You’ll love this one, folks. I don’t use three exclamation points for no reason.
Yesterday I posted about the possibility of using British Airways Avios points for travel on Aer Lingus. The major benefits of doing so were twofold:
a) Aer Lingus only imposes very mild fuel surcharges, so instead of paying $600+ in taxes/fuel surcharges for a redemption on British Airways, you end up paying under $150 for a redemption on Aer Lingus.
b) British Airways has a distance based award chart, and Boston to Dublin/Shannon is just under 6,000 miles roundtrip. As a result, a roundtrip award ticket costs just 25,000 miles in coach or 50,000 miles in business — by far the lowest redemption rates of any airline for transatlantic travel.
I also outlined methods for searching Aer Lingus award space using both ExpertFlyer and the Qantas tool, noting that while coach award availability is wide open, business class availability is virtually non-existent. Some pointed out that united.com can search award availability on Aer Lingus as well, and they showed a bit more space, though not much. I assumed it was a glitch, since united.com tends to display “phantom availability.”
Well, something changed overnight, and I don’t know why. Yesterday there were a few dates available in Aer Lingus business class using the United website. Today virtually every date is available in business class on Aer Lingus, even throughout the busy summer season.
Just use united.com to search for availability, and you’ll find that British Airways has access to the same seats by phone.
On united.com just enter your origin and destination, select “Award Travel,” and click “search.” I also suggest clicking “Nonstop Flights Only” so they display only Aer Lingus availability.
And you know what’s incredible? Every single date in July and August has business class award space on Aer Lingus on all of their transatlantic routes!
And that’s not just united.com being glitchy, but literally every single date has business class availability, and almost every date has coach availability as well, at just 25,000 Avios points roundtrip in coach, or 50,000 Avios points roundtrip in business class, for Boston to Dublin.
And every single date that Aer Lingus operates Boston to Shannon has business class award availability as well:
And the same goes for New York to Dublin:
And New York to Shannon:
And Chicago to Dublin:
And even Orlando to Dublin (which is only twice weekly service):
Seriously folks, this is no joke. Every single transatlantic flight has business class award space. I’m not sure if this intentional or a glitch, so book NOW! As a reminder, the redemption costs using British Airways Avios points are as follows:
Boston to Dublin/Shannon
Economy: 25,000 Avios points
Business: 50,000 Avios pointsChicago/New York/Orlando to Dublin/Shannon
Economy: 40,000 Avios points
Business: 80,000 Avios points
As a further reminder, American Express Membership Rewards is running a 50% transfer bonus to British Airways through May 31, so this can be an amazing deal even if you don’t have British Airways Avios points. Using American Express points, the costs would be as follows:
Boston to Dublin/Shannon
Economy: 17,000 Membership Rewards points
Business: 34,000 Membership Rewards pointsChicago/New York/Orlando to Dublin/Shannon
Economy: 27,000 Membership Rewards points
Business: 54,000 Membership Rewards points
As a reminder these awards can only be booked by phone. British Airways’ Executive Club phone number in the US is (800) 452-1201, and they’re open daily from 7:30AM-8:00PM eastern.
Lastly, it’s worth mentioning that this is even a great use of United miles. Transatlantic business class award space is virtually non-existent at this point, so being able to find anything in business class to Europe in summer at this point is a great deal.
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April 13th, 2012 at 2:43 pm
Craig said,
So if I wanted to use amex points, just transfer to BA (I think there is a special), and then call BA to book the flight for 50k in business?
So for two tickets I would need less than 100k amex points.
April 13th, 2012 at 2:44 pm
lucky said,
@ Craig — That’s correct. Out of Boston, you’re looking at just 35,000 Membership Rewards points per person for business class to Europe given the 50% transfer bonus.
April 13th, 2012 at 2:45 pm
davidr said,
Noticed that Aer Lingus flies beyond Dublin to e.g. Amsterdam. So does this mean that os would it takene could use Avios to fly them BOS-AMS for a lower surcharge than BA? Would this work, would BA allow it, and how many Avios points would be needed?
April 13th, 2012 at 2:48 pm
Zzzz said,
If only Ireland was closer to continental Europe. At least it is closer than Iceland.
