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Breaking: Aer Lingus redemptions now bookable on avios.com – but Boston loophole closed

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The Aer Lingus Aer Club programme launched this morning.

At the same time, Aer Lingus reward availability has been loaded into avios.com.

You do NOT need to be an AerClub member to book these.  You can log in with your usual avios.com UK account details and book.

This is the first time ever that Aer Lingus awards have been bookable online with Avios.

aerclub-membership-cards

The good news ….

Some rewards are down in price.   Before yesterday, all Aer Lingus rewards were treated as ‘peak date’ pricing in the same way as any other BA partner airline.

Aer Lingus now has peak and off-peak pricing.  Apart from Easter, Christmas and the summer, the rest of the year is off-peak.

The bad news …..

Taxes have gone up.  A return flight in Business Class from Dublin to New York used to have taxes of around £75 return.  It will now cost you £200.

However, if you travel off peak, the reduction in the Avios required would mean you are no worse off.

It is also £300 cheaper than a British Airways Club World redemption from London.

The worse news …..

Dublin to Boston SHOULD be in Zone 4.  Until yesterday, it cost 75,000 Avios for a return business class flight from Dublin to Boston – which is what you expect to pay for a partner airline flight of 2,986 miles.

Aer Lingus has now moved Boston 14 miles to the west.  Dublin to Boston has been moved into Zone 5 which means it now costs 100,000 Avios off-peak and 120,000 Avios peak – the same price as Dublin to New York.

Other thoughts

The real win would be if Avios allowed you to use Lloyds Avios Rewards upgrade vouchers on Aer Lingus.  That would be an exceptional result as you could get their excellent new business class seat for the Avios of economy, as Aer Lingus does not have premium economy.  We need to see if this happens or not.

More on this story tomorrow.

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Category

Aer Lingus and AerClub

Comments (71)

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

  • Simmo says:
    1 Dec1 December 10:39

    Yet to find any business seats at all…

  • mark1980 says:
    1 Dec1 December 10:41

    DUB – BOS is showing as 100,000 return in J off peak – it was only 75,000 before wasn’t it??

    • Rob says:
      1 Dec1 December 10:44

      Bugger … they’ve changed it.

      Loophole closed and article wrong. I will update.

      The site says: ‘(Please note the exceptions of Shannon/Dublin to Boston which are based on Zone 5)’

      • mark1980 says:
        1 Dec1 December 10:47

        Gutted. That means there’s been a 100% increase on those redemptions since the BA devaluation in January last year. 50k and circa £80 in taxes seems like a pipe dream now…

  • Phillip says:
    1 Dec1 December 10:43

    I booked a BOS-DUB flight in business on EI four weeks ago, priced at 37,500 Avios plus £42.60. The same flight booked now on avios.com is pricing at 50,000 Avios plus £90.80; it is specifically listed as Off-Peak. I don’t know whether this is a glitch or a silent change?

  • Charlie says:
    1 Dec1 December 10:43

    Hurrah! I’ve been plotting routes from Madrid for next Christmas and now this will open up so many more (cheaper) options.

    • Rob says:
      1 Dec1 December 10:49

      Not really. These flights have always been bookable via ba.com, you just had to call and spend ages enquiring.

      What it means now is that your chance of getting a seat is reduced because these seats become easier to snag …..

      • Charlie says:
        1 Dec1 December 11:05

        By open up I meant that I could actually find and plan the trips myself. Though some of the excitement has disappeared with the sneaky moving of Boston/Dublin.

  • Mark Whitelegg says:
    1 Dec1 December 10:50

    Can you use Avois earned through the BA Exec Club? Also, can you use companion vouchers from Amex?

    • Thomas says:
      1 Dec1 December 11:04

      You can transfer BAEC Avios to avios.com Avios and book that way.

    • ComeFlyWithMe123 says:
      1 Dec1 December 11:06

      1. Yes – use combine my avios and send from BAEC to Avios.com
      2. No – Companion vouchers are for BA metal only and from UK only (not Ireland)

  • Matt says:
    1 Dec1 December 10:52

    As the taxes have gone up, would it be cheaper to call BA and book over the phone? Taxes on the ITA site for DUB-BOS show just over €100 rather than £180 on the avios site for economy?

    • Rob says:
      1 Dec1 December 11:08

      That is what someone needs to test ….

      I know that ba.com has gone to peak / off-peak pricing for Aer Lingus because an internal memo has gone around the call centres. What is not clear is whether a) taxes have gone up and b) what zone Boston is in (and indeed c) does BA have the same availability?)

      • Matt says:
        1 Dec1 December 12:47

        Just called BA to make a dummy booking..

        DUB-BOS economy return 26000 avios + approx £90 in taxes and as its aer lingus there is no £15 telephone booking fee.

        I checked availability using Avios.com.

        Seems like they’re adding an extra £100ish of taxes to online avios.com bookings. Unless if taxes have gone up they have yet to hit the telephone sales yet..?

  • Ian says:
    1 Dec1 December 10:53

    No email about the bonus avios to join the club though

    • Rob says:
      1 Dec1 December 11:07

      Not got mine either – but no rush to join now as you can redeem directly via avios.com

      • Phillip says:
        1 Dec1 December 13:40

        Could it be that booking through Aer Club might involve lower charges, a la Iberia Plus?

        • Rob says:
          1 Dec1 December 14:10

          No, because you can’t book on the AerClub site – it sends you over to avios.com.

      • JAXBA says:
        1 Dec1 December 15:16

        I also filled out the ‘pre-registration’ form for the 250 Avios but haven’t got anything yet. Do you think I should wait for an invite or just join EIAC and link my Avios.com account? (Do you perhaps have an Avios contact to check this with?)

        Thanks Rob!

      • Alan says:
        14 Dec14 December 14:47

        I got mine quite a while ago!

        21/12/2015 AERCLUB WELCOME BONUS 250

  • Thomas says:
    1 Dec1 December 11:05

    It’s a lot less good than you might think. Just priced a dummy trip LHR-ORK for February and it’s 8K Avios + TFCs of £121 for a flight with a cash price of £102… yes I know Avios bookings are somewhat flexible but I won’t ever want flexibility for that booking so my comparison is with the restricted cash fare.

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