The Amex Membership Rewards program is one of my favorite transferable points currencies. Membership Rewards has more transfer partners than Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou, and I’m always happy to see that list expanded.
- 4x points at restaurants
- 4x points at U.S. supermarkets, on up to $25,000 in purchases annually
- 3x points on flights booked directly with airlines or through amextravel.com
- $250
- Access to Amex Offers
- Redeem Amex Points Towards Airfare
- $375
- Earn 5x points on flights purchased directly from airlines or through Amex Travel (up to $500k/year)
- $200 Annual Uber Credit
- Amex Centurion Lounge Access
- $695
- Earn 1.5x on purchases of $5,000 or more in a single transaction on up to $2MM per calendar year
- Redeem Points For Over 1.5 Cents Each Towards Airfare
- Amex Centurion Lounge Access
- $695
- 2x points on purchases up to $50k then 1x
- Access to Amex Offers
- No annual fee
Amex is adding Aer Lingus as a Membership Rewards partner
American Express has announced that they’re adding Aer Lingus AerClub as their next transfer partner. Points will transfer at a 1:1 ratio, as is the case with most Membership Rewards partners. This will be Membership Rewards’ 17th airline partner. Aer Lingus AerClub is the first new transfer partner since 2016, when Etihad Guest was added.
The capability to transfer points at this ratio is rolling out at the end of this month for the US Membership Rewards program, and later in the year for the UK Membership Rewards program.
With Aer Lingus AerClub being added as a partner, US Membership Rewards partners now include the following:
Airline Partners | Hotel Partners |
|---|---|
Aeromexico Club Premier | |
Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles | |
Why you shouldn’t get too excited
More airline transfer partners are always a good thing, though I wouldn’t get too excited about Aer Lingus AerClub. Why?
Because Aer Lingus is owned by IAG, the same parent company as British Airways. They have three main frequent flyer programs — British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus, and Aer Lingus AerClub.
With some limitations, you can transfer Avios between all three programs at a 1:1 ratio, so it has already been possible to convert Membership Rewards points into Aer Lingus points, you just had to do so indirectly.
Here’s Aer Lingus’ award chart for redemptions on their own flights:
Aer Lingus has a solid business class product, with fully flat beds and pretty good food. Dublin is also a great gateway to Europe. Furthermore, fees for redeeming on Aer Lingus are much lower than redeeming on British Airways.
However, just because you want to fly Aer Lingus doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re the best program to book through. You get just as much value booking through British Airways Executive Club, and as far as I know Aer Lingus doesn’t have any “sweet spot” partner redemptions that make their Avios specifically worth having.
Bottom line
While I like Aer Lingus as an airline, their addition as a Membership Rewards transfer partner doesn’t have many implications. It has already been possible to convert Amex points into either British Airways or Iberia Avios, and then convert those into Aer Lingus Avios. So for those who do want Aer Lingus Avios, this simplifies the process.
More significantly, though, Aer Lingus doesn’t have any redemption rates (at least as far as I know) that represent a better value than booking through British Airways, regardless of whether you’re booking Aer Lingus or one of their partners.
So this is worth knowing about, but don’t get too excited.
Launching two new NA routes soon, to be flown by A321, rumours of Pittsburgh and Montreal
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/transport-and-tourism/aer-lingus-to-add-two-new-north-american-destinations-1.3585382#.W2Vz7RcdUCA.twitter
The problem is that if all the sweet spots become known to everybody, then they will no longer be sweet spots as they will quickly disappear.
I seem to remember a while back there was an issue where Aer Lingus were releasing different (more) award inventory to their own AerClub members than was available to those looking for award seats using Avios. BA phone reps would see inventory available but booking would fail when trying to ticket it. Is that still the case and if so, would transferring MR points directly to Aer Lingus offer a wider inventory of available award seats?
Definitely agree with Jo above. A guide like that would be very handy!
Speaking of "sweet spot partner redemptions", is there some reference that lists all sweet spots? I'd be very interested in such an article/guide.
I'm Aer Lingus Aer Club Concierge, but I don't think I have used my miles once for a single Aer Lingus redemption. I always seem transfer them to my BA account for Oneworld (Recently JL and CX) awards. This is one benefit of the "new" AerClub program vs the old Gold Circle program. With Gold Circle, all awards had to be booked via phone...
You can earn UA miles into Avios via Aer Lingus, can you redeem UA flights using Avios?
Completely unrelated, but can you do a day of blogging taking one post from every writer? Like Matt, who hasn’t written since 2015. I’d like to see a post from each of them