In early 2022, American Airlines and Aer Lingus formally launched a partnership. However, the rollout has been incredibly strange. We saw reciprocal mileage earning introduced after nearly two years, we then saw reciprocal elite perks introduced after nearly three years, and now we’re seeing reciprocal mileage redemptions (finally!) after nearly for years.
Continue reading: American & Aer Lingus Partnership: Earn & Redeem Miles, Use Elite Perks
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I'm only guessing but maybe it's IT-related. Aer Lingus' IT is really bad. They suuposedly have support on social platforms, but good luck getting a response. They still can't provide seat selection on partner Business Class bookings. One gets the impression that their back end is archaic and under-resourced.
It's definitely a contributing factor. the reservations system they use is ASTRAL, a version of IPARS which was developed in the 1960's! Its' cheap, internally managed, but makes any integration a nightmare. Combine that with a very conservative and investment adverse culture you get a half-baked, one foot in/out JV, similar to the relationship IE has with BA and IAG and OneWorld.
Hey Lucky
The reason is that IAG generally acts as more of a holding company in most cases vs a coordinating hierarchy. aka. they don't really force their airlines to do much aside from how they had EI join the OW JV for the motion/appearance of it.
In general, EI's North America strengths are always going to be in Boston, NYC, and Chicago. UA and B6 are better partners there (from an O&D perspective) which is why, to this day, it's far easier (in my experience) to redeem UA or B6 miles on EI than it is with AA.
It's a bit illogical when EI is in the JV with AA but IAG doesn't force EI to change that so it just is what it is. I'll be curious to see how much EI award availability becomes available on AA vs UA/B6 with these changes. I rarely see AAdvantage offers connecting through DUB vs LHR. Hopefully, this will change that somewhat.
The reason is ASTRAL. It probably took time to get AA system to work with EI. I worked part-time for EI before Covid. There IT system is one of the oldest still used.
The issue is nobody at Aer Lingus seems to actually know about this partnership. The amount of times I’ve pulled up your website to show them the reciprocal benefits (lounge, checked bag, etc) is crazy.
Very true, and that also apples to bookings made via United. Fortunately, at least in my limited experience, despite what customer service agents might say to the contrary, things somehow work behind the scenes and I've never had to pay more than expected for bags, etc.
Not really odd is how little reciprocity there was AND still is with Avios based carriers. Especially Iberia as well as British airways. One world alliance is kind of a mess, unless obviously you have top 1-2 one world tier. Even then still buggy.
Was just about to say this. This feels like a punch in the gut for those of us loyal to IB/BA, since we still won't be able to obtain Elite/Tier points on EI-marketed flights (despite all three being under the same holding company and having the same currency), while AA members will.
Aer Lingus is one of the few foreign airlines that do not need a US partner to sell in the US. Unlike most European airlines on Atlantic routes, it sells more in the US than in Ireland. Most traffic is US to Ireland and Europe, not the other way round. This is because there are c.40m people of Irish descent in North America compared to only 5.5m in Ireland owing to history (potato famine, British rule, weather, etc). If only they had stayed, how much bigger Ireland would be?
I'm flying AA biz class to DUB and then EY to AGP. I can't even get a simple seat assignment. I can't check in. Their chat system stops me with "no phone or chat agent can do this, so see an agent at the airport." So for a business class ticket I will get a coach European seat and, quiet possibly, a center seat by the time I get to Dublin.