April 13th, 2012 at 2:49 pm
lucky said,
@ davidr — The fuel surcharges are definitely much lower, so that would be a great deal. That being said, award availability between Dublin and the rest of Europe isn’t nearly as good as award availability between the US and Ireland. Either way, since the total cost is under $150, it would still be much cheaper to book an award as far as Dublin and then booking a separate revenue ticket from there to somewhere else in Europe, given that you’re saving $400+ in fees/fuel surcharges compared to flying British Airways.
April 13th, 2012 at 2:49 pm
Craig said,
Lucky-
Thanks, I just reread your post and saw that. Sorry for redundancy ha
April 13th, 2012 at 2:50 pm
Mike S. said,
Lucky, could this work, assuming you have no miles to start and BMI miles will be swapped 1:1 with Avios;
- open two BMI accounts
- you get 1,000 free miles with each account
- buy the maximum miles for each account, which is 24,000 @ £303
- pool the accounts later
- 50,000 Avios for just over £600
April 13th, 2012 at 2:52 pm
lucky said,
@ Craig — No worries, I actually added that part just because you brought it up, so thanks!
@ Mike — In theory, yes. There are two things to keep in mind:
a) We don’t know for how long business class award availability will be so good on Aer Lingus.
b) We don’t have a timeline for when Diamond Club miles will be converted into Avios points and at what ratio (hopefully 1:1, though you never know).
April 13th, 2012 at 2:54 pm
Mac said,
Coins – have you actually booked one of these? EF is no showing nada for all dates.
April 13th, 2012 at 2:55 pm
lucky said,
@ Mac — ExpertFlyer shows nothing, though I called British Airways and based on sampling about ten different flights, British Airways saw all of them (even though they were “U0″ on ExpertFlyer).
April 13th, 2012 at 3:04 pm
Michael said,
Ben, if I have 50k UA miles – can that get me
Boston to Dublin in biz on a linguis? Leaving from Los Angeles so I’d book separate award ticket on AA to Boston I guess
April 13th, 2012 at 3:05 pm
barelyelite said,
If only you could use Avios on the IAD-MAD flight!
April 13th, 2012 at 3:05 pm
Mac said,
WOW! Major Gamechanger
If this sticks then Avois just became one of the most valuable TATL currencies.
50k +$100 in J during the Summer is outrageous.
April 13th, 2012 at 3:09 pm
Phil said,
Mac got it right, this is a game changer (assuming it sticks). Aer Lingus business class product looks pretty poor, but at this pricing point, who can complain? Little or no YQ is also a big deal. My family is from near Dublin and going back there is darn expensive via Heathrow
April 13th, 2012 at 3:10 pm
lucky said,
@ Michael — Only one-way in business class, since you’d be going by the United award chart. Though you could include the segment between Los Angeles and Boston on the award ticket.
April 13th, 2012 at 3:11 pm
lucky said,
@ Mac — And we owe it all to you!
April 13th, 2012 at 3:14 pm
Phil said,
Pretty good trip report here too:
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/trip_reports/read.main/184264/
Shame that JFK is 30k more than BOS
April 13th, 2012 at 3:15 pm
Zach @ The Travel Abstract said,
Great find!
I did not see this coming. This is another reason why I love Avios!
April 13th, 2012 at 3:22 pm
gpapadop said,
Ummm, mister luxury flyer expert…how is this Business Class seat & experience?
April 13th, 2012 at 3:24 pm
lucky said,
@ gpapadop — Hah! Well hopefully I’ll have a report really soon.
The seat is angled flat, so not perfect, though the food/service seems to be pretty good. Then again, given that the flight time is only a bit over five hours, how much time is there to really enjoy it?
April 13th, 2012 at 3:28 pm
Anon said,
Weird that Expert Flyer is showing no availability! But if this is for realz, I think I’ll be taking my mom and aunt to Dublin this fall!
April 13th, 2012 at 3:32 pm
lucky said,
@ Anon — Yes, that’s the weird part. I just find it really strange that overnight just about every business class seat became available. Can’t even begin to rationalize that…
April 13th, 2012 at 3:43 pm
Typhoon said,
Kudos to you on this – extremely useful information.
