Bits: Aer Lingus COO makes interesting claims re Avios, new Vueling redemptions from Luton

News in brief:

Aer Lingus COO makes interesting statements re Avios redemptions in Aer Club

Business Traveller ran an interview last month with Mike Rutter, Chief Operating Officer of Aer Lingus.  I have already written about their new loyalty scheme Aer Club, launching in 2016.

Rutter makes some claims about Avios redemptions which give the impression that we may continue to see some excellent opportunities for travel on Aer Lingus:

“Aer Lingus outside of Vueling is one of the more aggressive in terms of market share aspirations and pricing platforms which will be equally reflected through our Avios reward scheme levels for redemption.”

and

“Our position as a business — which is reflected in the way we will seek to redeem Avios — is to be the lowest cost platform across the Atlantic.”

This means that we may not see the end of the excellent Avios redemption opportunities currently offered by Aer Lingus which I outline in this Avios Redemption University article.

New Vueling routes from Luton to Spain

Vueling is the little known sister of British Airways and Iberia.  International Airlines Group, the parent of BA and Iberia, took full control of the Spanish low cost carrier in 2013.

The company has been expanding rapidly, with IAG using it to scoop up market share in the low cost carrier market whilst keeping BA focussed on Heathrow and Gatwick and Iberia focussed on Madrid.

In October I wrote about some new route announcements for 2016:

From Birmingham, Alicante will be launched on 17th June.

From Manchester, Rome and Alicante will be launched in June 2016.

From Edinburgh, Rome Fiumicino, Paris Orly and Alicante will be added.  Paris will start from 29th March.  Alicante will launch on 16th June.  Rome is currently pencilled in for 25th June.  More details can be found here although the Rome date quoted seems to have changed.

Two new routes from London Luton have also now been announced:

From Luton, Amsterdam will be launched on 18th March.  Barcelona will be launched on 16th June.

It is difficult to keep track of Vueling routes, especially as some are seasonal, but I think the others are:

• Belfast – Barcelona
• Birmingham – Barcelona
• Cardiff – Alicante, Barcelona, Majorca, Malaga, Barcelona
• Edinburgh – Barcelona
• Leeds Bradford – Barcelona (starts March 2016)
• Liverpool – Barcelona (starts March 2016)
• Manchester – Barcelona
• Newcastle – Barcelona (starts March 2016)

When it comes to earning and spending Avios with Vueling, this is how it works:

If you book your flights on vueling.com, you will not earn anything if you buy their cheapest ‘Basic’ ticket.  The flight will be cheaper here because you are buying a ‘no frills’ ticket.  More expensive ‘Optima’ tickets do earn Avios in Iberia Plus.

If you book your flights on iberia.com, you will earn Avios in Iberia Plus.  Your ticket will come with a baggage allowance of one suitcase.  You can use ‘part pay with Avios’.  You can only book routes which are Iberia codeshares.

If you book your flights on ba.com (only some routes – including all UK departures – are available, and they will carry a BA flight codeshare flight number), you will earn Avios and tier points.  Your ticket will come with a baggage allowance of one suitcase.

You may see a different price for the same flight across each of the three channels above.

When it comes to redeeming on Vueling, you can ONLY redeem via Iberia Plus.  You will need to have an ‘active’ Iberia Plus account (90 days old and having earned 1 Avios point) in order to be able to use ‘Combine My Avios‘ to move the required number of Avios across from BA or avios.com to Iberia.

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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:

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

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.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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.

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.

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