[GillC]

I managed to get seats assigned DUB-ORD by contacting Aer Lingus on twitter. It was an avios booking via ba.com using 2-4-1

[GillC]

You do need an Amex to pay taxes, there is also the free BA card. Maybe someone else who is more knowledgeable than me on sign up bonuses etc etc can give more info

[GillC]

davefl wrote:

GillC wrote:

I recently had the same decision to make and plumped for Aer Lingus. If you open an aerclub account you can earn avios *and* tier points and then transfer avios back to BA at a later date.

Yes but Aer Lingus TP are not the same as BA TP. Aer Lingus status is only recognised on their own flights, not one world. (Yet)

Yes, a flight on Aer Lingus does not gain BA tier points but it is useful to get status on AL in its own right, is it not? It’s useful for me, as it is a lot easier to fly from Dublin than London 🙂

[GillC]

I recently had the same decision to make and plumped for Aer Lingus. If you open an aerclub account you can earn avios *and* tier points and then transfer avios back to BA at a later date.

[GillC]

I have just successfully booked reward flights with AA for travel in Sept 2024. Managed to work out roughly when they would appear but seriously didn’t think I would get the return leg as there was no availability whatsoever but yesterday, poof! There they were. The only thing I can suggest is keep checking and you might strike lucky

[GillC]

@NorthernLass I’m doing Dublin to Chicago on Aer Lingus. Maybe that’s the difference

[GillC]

NorthernLass wrote:

As mentioned many times, RFS fees are now fixed, so there should be no difference between booking 2 singles and a return. You just need to make sure you select the same avios/cash ratio to be able to claim back the 50% avios.

With accounts of people waiting an hour or more to book on the phone, and also of agents saying they are now not going to book the return legs, I would definitely be trying to book online as soon as the seats are released – there would be nothing lost by calling and simultaneously making an online booking while you’re waiting for the phone to be answered.

I don’t think the RFS fees apply to 2 singles. I did a number of dummy runs and return fees were always much higher. I spoke to BA who said the best thing to do is ring the call centre to amend the previous booking, then the fees for return would be adjusted to RFS. If return booked online, yes you can get 50% avios back but the fees would not change.

Try doing a couple of dummy runs with earlier dates to check what the fees might be. Good luck!

[GillC]

My husband got tier points and avios when travelling with me on a companion voucher. It was his first trip since joining EC so I wondered if it was a quirk of a new membership

[GillC]

I had the email for 1000 bonus miles for £3000 spend before 1 Dec on the blue card and signed up ok. It’s not much of a bonus though considering the spend threshold, particularly on the BAPP

[GillC]

I rang BA. I can book outbound online when it appears using voucher. Then when inbound appears I ring, rather than book online to get the lower return taxes. If I book both legs online, the taxes will be at 2 x single journey rates.

[GillC]

Another question: if I book outward and return as two separate bookings will I get stuffed on taxes/charges? Looking at dummy run return in august taxes were £844, but booking the same dates as single bookings generated taxes of £446 on outward and a whopping £1595 on return so a total of £2041. Is this right? Taxes look like they would be more than double than if I had booked outward and return at same time 🙁. Sorry if I’m being thick 😕

[GillC]

And I did a dummy run earlier on Ba.com for dates in August. It looked possible.

[GillC]

I’m looking at Dublin to Chicago. There is some availability but it seems to appear later than regular avios flights – today flights appeared outbound for 31st August

[GillC]

davefl wrote:

Unlike BA, Aer Lingus don’t promise to release a set number of seats per flight or on any particular day/time.

I’ve been monitoring it the last couple of weeks and it seems consistent, 2 seats per flight per day

[GillC]

According to the lounge pass info I was supposed to be in the BA lounge but told at check in they’d changed it. Most disappointing!

[GillC]

I have just got back from my Chicago trip and can confirm that the pre clearance facility is great! My only issue is that my connecting flight from Birmingham was delayed by an hour so I only just managed to scrape through. Bursting into tears helped 😳 I will certainly use that routing again although I will try to allow longer connection times. I’d like to see 51st & Green for a start! I can also confirm that the Swissport lounge Aer Lingus use in Chicago is pants

[GillC]

As BA want around £1500 more than Aer Lingus for exactly the same flights, I think AL will be the way to go!