Questions and Answers

Hi everyone,

I need to get 4 people to Ireland in March of 2018. Due to devaluation, I’d like to keep more flexibility by collecting TY, MR and UR points. I just gave up my Citi AA and want to burn my AA miles and move away from them. Not only in the earning devaluation bug me, but there is practically ZERO availability to ANYWHERE. I have 160,000 MR (though I may use some soon), 7,000 TYPs (just used 85,000) and just applied for Ink and Sapphire. Can I get some suggestions, based on current programs, how I will most likely be able to get from Chicago to Dublin using these 3 sources? Which should I spend more time collecting or MSing for this trip?

THANKS!
Paul

Welcome [USER=1802]@paul rosenbaum[/USER]

In theory you can use both AA & UA (from URs) miles with Aer Lingus non-stop to DUB. In practice I don’t know how much space they release. Are you OK with coach or do you need business class? I seem to recall (but could be wrong) that Aer Lingus releases a max of 2 business class seats per flight and there’s only 1 flight per day from ORD. Might have better luck in economy.

Of course you can also route via LHR though there will be surcharges if you fly on BA metal. You could also fly Iberia to MAD and connect there on either Iberia or Aer Lingus.

[QUOTE=”MidSouth Skier, post: 15746, member: 184″]Welcome [USER=1802]@paul rosenbaum[/USER]

In theory you can use both AA & UA (from URs) miles with Aer Lingus non-stop to DUB. In practice I don’t know how much space they release. Are you OK with coach or do you need business class? I seem to recall (but could be wrong) that Aer Lingus releases a max of 2 business class seats per flight and there’s only 1 flight per day from ORD. Might have better luck in economy.

Of course you can also route via LHR though there will be surcharges if you fly on BA metal. You could also fly Iberia to MAD and connect there on either Iberia or Aer Lingus.[/QUOTE]

THANKS for the response. I should’ve clarified. Only will be going coach. I def want to avoid BA. I never even thought of Iberia. Forgive my ignorance but what would I transfer to Iberia. Would I book it through their website from ORD to DUB knowing I would stop in MAD?

Paul

Iberia is a oneworld member so you can use your AA miles there. AA doesn’t show IB space on their website, so you can use IB or BA’s site (they both use Avios) to find availability and then call AA to book. Be aware that IB does incur fuel surcharges too but they’re usually less onerous than what BA charges.

Also considering using UA miles (transferred from sapphire/ink). UA flies to Dublin from ORD (seasonal), EWR and IAD. You can also book travel on Aer Lingus with UA miles as [USER=184]@MidSouth Skier[/USER] suggested

AA and UA both require 30k miles one way for US-Europe.

AA has off peak rates of 22.5k miles one way if travel is between Jan and Mid March.

With UA, you could be able to leverage stopovers and open jaws for another destination in Europe to stretch the value of the ticket if you’d like

[QUOTE=”MidSouth Skier, post: 15746, member: 184″]Welcome [USER=1802]@paul rosenbaum[/USER]

In theory you can use both AA & UA (from URs) miles with Aer Lingus non-stop to DUB. In practice I don’t know how much space they release. Are you OK with coach or do you need business class? I seem to recall (but could be wrong) that Aer Lingus releases a max of 2 business class seats per flight and there’s only 1 flight per day from ORD. Might have better luck in economy.

Of course you can also route via LHR though there will be surcharges if you fly on BA metal. You could also fly Iberia to MAD and connect there on either Iberia or Aer Lingus.[/QUOTE]
My home airport is ORD, there are two daily flights

Ah ok, couldn’t remember. That will help!

[QUOTE=”MidSouth Skier, post: 15759, member: 184″]Ah ok, couldn’t remember. That will help![/QUOTE]
should double the amount of award seats. EI122/123 and EI124/125 go between A332s and A333s, doesn’t really seem to be a pattern.