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Where can you fly on Aer Lingus with your BA Amex 2-4-1 voucher?

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One fascinating change to Avios in recent years was the opening up of Aer Lingus and Iberia for American Express 2-4-1 companion voucher redemptions.

The Aer Lingus option is especially interesting for anyone living outside London who is planning a trip to the US, since you may be able to use your 2-4-1 voucher and still depart from your local airport.

Full details of how it works are here. Note that Aer Lingus does not guarantee to open up a specific number of Avios seats per flight and availability, especially in business class, to their core US destinations can be thin.

where does aer lingus fly

We did two two in-depth Aer Lingus business class reviews in 2022, covering their two core long-haul aircraft types. These are:

The reviews talk you through the best business class seats, although the top pick is the ‘throne’ seat where you only get one seat to a row with a console on either side of you.

Even if you travelling with someone, as I was on my A321LR review trip, you may prefer two ‘throne’ seats if you can get them rather than sitting side by side.

In 2024, Aer Lingus refurbished its lounge at Heathrow Terminal 2 which we reviewed here.

If you are flying from Dublin or Shannon, you complete US Customs and Immigration in Ireland. My A321LR review looks at this here. It means that you land in the US as a domestic passenger and can be out of the terminal in minutes, with no risk of a lengthy queue at immigration.

Where does Aer Lingus fly long-haul?

I want to use this article to look at the Aer Lingus route network. It is NOT an article discussing the costs, in Avios and taxes, of Aer Lingus redemptions – we will do that another day.

Here is the current route network:

From Manchester:

  • Manchester – New York JFK
  • Manchester – Orlando
  • Manchester – Barbados (seasonally from November to April)

From Dublin:

  • Dublin – Boston
  • Dublin – Chicago
  • Dublin – Cleveland
  • Dublin – Denver (seasonally from April to October)
  • Dublin – Hartford
  • Dublin – Indianapolis (launching May 2025)
  • Dublin – Las Vegas (seasonally from November to April)
  • Dublin – Los Angeles
  • Dublin – Miami (seasonally from November to April)
  • Dublin – Minneapolis St Paul (seasonally from April to October)
  • Dublin – Nashville (launching April 2025)
  • Dublin – New York JFK
  • Dublin – Newark
  • Dublin – Orlando
  • Dublin – Philadelphia
  • Dublin – San Francisco
  • Dublin – Seattle
  • Dublin – Toronto
  • Dublin – Washington DC

From Shannon:

  • Shannon – Boston
  • Shannon – New York JFK

Flights tend to operate between 4-7 days per week on most routes, with the core US routes having multiple daily flights.

Aer Lingus A330

How do you connect to Aer Lingus flights from the UK?

Aer Lingus has an excellent range of connections to Dublin from across the UK.

If you are looking for Avios seats I would initially search for the long-haul flight on its own and then see what connections can be added later. You don’t want to risk not seeing long-haul availability simply because the most convenient short-haul connecting flight isn’t available.

You will make a substantial saving by booking your UK-Ireland flight on a separate ticket, as this avoids long haul Air Passenger Duty. The downside is that your baggage may not be checked through and Aer Lingus is not obliged to help you if you miss your connection.

Here is the Aer Lingus UK network (some routes are seasonal):

To/from Dublin:

  • Aberdeen
  • Birmingham
  • Bristol
  • Edinburgh
  • Exeter
  • Glasgow
  • Isle of Man
  • Jersey
  • Leeds Bradford
  • Liverpool
  • London Heathrow
  • Manchester
  • Newcastle
  • Newquay
  • Southampton

To/from Belfast

  • Birmingham
  • Cardiff
  • East Midlands
  • Edinburgh
  • Exeter
  • Glasgow
  • Leeds Bradford
  • Manchester
  • Newcastle
  • Southampton

To/from Cork

  • Bristol
  • Edinburgh
  • Glasgow
  • London Heathrow

To/from Knock

  • London Heathrow

To/from Shannon

  • London Heathrow

Note that many of the routes outside of London are operated by Aer Lingus Regional under franchise with Emerald Airlines and use small turbo-prop aircraft. You can still earn and redeem Avios on these services.

‘Mainline’ short haul flights use BA-style Airbus jet aircraft. If you’re lucky you will get an A321LR with flat beds in Business Class, as these do short haul during the morning before heading back to the US in the afternoon.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

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

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

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.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

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

Category

Aer Lingus and AerClub, British Airways American Express

Comments (40)

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

  • Gary Watts says:
    1 Dec1 December 06:34

    Last year the availability and earlier this year in Business from Madrid, Dublin and Manchester was good, and I did fly with Aer Lingus from Dublin to JFK in May in Business. However I’ve been looking for mid April and end of August next year and cannot find any availability in Business from any of the Manchester/Dublin/madrid airports to any US airports. In particular I wanted to fly from Manchester to New York in Business around 15 April and return 2 weeks later, there is nothing other than the odd economy seat showing. Also searched same route for the last week in August and nothing either. Can you shed any light as to what has changed?

    • NorthernLass says:
      1 Dec1 December 15:44

      Easter is in late April next year so that could well be why you’re not seeing any availability.