April 13th, 2012 at 3:45 pm
jimmyjohn said,
great legwork by the blogger. this will be a big help to everyone. the trip report in post no. 17 shows even economy class ain’t that bad.
flights from Dublin to London, Paris and other cities are fairly cheap. There is also a train/ferry option to get to London that is low-cost, and you’ll get to see the country.
April 13th, 2012 at 3:46 pm
Gene said,
Am I correct that an open jaw BOS-SNN-JFK (or vice-versa) would be only 50k in business?
April 13th, 2012 at 3:49 pm
lucky said,
@ Gene — Unfortunately not. Awards are priced one-way, and SNN-JFK is over 3,000 miles one-way.
April 13th, 2012 at 3:55 pm
Gene said,
How long for UR to transfer to Avios?
April 13th, 2012 at 3:58 pm
lucky said,
@ Gene — It’s near instant in my experience.
April 13th, 2012 at 4:13 pm
Anon said,
Can you continue on out of DUB on an Aer Lingus flight to LHR?
April 13th, 2012 at 4:15 pm
lucky said,
@ Anon — You could pending availability, though it would be an additional 4,500 Avios points each way.
April 13th, 2012 at 4:15 pm
thalha said,
dude you are a genius, I found Air france dub-lcy for $210 roundtrip, plus you can buy BA miles for 1.7 cents factoring in 50 percent bonus from amex
April 13th, 2012 at 4:29 pm
Joshua Pickles said,
@ Anon
I would book the DUB-LHR-DUB as a separate ticket as your return from LHR-DUB would avoid the high departure tax that LHR-DUB-JFK/BOS would incur.
April 13th, 2012 at 4:37 pm
Michael H. said,
@Lucky
Any idea how to add children to household account that are under the age of 18?
April 13th, 2012 at 5:05 pm
JohnnieD said,
So what does this say about expertflyer??? Do they have a glitch or are they unable to see award inventory now????????
April 13th, 2012 at 5:38 pm
Jethro said,
Thanks Lucky for the blog info! Just scored two business seats for August BOS-DUB, 100k avios-$292. Very excited and you just earned my next CC sign-up for sure. Had to work to find availability and the United search engine was showing bad info, but the BA csr came in there for us.
April 13th, 2012 at 5:47 pm
Gene said,
On phone now. Won’t waive telephone booking fees. Is that correct?
April 13th, 2012 at 5:49 pm
lucky said,
@ Gene — Yes, that’s correct unfortunately.
April 13th, 2012 at 6:17 pm
lucky said,
@ Jethro — Thanks, and congrats! Hope you have an amazing time. Am trying to figure out my dates right now.
April 13th, 2012 at 6:31 pm
bluecat said,
Would a JFK-DUB and then DUB-BOS return be allowed as part of a single ticketing fee?
April 13th, 2012 at 6:38 pm
Jo C said,
I’m planning on applying either the Freedom or the ink bold on Monday. Your post from yesterday won me praise. I will definitely use your link.
Thank you for doing all those legwork.
April 13th, 2012 at 6:50 pm
lucky said,
@ Jo C — Thanks! If I can do anything to help, please let me know.
April 13th, 2012 at 7:32 pm
Angeleno228 said,
I think posts like these is what sets lucky apart from the other bloggers. Great post.
April 13th, 2012 at 7:45 pm
Gene said,
Booked! Thanks, Ben. The agent was rather rude. He insisted that BOS-DUB was 80k r/t . I had to ask ‘How many miles is it from Boston to Dublin’ before he finally realized that it was less than 3,000 and that the ticket was only 50k r/t!
April 13th, 2012 at 8:46 pm
Frank said,
Lucky, I understand that your genital herpes outbreak may be painful, but it does not affect your typing ability. Post your trip report.
April 13th, 2012 at 8:57 pm
Stephan said,
Hey Frank, we’re all getting tired of your BS posts. Why don’t you crawl away?
April 13th, 2012 at 9:09 pm
lucky said,
@ Angeleno228 — Thanks for the kind words!
@ Gene — Congrats, and happy it worked out. I’m guessing the agent figured it was too good of a deal. I’m actually kind of surprised to hear they manually priced awards. I figured the computer auto-priced them.
April 13th, 2012 at 9:15 pm
Stephan said,
The trip report mentioned above makes it look like a nice deal!
