Can I use Avios for Aer Lingus flights?

Can you spend your Avios points on flights on Aer Lingus?  

In this article I want to look at how you can use your Avios to fly with partner airlines like Aer Lingus.

The good news is that you are not restricted to spending Avios points on British Airways.  BA is part of a global airline alliance called oneworld, and this allows you to redeem Avios for flights with all of the member airlines.

This means that you can book Avios flights on:

• Alaska Airlines
• American Airlines
• Cathay Pacific
• Finnair
• Iberia
• Japan Airlines
• Malaysia Airlines
• Qantas
• Qatar Airways
• Royal Air Maroc
• Royal Jordanian
• S7 Airlines (Russia)
• SriLankan Airlines

British Airways also has additional partnerships with Aer Lingus.

How do you book Aer Lingus flights with Avios?

It used to be the case that Aer Lingus seats could only be booked with Avios via a telephone call to British Airways Executive Club, with no way of checking availability online.

This changed in December 2016 when Aer Lingus reward availability was loaded into avios.com.

There are now TWO ways of booking a redemption on Aer Lingus:

Option 1 is to use avios.com. You can book online and you get the widest choice of dates. You will pay around £200 in taxes and charges for a long-haul business class flight from Dublin to North America.

or

Option 2 is to use ba.com. You cannot book online, only by telephone. Anecdotally, there is less availability than you see via avios.com, and you cannot check availability online before you ring. However, you will only pay around £75 in taxes and charges for a long-haul flight from Dublin to North America.

You can still access avios.com if your Avios Travel Rewards Programme account has been closed by opening an Aer Lingus AerClub account here.

For clarity …. if you book UK – Dublin – North America on the same ticket then you will also need to pay long-haul premium cabin UK Air Passenger Duty.  Booking two separate tickets dramatically reduces the taxes although you must build in enough flexibility to ensure you don’t miss your connection.

What are the cancellation rules on Aer Lingus flights booked with Avios?

The cancellation and change fee rules are the same as if you had booked a BA flight.  You can cancel your flight up to 24 hours before departure, either online or by calling BA.

100% of your Avios will be refunded.

Your taxes and charges payment will also be refunded, less a £35 cancellation fee per person.  If the taxes and charges were less than £35 per person, you do not need to pay any extra.

How many Avios will I need to book on Aer Lingus?

It is the same chart that is used for booking Avios flights on BA.  Here is the table:

You can find the 2022 calendar of peak and off-peak dates for Aer Lingus in this Head for Points article.

As you can see, it is very easy to book Aer Lingus flights with Avios points and it opens up a large number of new travel destinations for you.  This includes the new direct routes to the United States and Barbados from Manchester.

(This article is part of our ‘BA Q&A’ series which explains how British Airways Executive Club works.  You can see all of our ‘BA Q&A’ articles here. )

(Head for Points is the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website with 2.4 million monthly page views.  Want to learn more about earning and spending Avios?  Click here to read our latest news stories and click here to join the mailing list for our weekly or daily email newsletters.)

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (January 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also good bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These are available to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.