Good sub-£1,300 oneworld transatlantic flights from Dublin – with decent tier point potential

Need British Airways tier points in 2023? You’re in luck, because it looks like the oneworld transatlantic joint venture has launched a stealth sale. There are good value return business class flights from Dublin to a raft of US cities in January, February and March next year.

It isn’t part of the official British Airways sale but the deals are definitely there if you start from Dublin:

• Denver from £1,223 with British Airways
• Los Angeles from £1,187 with Finnair
• Miami from £1,192 with American Airlines
• Mexico City from £1,220 with Iberia
• New York from £1,137 with British Airways
• Toronto from £1,205 with British Airways

Other cities with similar pricing include:

• Austin
• Cleveland
• Chicago
• Las Vegas
• Montreal
• Nashville
• New Orleans
• Orlando
• Phoenix
• Portland, Oregon
• Salt Lake City
• San Diego
• San Francisco
• Seattle
• Washington DC

Given the time of year, the deals are particularly good if you like to ski, with Denver and Salt Lake City for the Rockies.

You’ll have to put up with several connections

If you thought that sub £1,300 business class flights from Dublin were too good to be true in the current economic climate, you’re right.

The biggest catch is that the vast majority of these itineraries involve at least one connection, if not two, and that’s before you include the flight to get to Dublin in the first place. From the UK, you are looking at fares with two to three connections.

Remember that to qualify for the deals you can’t book a connecting flight from London or other UK airports as this will re-price the fare. You need to book the transatlantic sector from Dublin and then book a separate flight to Dublin.

This involves a bit of risk as you will be self connecting – collecting your luggage in Ireland before checking in again. You will need at least a few hours to do so; if you are particularly risk averse you may want to spend the night in Dublin and explore the city.

That said ….

These deals are great for tier points

If you’re chasing status then booking these fares is a great way of picking up tier points on your way to the United States.

For example, a flight from London to Miami would net you 140 tier points each way, so 280 in total.

For £1,192 you can get the following itinerary in the sale:

• Dublin to Philadelphia (140 tier points)
• Philadelphia to Charlotte (40 tier points)
• Charlotte to Miami (40 tier points)

…. for a total of 220 tier points, each way, or 440 in total. You can add an extra 80 if you include positioning flights to Dublin on British Airways in Club Europe.

That gets you within spitting distance of British Airways Silver status, including lounge access, at 600 tier points. You would only need an additional 160 tier points, easily done with some of the longer short haul flights in Club Europe. A complete list of Club Europe flights that earn 160 tier points is here.

Note: I don’t think that any Aer Lingus flights are included in this offer, but if one does pop up, remember that it will NOT earn British Airways tier points unless it has a BA flight number.

How to book

According to the fare rules you’ll need to book by the 20th September, which is the same time as the British Airways sale ends. In reality the flights will probably not last that long.

Flights are available throughout January, February and March. As these are all part of the oneworld transatlantic joint venture you should be able to book them via the British Airways website even if they are operated by American Airlines, Finnair or Iberia.

Remember to pay with a British Airways Premium Plus American Express if you have one, since that earns double Avios (3 per £1) when spending at ba.com. Failing that, American Express Preferred Rewards Gold offers double points (2 per £1) on all airline spending.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2023)

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive 30,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 30,000 Avios) with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. You receive 25,000 points if you spend £3,000 in three months and a further 5,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive a huge 100,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 100,000 Avios) with The Platinum Card. You receive 75,000 points if you spend £10,000 in six months and a further 25,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

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.

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.