April 13th, 2012 at 9:27 pm
lucky said,
@ Frank — Okay, I’ll bite, cause this is just too entertaining. Why do you think I have genital herpes?
April 13th, 2012 at 9:41 pm
Cliburn said,
Thanks lucky. Got 3 biz class ORD-DUB using UA miles. I have the Avios, but I did not want to risk waiting until morning until their call center opened.
April 13th, 2012 at 9:56 pm
Frank said,
It is very common among Thai “ladyboys.” Seeing as how you have clearly fornicated with many of those “ladyboys” it is likely you have genital herpes.
April 13th, 2012 at 10:16 pm
stacey said,
Hi Lucky,
Wow, amazing deal! Since I’m based in LA I would probably do the CHI-DUB route. When you say it’s ‘angled flatbed’ do you mean like AA biz class angled flatbeds? Or worse? Would you rate the Air Lingus biz class product on par with AA (Europe routes)?
Thanks!
Stacey
April 13th, 2012 at 10:18 pm
lucky said,
@ stacey — I haven’t flown Aer Lingus, though from the looks of it the business class product seems to be very similar to American’s. From the trip report linked above in the comments (#17), I’d say the food looks pretty good as well.
April 13th, 2012 at 10:51 pm
ArizonaGuy said,
I flew Aer Lingus longhaul once, in coach. In 2005 after Live 8 / U2 concert / 7-7 bombings in London, I needed a last minute one way from DUB or LON to the west coast. DUB-LAX was by far the cheapest and the coach product was quite nice at the time. A332 seating was 2-4-2 with seatback IFE (not AVOD then) and surprisingly 34″ of legroom. No idea if that remains, however.
April 13th, 2012 at 11:11 pm
Matthew said,
ROTFL. Oh man.
First JOSH, then Rob, now Frank.
April 13th, 2012 at 11:22 pm
stacey said,
Ah…I found a decent trip report that showcases the biz class cabin and service – check it out….looks almost exactly like AA’s product!
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/trip_reports/read.main/184264/
April 14th, 2012 at 12:08 am
Michael said,
So pathetic to have great posts by Lucky interrupted by idiots who throw out lame brain accusations
April 14th, 2012 at 12:23 am
United Sux said,
The new united sucks, why would anyone want to fly on them? Lucky thought Tilton was bad and even wore around t-shirts saying so. I’d take Tilton over Smisek in a second. I’m printing up “Bring Tilton Back” t-shirts.
April 14th, 2012 at 12:57 am
Alex said,
Dear Frank,
Enjoy this big fat FUCK YOU from all of us blog readers.
Go be a 13-year old troll somewhere else.
Regards,
Non-assholes
April 14th, 2012 at 1:35 am
Travel and Credit said,
This is awesome! Very creative and incredible use of miles especially given the AMEX transfer bonus right now. *scouring my schedule for options!*
April 14th, 2012 at 2:38 am
Frank said,
Alex, you are going to owe a fortune to the swear jar.
April 14th, 2012 at 7:00 am
Ernie said,
Does anybody have experience with an arrivals lounge in Ireland. Nothing beats a hot shower after a long flight!
April 14th, 2012 at 7:08 am
Phil said,
I see this is being “reblogged” (ie blatantly copied) all over the other blogs this am, sadly I don’t think this is going to last
April 14th, 2012 at 10:03 am
Jonathan said,
I see availability on United but when I called BA, then couldn’t find the seats in business class. Anyone else having this problem?
April 14th, 2012 at 10:10 am
PanAm said,
With three exclamation points, you had me worried for a.second that I had clicked on Dans Deals by mistake
This is great to know about though!
April 14th, 2012 at 11:02 am
Chas said,
FYI
I just finished booking on the phone; $296 and 67k MR points a/i for 2 biz tix BOS to DUB in August. For folks interested in weekend trips BOS-DUB in C, basically every weekend April-July is now booked up in C, plenty of Y still available though. Seems like this news traveled fast. Big hat tip to Lucky.
April 14th, 2012 at 11:07 am
phil said,
Thanks, just booked 2 biz class <$300 for BOS-DUB for a long weekend in AUG. BUT UA's site does not match BA's availability 100%, so you need to be flexible on days/flights. Still, great article, and deserving of 3 exclamation marks
April 14th, 2012 at 11:56 am
shanny71 said,
United was showing reward saver availability for the dates I wanted in June and July but when I called BA they said there was nothing available (business or coach)even though I could see it on united!!
