Aer Lingus confirms Philadelphia route – and how to redeem Avios with minimal taxes

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• Trent says:

  5 Oct5 October 07:48

  The Boeing 757 product seen above is the exact same product as the “impressive new 1-2-1 business class seating”.

  During the first year with the differing products, they decided it was working so the Boeing 757 fleet at Air Contractors were refitted with the exact same seats as on the A330 fleet.

  Just to let you know.

  • Rob says:

    5 Oct5 October 08:53

    Still a small single aisle plane though ….

    • Alan says:

      5 Oct5 October 10:34

      Although it can be quite fun/different being in a lie-flat seat on a single-aisle plane 🙂 Best I’ve had was AA Domestic F JFK-LAX – 1-1 layout was very pleasant.

      • will says:

        5 Oct5 October 12:23

        I’m a fan of narrow body lie flat cabins too. I did HEL-LHR/LCY-JFK-LAX-HNL a few years back without getting on a widebody!

        • Alan says:

          5 Oct5 October 20:25

          Haha nicely done – still not been on LCY-JFK, went tech when I was scheduled to be on it!

      • Barry cutters says:

        5 Oct5 October 14:07

        first on JFK-LAX on the A321 is great , although last time i did it i was so drunk i can hardly remember it . similar seat to AA 777 fleet in business, but agreed something special about being lie flat on a small plane. Kind of a bit like the baby bus is such a great experience.

• Matthew says:

  5 Oct5 October 08:13

  I’m trying an aer lingus flight booked with Avios next Thursday to Chicago. As it was a last minute booking I had no choice but to use my avios. The flights in cash with BA/American were over £1200 and a reward flights on BA was still over £370 in taxes. The reward flight on aer lingus only came to £190 and 26k avios. I’m getting a connecting flight to Dublin with Flybe from Cardiff for £40 so all in all a big saving. Let’s hope economy long haul on there is bearable.

  • Scottydogg says:

    5 Oct5 October 11:38

    By reading the article above , am i right in thinking that if you would have booked this over the phone with BA , you would have paid £70 tax instead of £190 ?

    • Rob says:

      5 Oct5 October 12:28

      Correct, assuming BA had availability (not guaranteed as it is worse than avios.com shows).

• Barry cutters says:

  5 Oct5 October 08:34

  i think thats the same as the a330 from memory?
  anyway if those are the seats id be happy to take the ‘flying pencil’

• gomigo says:

  5 Oct5 October 09:04

  Avios redepemtion on Aer Lingus via BA Call centre follows peak & off peak table.

  I have a booking made via BA Call centre and been charged off peak rate for October Half term. I also changed the booking within same zone after few days and they were happy to accommodate and still with off peak rate.

  • Rob says:

    5 Oct5 October 09:32

    Thanks. Someone told me recently they had paid peak but it could have been a bad agent (or perhaps the reader looked at the BA chart).

    • Urs says:

      5 Oct5 October 10:59

      Would be fantastic. I’ve redeemed miles multiple times with AerLingus to the US, and always paid peak rates.

    • Gomigo says:

      5 Oct5 October 11:16

      You may be right Rob, it should be bad agent I guess. I checked availability on Avios and phoned BA and gave Date & Flight number and all done in less than 10mins. They charged just £75 tax. They were flexible for Part Pay + Avios for my flight. 21 Oct is Off Peak & 22 Oct onwards it’s peak rate. Later I phoned to change LA route to SF and since it was within same zone happily they changed with just £30 normal change fee. BA was on peak rate for same date. US pre-clearance is an add on for Ex-Dublin.

      • Mikeact says:

        5 Oct5 October 17:58

        I don’t understand. The Aer Lingus 2018 Calendar is very clear between Peak and Non Peak. How can BA possibly deviate from this ?

        • Rob says:

          5 Oct5 October 18:12

          Because when you book Aer Lingus via BA, you are still booking it under the same pre-Dec 2016 rules:

          * good news = lower taxes
          * bad news = lower levels of availability than is shown via avios.com
          * bad news (in theory) = they still treat it like a ‘partner airline’ and every day is a peak day

          In some ways it is weird that they have adopted the ‘official’ calendar but are still using ‘unofficial’ partner availability and charging ‘unofficial’ taxes.

      • Mikeact says:

        5 Oct5 October 20:35

        It might be a darn site easier if we could book Avios flights on the Aer Lingus site instead of all this faffing about between Avios.com and BA.

• Aeronaut says:

  5 Oct5 October 10:50

  “Taxes are very low when redeeming Avios for Aer Lingus long-haul flights. Avios has still found a way to make it confusing, however.”

  Of course they have! Sigh…

• mark2 says:

  5 Oct5 October 12:04

  Can I have the benefit of your experience please?
  If I book an Aer Lingus business class flight from Dublin to Toronto using Avios and an Aer Lingus economy flight from Birmingham to Dublin maybe using Avios, will I be able to check the luggage through to Toronto? Also will I get the business luggage allowance on the economy flight?

  • Rob says:

    5 Oct5 October 12:27

    BA would not let you do this. No idea of the current Aer Lingus policy, but of course they are sister airlines. You also would not get the increased luggage allowance on the domestic, unless they are on the same ticket (and so you pay the APD).

    • mark2 says:

      5 Oct5 October 12:59

      Thanks Rob. Tax avoidance was not the only objective. More important is the convenience of not having to trek to Heathrow.

    • Tom says:

      5 Oct5 October 13:15

      Could you not pay for extra luggage allowance on the domestic?

    • Alan says:

      5 Oct5 October 20:25

      Unless you have >24h in Dublin of course 🙂

• Nicky says:

  5 Oct5 October 13:59

  Just a tadge confused here: am I able to book an economy ticket for cash on Aer Lingus and upgrade to business using points on a part pay part points basis if I book through BA or if I want to fly business must it be either all cash or all points?. I ask because if I fly BA I pay cash for PE and upgrade to CW with my Avios but I was under the impression that I couldn’t do that with Aer Lingus – can anyone enlighten me?

  • Rob says:

    5 Oct5 October 15:03

    You can’t do it with Aer Lingus, only on BA (and, in exceptional circumstances involving flexible tickets and a connecting BA flight, American and Iberia). It may come in time.

    • Nicky says:

      5 Oct5 October 15:23

      Cheers for clearing that up Rob

• sohan says:

  5 Oct5 October 15:43

  Also worth remembering Shannon airport over on the west of Ireland – Aer Lingus fly to New York and Boston from there. It’s really small and friendly and they have a lounge. AL connects to Heathrow there too, although flight frequency is much less than in Dublin. It’s worth a stopover for a night to stay in nearby 5 star Dromoland Castle, go to a Munster rugby game, or see the Cliffs of Moher if you are feeling touristy!

  I say this because AL are currently in dispute with Dublin airport as the latter have just increased flight capacity for other carriers and AL are worried about their operational reliability as a result of the airport getting more crowded.

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