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The Aer Lingus Avios cut-off moves to 6 days from 60 days following our coverage

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Yesterday we told you how Aer Lingus had quietly brought in a 60 day rule for Avios bookings.

The contact centre had confirmed in writing what Avios collectors had been noticing for a couple of weeks – that all availability, on all routes, seemed to have dried up near to the point of departure.

After we published our article yesterday, it all came back! Well, nearly all. It seems that a six day rule is now in place instead.

Aer Lingus Avios cut-off moves to 6 days

Here is the screenshot I published yesterday showing zero Avios availability on 6th January (60 days away) – or indeed any day earlier than 6th January – between London Heathrow and Dublin:

Aer Lingus Avios cut-off moves to 6 days

On 7th January – 61 days in advance, at the time I took the screenshots – you were rolling in reward seats:

Aer Lingus Avios cut-off moves to 6 days

Aer Lingus now seems to have changed its mind

Things have changed following our article.

Take a look at what is now available on 6th January, compared to the top screenshot above:

Aer Lingus Avios cut-off moves to 6 days

Lots and lots of Aer Lingus seats are now bookable.

However, you still can’t book for immediate travel. I am typing this on Thursday 9th, and the first day that is bookable is Wednesday 15th:

Aer Lingus Avios cut-off moves to 6 days

It’s not perfect, but it’s definitely an improvement.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 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

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Barclaycard Avios card

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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

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

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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There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

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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.

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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.

Comments (25)

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

  • PGR says:

    Great job Rob and team – you’re a real credit to the consumer. The remaining ‘wrongun’ seems to be the number of seats available – as many pointed out in the comments yesterday, Aer Lingus seems to have gone from having very good availability to just 1 seat per flight.

    For example Birmingham to Belfast would regularly have 8(!) seats showing a few months out, whereas it is currently a blanket 1 seat showing on all flights even as far out as September 2024 (trust me it’s not that popular a route!)

  • Sophie says:

    Dublin – Malaga still not available to book within 60 days.

    • ADS says:

      I wonder if they’ve still got all of the Spanish airports on the 60 day rule

      I just had a look for a couple of the Canary islands and nothing was showing up for Aer Lingus flights

  • MC says:

    It’s almost as if the people in-charge of these decisions don’t know what they’re doing.

  • Danny says:

    Why implement such a bizarre restriction in the first place…

  • Lady London says:

    They can explain it away as fat finger typed 60 instead of 6 but they also need to fix it from 1 seat available on avios to a minimum of 2.

    Otherwise they’re proving again that they’re not really seriously providing the benefit. Most people travel in 2’s particularly for leisure, which is mostly what avios is used for.

    No skin off my nose as I mostly travel singly but I won’t trust Aer Lingus’s offer being genuine till they offer 2 on most flights not just 1.

  • Londonsteve says:

    Why even restrict availability the day before departure? At that point very few people will book for escalated cash prices if unable to use their miles and the airline is heavily dependent on ditching remaning capacity as reward seats.

    • ADS says:

      yes – this is what British Airways do

      I can’t understand how the commercial drivers could be that completely different for Aer Lingus?

  • Jonathan says:

    Blocking off redemptions at the last minute is something that baffles me, they’d almost certainly be amazed at the amount of seats they can fill when a flight is just hours away from departure, particularly in premium cabins

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

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