April 14th, 2012 at 12:26 pm
lucky said,
@ Ernie — To the best of my knowledge they don’t have an arrivals lounge and there isn’t an arrivals lounge in Dublin.
April 14th, 2012 at 1:29 pm
Frank said,
Post the trip report, asshole.
April 14th, 2012 at 1:34 pm
Miles Mania said,
There is no Arrivals lounge in Dublin, just the Departures lounge, which is accessible to GoldCircle elites or BA elites on an Aer Lingus flight (BA or EI ticket)to LHR or LGW.
However, some people with OneWorld elite status have also been known to get access to the lounge when flying on other EI flights, so its definitely worth asking.
April 14th, 2012 at 1:37 pm
Glenn Tilton said,
Who misses me?
April 14th, 2012 at 3:15 pm
Reader Question: How Do I Use Miles & Points to Plan a Trip for Two to London? - Travel By PointsTravel By Points said,
[...] those of you interested, you can read OneMileAtATime’s recent post on how to use 25,000/50,000 British Airways Avios points for a round-trip ticket in [...]
April 14th, 2012 at 4:24 pm
JG said,
Friend just tried to book on United.com and said Aer Lingus wouldn’t confirm his reservation. Told him to try calling again but not a good sign.
April 15th, 2012 at 10:28 am
Larry said,
Lucky — awesome as always. Not just that you note the opportunity, but also walk us through exactly how to use it.
This opportunity raises an issue that I think is crying out for coverage in the travel bloggosphere that, if you ever have the time or inclination, would be great to see — interlining bags. I think many of us to take advantage of this would need to make our own way to ORD or BOS. The mysteries of when one can interline bags is not well covered. I think most of us understand that it’s a challenge when it’s separate PNRs, yet it seems to be possible even then in some circumstances, but it’s just not really covered anywhere. Just a thought.
April 15th, 2012 at 4:40 pm
Aaron said,
Surprised no one mentioned this but JFK-BOS-DUB is only 34,000 RT in Y using avios. Which actually costs less than JFK-DUB nonstop(40,000)
April 15th, 2012 at 8:26 pm
Tommy said,
Open jaws are allowed, correct? BOS-DUB, returning SNN-BOS would only be 50k RT in C…?
April 16th, 2012 at 5:26 am
The Deal Mommy said,
Lucky,
Do you know how far BA will let you book in advance? I’m already thinking summer 2013. Thanks!
April 16th, 2012 at 4:27 pm
Chin said,
I saw the seats available on united.com. However, when I called BA, they told me they were not able to see the available seats. For example, 05/25/2012, BOS-DUB
April 16th, 2012 at 4:35 pm
lucky said,
@ Chin — Unfortunately at this point a lot of the space you’re seeing is “phantom” space which just hasn’t been pulled yet. So united.com is no longer a completely accurate indicator of Aer Lingus award availability when using Avios points.
April 16th, 2012 at 5:03 pm
Chin said,
@Lucky, thanks for the reply. Just called BA, very bad availability on BOS-DUB.
April 17th, 2012 at 2:10 pm
lucky said,
@ Tommy — Absolutely. All BA awards are priced as one-ways.
April 18th, 2012 at 7:53 am
Tommy said,
Thanks for the confirmation Ben. I’m originally from Jacksonville, and know exactly where that BA call center is located
I’m hoping to get in on the deal, but haven’t been able to get my hands on Avios points yet…
April 20th, 2012 at 2:14 pm
Nick said,
Is there a way to utilize AVIOS miles to get to Boston from SLC as well? I’m not really up on all these tricks. I never would have thought of checking United to see Aer Lingus availability to utilize British Airways rewards points. That’s amazing. Maybe the same can be done somehow US domestically?
April 20th, 2012 at 3:12 pm
lucky said,
@ Nick — You absolutely can. The best way to look at space from Salt Lake City to Boston would be to go to aa.com and look for “Mile Saver” award space. If you find it, it should also be bookable on ba.com using Avios points. The place to figure out the cost of those flights using Avios points would be here:
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/avios-calculator/public/en_us
It can be rather cheap to go in coach from Salt Lake City to Boston, so the Dublin deal could still turn out to be great.
