Aer Lingus Business Class Awards Wide Open This Summer

As most of you probably know by now, British Airways Executive Club is devaluing their award chart for bookings made as of April 28, 2015. While the cost of their most economical redemptions stay the same (economy on short-haul flights), premium cabin and longhaul redemptions are in many cases substantially going up in price.

Arguably the single best use of British Airways Avios for transatlantic flying is for Aer Lingus’ flight between Boston and Dublin — it costs just 25,000 Avios one-way in business class with minimal fuel surcharges.

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I’ve written about this before, and have even flown Aer Lingus business class from Boston and Dublin and from Dublin and Boston.

Aer Lingus business class lounge Dublin

I think it’s worth posting about this redemption opportunity one more time for a few reasons:

• The cost of this redemption will be going up for bookings made as of April 28, 2015
• Aer Lingus is introducing a new business class product, which looks fantastic
• While business class award availability has been very limited for a long time, I’m seeing tons of Aer Lingus transatlantic business class award availability at the moment — in many cases even nine business class award seats per flight

The cost of Aer Lingus awards using Avios

Here’s what British Airways’ distance based award chart presently looks like:

As you can see, a flight of under 3,000 miles one-way costs just 12,500 Avios one-way in economy class or 25,000 Avios one-way in business class. As luck would have it, flying from Boston to Dublin or Shannon is just under 3,000 miles one-way.

So for travel out of the US on Aer Lingus, you’d pay the following amounts:

• Boston to Dublin/Shannon
  • Economy: 12,500 Avios one-way
  • Business: 25,000 Avios one-way
• Chicago/New York/Washington to Dublin/Shannon
  • Economy: 20,000 Avios one-way
  • Business: 40,000 Avios one-way
• Orlando/San Francisco to Dublin
  • Economy: 25,000 Avios one-way
  • Business: 50,000 Avios one-way

Also, unlike for travel on British Airways, the fuel surcharges for travel on Aer Lingus are extremely low — you’ll pay about $35 in taxes/fees for a one-way ticket between Boston and Dublin.

How good is availability?

For a while, Aer Lingus transatlantic award availability was really bad. That being said, in recent days it seems to have gotten much better again.

How good is it?

Here’s a calendar overview with Aer Lingus nonstop business class award availability between Boston and Dublin in June/July:

And here’s a calendar with availability between New York and Dublin in June/July:

While there’s not award availability every day, I think it’s worth noting that when there is space, there’s often tons of it.

For example, here’s business class award availability between Boston and Dublin for a random date, where there are 16 business class award seats available between the two flights:

I see dates with nine business class award seats in the other direction as well:

Space is quite good out of New York to Dublin:

And out of Dublin to New York:

I don’t see any availability on the San Francisco to Dublin flight (which has historically been really tough to find space on), but some of the other routes look wide open.

Do keep in mind that not all Aer Lingus A330s have the new business class product yet. To figure out whether your flight is scheduled to feature the new product or not, see if the seatmap reflects a staggered configuration, which alternates between four and five seats per row in business class, like this:

If the seatmap shows six seats per row, then it’s the old product:

Aircraft types are subject to change, especially if you’re booking far in advance. That being said, even the angled business class seats aren’t half bad for such a short transatlantic flight.

How to book

Aer Lingus award availability doesn’t show on British Airways’ award search tool, so you have to call to book (and expect hold times to be bad… though they’re not quite as bad as in the past).

That being said, you can search Aer Lingus award availability on either united.com or ExpertFlyer, and if they show space it should typically also be bookable through British Airways.

How to accrue British Airways Avios

The great thing about British Airways Avios is how easy they are to accrue. Not only do they have their own co-branded card in the US, but they’re transfer partners with:

• American Express Membership Rewards
• Chase Ultimate Rewards

Here are a few of the best cards for accruing British Airways Avios:

Bottom line

If you’re looking to go to Europe this summer it’s not too late. Not only that, but the single best transatlantic business class redemption option is readily available in a new fully flat business class product.

Heck, even if you weren’t planning on going to Europe this summer, you really should consider it, if you can book before April 28. Between the strength of the US Dollar and this being the last chance to book at this rate, there hasn’t been a better time.

Is anyone planning on crossing the Atlantic on Aer Lingus this summer?