  • John says:
    1 Dec1 December 07:38

    Aer Lingus lounge access is odd… recently flew Manchester to Boston. As went out economy could not use gold card for Dublin lounge access. Also no feasible lounge at Boston .(return flight was business ).It’s in another terminal which is a healthy walk away and is anyway rather poor. Dublin Manchester return flight was emerald. Almost a comedy act with ground crew trying to fit all the luggage into hold.Not a comfortable flight.
    Will probably stick with BA but never know as Aer Lingus can be considerably more cost effective.
    As an aside currently unable to transfer the avios to BA executive club via BA or Aer Lingus website or via gold line operative.

    • Ian says:
      1 Dec1 December 08:19

      The Aer Lingus contact centre will happily transfer your Avios in minutes – I’ve found it’s the only reliable way of doing it.

  • Andrew. says:
    1 Dec1 December 07:52

    I’ve noticed some split-ticketing options popping up that are backed by an insurance company in the event of missed connections.

    Eg EDI-KEF on easyJet, KEF to USA on Play.

    Is it likely that this will ever become more mainstream to mitigate against departure taxes?

    • Wally1976 says:
      1 Dec1 December 08:31

      This is interesting. Where are you finding these?

    • Camflyer says:
      1 Dec1 December 12:07

      I looked into earlier this year; amongst others, the Norse website showed itineraries from CLT to LGW via MCO/FLL using this product. The conditions and logistics were very specific, and I was not comfortable that it would work for a traveler who had not carefully read (and followed) all of the rules. I might have chanced it, but I wouldn’t have bought it for family. Most importantly, the connection is still self transfer; the product just covers the cost of rebooking in some circumstances (but not the hassle or stress). IIRC, delays in receiving luggage or in immigration procedures are NOT covered — which, on a self transfer with a reasonable connection time, are the biggest risk. Even with a 2.5 hour conduction, in many US airports a 1 hour delay plus slow luggage reclaim and queues for the new check in and security could easily cause one to misconnect; this would however not be covered, as absent checked luggage one could have made it.

  • Wally1976 says:
    1 Dec1 December 08:30

    Probably an obvious point but if you’re buying a separate ticket to Ireland you might as well use the cheapest carrier. Ryanair are usually cheaper than Aer Lingus for BHX-DUB for example.

    • Rob says:
      1 Dec1 December 10:43

      If you’re connecting long haul you’re likely to have baggage which Ryanair probably won’t be the cheapest – especially now that BA elites get extra baggage allowances on Aer Lingus.

      • NorthernLass says:
        1 Dec1 December 15:46

        Agreed – on an award booking you get over 30 kg of baggage on short haul, which Ryanair is very unlikely to beat.

      • Erico1875 says:
        1 Dec1 December 20:40

        On a week trip with priority boarding you are getting underseat bag+ 10kg carry on.
        I could last a fortnight with that no problem

    • ADS says:
      1 Dec1 December 13:07

      a few years ago I flew LHR-DUB and DUB-SFO on separate Aer Lingus tickets … and in Heathrow they checked my bag all the way through

  • Matt says:
    1 Dec1 December 08:31

    Is there anything stopping you (or any downsides to-) flying out on Aer Lingus and back on BA on the same 2-for-1 voucher?

    • JDB says:
      1 Dec1 December 09:13

      That’s entirely possible, no real downside save that when BA calculates fares involving flights with RFS and EI/IB flights that don’t apply RFS they can make a complete horlicks of it!

      In terms of the cost / open jaw calculation, it’s the two Avios fares added together and it should be something approximating the cash element added together, but not necessarily. To the extent that two one ways are cheaper (which is possible) you can theoretically , if booking at the outer limits of availability dates, make the second booking online and claim back the 50% which avoids recalculation.

  • Wotsit says:
    1 Dec1 December 08:44

    FOR ROB:- Following Matt (above) specifically could you separately fly one way Any UK airport to Dublin. Then with the 2-4-1 voucher Aer Lingus Dublin to any US destination, then any (same or other) US destination to LHR/LGW? How would the open jaw requirement be calculated? This would make the return flight much easier.

    Please advise.

    • Dave Hughes says:
      2 Dec2 December 02:03

      I tried this on IB , booked separate flight to Madrid from man then mad-doh-mad-man in J , the taxes went from sub £200 to over £1000 adding the mad-Manchester flight! I just didn’t get it or the reasoning vs the individual calculations! In the end I booked the mad-man for £40 separately and will travel with hand luggage.

  • Steve R says:
    1 Dec1 December 08:45

    Any easy ways of finding availability?

  • Steve says:
    1 Dec1 December 09:02

    I tried to use my Avios points (fundamentally obtained through the years with BA) on an Aer Lingus flight only to be told that BA and Aer Lingus Avios points are not affiliated. Seems strange to me that BA and Aer Lingus are part of the same carrier group, both use Avios (suggesting they are transferable) yet not acceptable to each other?

    • AJA says:
      1 Dec1 December 12:50

      Odd. You can book Aer Lingus reward flights directly through their own website but first need to transfer Avios from BAEC to your Aer Lingus account. If you don’t have an Aer Lingus account you can book flights on their metal via BAEC but there needs to be availability visible to BA to do so.

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

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