April 20th, 2012 at 7:46 pm
Sven said,
JFK-DUB-ORD 80k Avios EI biz class confirmed. Calling BA was ok. Long hold time – Agent was pleasant.
DUB-LHR-DUB separate ticket.
Multiple choices.
4500 avios or GBP40 will get you EI o/w into LHR / LGW.
40euro will get you Ryanair o/w into LON Stansted, Luton or Gatwick
Mid July Olympic week(s) – No way to stay in London central. Probably basecamp at LHR.
Oyster card to downtown.
April 22nd, 2012 at 1:42 pm
Nick said,
Thanks Lucky!
April 24th, 2012 at 7:39 am
Gabe said,
Space showing available on united.com, but not available according to BA. I have seen a few people post this same issue. Lucky, do you know if United has additional inventory that BA does not?
May 9th, 2012 at 7:22 am
Asen said,
I can’t find availability onward from Dublin to other points in Europe. For example, say Dublin to Brussels
August 5th, 2012 at 6:47 pm
Bob said,
I’m trying to use Avios and or a free companion ticket to get from Los Angeles to London, Dec 14-17 returning Dec 29-Jan 2.
But I can not find a way to book a return (nothing available)?
Any suggestions?
Thanks Bob
August 6th, 2012 at 2:37 am
lucky said,
@ Bob — My best suggestion would be to keep checking back, as BA is pretty good about opening up award space closer to departure. You could otherwise just book a random return date sometime in the future, and then change the date as more space opens up for your preferred dates.
August 7th, 2012 at 7:40 pm
Deb K said,
Daughter just finished residency. Thanks to you and our Avios points- daughter and hubby in business class bos-dub now.
Love sharing with family.
August 23rd, 2012 at 11:09 pm
Sean said,
Maybe this is a dumb question, but in your photos you’re booking Aer Lingus, with BA Avios, via United booking tool? When you go to actually book do you use the BA site or United? Is this still available? I have MP miles and Avios, would love to get a 25k roundtrip! Tia
August 23rd, 2012 at 11:12 pm
Sean said,
Wow never mind to everything except, is this still available ??
August 24th, 2012 at 4:58 am
lucky said,
@ Sean — Yes, it’s still available and if you want to use BA Avios you have to make the booking via the British Airways call center.
November 30th, 2012 at 9:45 pm
Ko said,
it’s so hard to find seats for 3 people compared to just one.
December 10th, 2012 at 12:41 pm
TS said,
Searching united.com for Aer Lingus award availability today yielded nothing–just United and Lufthansa award flights. Is this functionality gone now? Do you have any advice for someone trying to use Avios on Aer Lingus? We’re trying to book a one-way from DUB to BOS.
December 10th, 2012 at 12:46 pm
lucky said,
@ TS — British Airways has always had access to more/different Aer Lingus award space than United, so it has never been an accurate indicator for availability.
March 3rd, 2013 at 3:06 pm
Mike said,
Just to follow up on TS. I am checking with Expert Flyer and United. No biz class is showing up on either. Any recommendation? Just call BA and ask if a certain day is available? EI flights still don’t even show up in the Avios system at all. Thanks!
March 3rd, 2013 at 3:09 pm
lucky said,
@ Mike — BA has access to different award space. You’ll want to call because the space on United’s website and ExpertFlyer doesn’t reflect what you have access to with BA. Availability through them is MUCH better.
March 3rd, 2013 at 3:12 pm
Mike said,
Never mind! I just read your other post on how to book saying it’s pretty much a crap shoot. Thanks Lucky!
May 1st, 2013 at 9:00 am
Emmett said,
Just checked united website with plenty of open space in business class (IAD-DUB) on my travel days. Called BA to use avios and they claim nothing is open for my days. Any advice?
May 1st, 2013 at 11:11 am
lucky said,
@ Emmett — Aer Lingus doesn’t fly from Washington to Dublin. Are you sure you’re not looking at award space for the United flight?
As a reminder, the only way to search Aer Lingus award space as it’s available to British Airways is by calling British Airways. The space can’t be searched online.
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