avios, Qatar Airways and Privilege Club

Comments (54)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • PGW says:
    6 Nov6 November 04:17

    Does this mean that there will be additional baggage allowances for OW status passengers? I get great value fares from Manchester to Dublin with just carry-on but if I want to add checked luggage they more or less triple in price.

    • Andrew says:
      6 Nov6 November 04:23

      I would imagine it wouldn’t add luggage to hand baggage only fares as it doesn’t with BA’s.

    • JAXBA says:
      6 Nov6 November 14:04

      EI hasn’t re-joined oneworld yet – oneworld benefits won’t apply until they do. Do elite Gold Circle members currently get an extra baggage allowance on EI HBO fares? With Gold Circle/Aer Club being aligned with Avios and the Executive Club, we can probably guess which way elite baggage allowance on HBO fares might go…

  • Andrew says:
    6 Nov6 November 04:21

    Would Aer Lingus flights booked on BA.com with a BA codeshare code count towards towards your “4 BA flights” needed for silver status or does that literally have to be on a BA plane?

    • Me says:
      6 Nov6 November 08:21

      Yes, they would count . This year 3 of my 4 were on US Airways planes

    • Jeff says:
      6 Nov6 November 13:39

      Forgive me if I am wrong, but as I understand it, as long as the flight is booked as a BA codeshare, it is immaterial as to whether the flight is booked on ba.com, Expedia or elsewhere.

  • dynamo says:
    6 Nov6 November 06:11

    Thinking of spending 4 days in Doha before spending 5 in the Maldives (to keep the cost of the Maldives down – very expensive during Easter holidays). If I pick the right hotel are there sufficient things to do in Doha?

    • Jason says:
      6 Nov6 November 07:05

      Get the Hilton cc, to add another day FOC.

    • harry says:
      6 Nov6 November 08:26

      Doha? No it’s awful. If you don’t mind spending 4 days by the pool, no problem.

    • Anon says:
      6 Nov6 November 12:40

      I did 10nights in Maldives followed by 4 nights in Doha (seeing relatives) earlier this year, came back to LHR in BA First

      The bazaar is interesting, the Habanos bar at the Ritz Carlton is good.

      Brunch at the Intercontinental is popular with ExPats (I must of gained 5lbs).

      Aside from a few museums of note, it’s not a patch on the Maldives, Raffles is set to run my trip report on the Conrad Rangali in the next few weeks, I loved it.

      Get a sneak preview here..
      triprep.WordPress.com

    • RK says:
      6 Nov6 November 14:22

      +1 on Doha being pretty dull. We had an overnight there and basically did all the sights in 3 hours. There is an art museum, a corniche, a fairly tacky recreation of an old souk, and a couple of malls. That is almost completely what there is to do in Doha. I think it is probably the least interesting medium-big city I have ever been to.

  • Moray says:
    6 Nov6 November 06:31

    Does anyone if or when this will apply to Aer Lingus Regional/Stobart routes?

  • Mike says:
    6 Nov6 November 06:45

    OT – has anyone confirmed the exact detail of the current club card to avios bonus. EG when do the bonus points post, is the bonus limited to £100 club card points per BAEC account or can multiple club card accounts transfer to one BAEC account.

    • harry says:
      6 Nov6 November 06:58

      -no
      -about 1/12 (?) others say by 31/12
      -unknown, probably not, they are making lots of errors incl posting double points (heh heh) so even if the rules forbid it, multiples of £100 may slip through

      • Jason says:
        6 Nov6 November 07:07

        Bonus points have been posting with the transfer.

        • harry says:
          6 Nov6 November 07:15

          That would be new news. Sure you don’t have a grandfathered 800 point a/c? What details, pls. Nobody else has yet reported getting the bonus points.

          • Jason says:
            6 Nov6 November 13:49

            It wasn’t me, I read it somewhere else. However a friend did the transfer and bonus didn’t appear.
            I’m doing the virgin transfers ATM and have about another £400 to do before doing avios conversions. 🙂

        • Ade says:
          6 Nov6 November 08:08

          Are you speaking from personal experience? If so you might be the only person on here to have received the bonus!

          • harry says:
            6 Nov6 November 08:15

            I got a bonus 24,000 🙂

          • ankomonkey says:
            6 Nov6 November 09:12

            Harry, did you do multiple £100 transactions from one Tesco account to one BA account in the end? If so, does it look like each transaction got the bonus?

          • harry says:
            6 Nov6 November 09:38

            Yes – but no such luck (if you mean the ‘bonus bonus’, so it would appear, still early days), worth a go, though. Nothing to lose, still got a few clubcard points in the Tesco ‘bank’ and another quarter with 30K x2 looking on the cards. Probably have to wait until December to see if the 20% bonus applies to more than 1x £100.

        • Simmo says:
          6 Nov6 November 10:40

          I’ve only got the standard 24,000 when transferring £100 to BA.

          £100 to Virgin did give the bonus automatically

  • Gordon says:
    6 Nov6 November 07:00

    Any thoughts on when aer lingus flghts will be integrated into avios and reward flights bookable online?

  • Alan says:
    6 Nov6 November 07:08

    Damn, booked an EI flight EDI-DUB for April to position for a TP run a month or so ago, would have nice to have at least got a few Avios!

    • Jeff says:
      6 Nov6 November 14:10

      As above, this route, like other regionals, is not apparently included. Odd, but possibly because its not actual EI flight but a stobart/aer arran/loganair or whoever it is these days!

      • Alan says:
        6 Nov6 November 14:18

        Thanks, realised that after posting – don’t feel quite so bad about it given that! Also good PP lounge options in EDI and one at DUB so not missing out in that regard either.

  • May says:
    6 Nov6 November 07:35

    Andrew: I have looked at my BAEC account & it states “operated or marketed by” BA. So long as you have a ‘BA’ flight number instead of Aer Lingus.

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