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Aer Lingus launches flights to Barbados, Boston, New York and Orlando from Manchester

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Aer Lingus has finally confirmed its first three routes from Manchester Airport – and they are not fully what we were expecting.

Aer Lingus is launching the following flights:

  • New York, daily from 29th July
  • Orlando, 5x weekly (Thu-Mon) from 29th July
  • Barbados, 3x weekly (Wed/Fri/Sun) from 20th October

Boston has also been announced but will not launch until Summer 2022.

Barbados is a surprise. There was some rumour about Antigua but no-one had mentioned Barbados.

These are non-stop routes and do not go via Ireland. They use aircraft which are currently not required for the reduced Aer Lingus long-haul schedule being operated from Dublin.

What aircraft are being used?

From a few random searches:

  • New York is on a single-aisle A321neo
  • Orlando is on a standard two-aisle A330-300
  • Barbados is on a standard two-aisle A330-300

Boston is also reported to be using an A321neo when it launches in 2022.

Business Class on the A321neo is an alternating 1-1 / 2-2 configuration with a fully flat bed seat, so it works for both couples and solo travellers.

The A330 is an alternating 1-2-2 / 1-2-1 configuration. Both should be well above British Airways Club World, although not Club Suite.

Here is the A321LR business class cabin – the A330 is very similar:

Aer Lingus A321LR business class cabin

The New York flight has a sensible 12.05 departure time from Manchester, arriving into JFK at 15.25. This means that a connection from elsewhere in the UK may be possible if timed right.

Interestingly, due to regulatory reasons, tickets may not be purchased for departures FROM the United States. Only UK-originating passengers are allowed to travel.

Which terminal will Aer Lingus use?

It isn’t clear. At the moment, all flights are departing from Terminal 1 but this may have changed by July.

In the long term I would expect them to use the new pier in Terminal 2. A new Escape and 1903 lounge will be in the extension – it isn’t clear if there will also be a oneworld lounge alongside the confirmed Virgin Clubhouse.

What will these flights cost with Avios?

At the moment, I cannot see any Avios availability for these flights. We will keep an eye out and let you know, which could be later today or it could be in a few weeks.

There are two ways of booking Aer Lingus flights with Avios. You can either:

  • book on avios.com, transferring Avios from British Airways Executive Club, which gets you the best availability but higher taxes, or
  • call British Airways Executive Club (no online booking) which anecdotally has worse availability but lower taxes – out of Dublin you would pay under £100 but obviously you now need to add Air Passenger Duty
Aer Lingus new livery

Aer Lingus has its own peak and off-peak calendar which is different to the British Airways one. You can see the 2021 BA, Iberia and Aer Lingus peak and off-peak Avios calendars in this HfP article.

For clarity, you cannot use a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher or a Lloyds Avios Rewards upgrade voucher on Aer Lingus.

The article in our ‘Avios Redemption University’ series explains everything you need to know about redeeming Avios on Aer Lingus.

Will these flights earn Avios or British Airways tier points?

Once Aer Lingus joins the BA / AA / Iberia / Finnair transatlantic joint venture then, yes, the New York, Boston and Orlando services will earn Avios and tier points. It isn’t clear about Barbados although I consider it likely as I expect all Aer Lingus flights to become ‘earning’.

You will earn Avios irrespective. You need to weigh up whether you get a better deal crediting to Aer Lingus AerClub, where the Avios earned is based on the price of your ticket, or into British Airways Executive Club where you earn via the standard partner table, based on miles flown.

Conclusion

This is an exciting opportunity for travellers outside the Heathrow catchment area. If the taxes on redemptions are low, it may also persuade some London residents to head up to Manchester too.

You can see full details of these new services on the Aer Lingus website here.

You can book on the Aer Lingus site here.

We look forward to reviewing these new services in Business Class, especially the A321LR which we haven’t tried yet on any airline, over the summer.

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Category

Aer Lingus and AerClub

Comments (70)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • marcw says:
    24 Mar24 March 10:21

    Aer Lingus does not guarantee Avios seats. I think if you see 2 Business seats on Avios you should consider it an anomaly.

  • Blair says:
    24 Mar24 March 10:24

    The prices are a bloody outrage. I’m actually laughing here at them. Considering a Dublin connection gets pre-clearance (so is not a wasted connection) I’d have thought the direct route would be charging similar prices. No….

    • tony says:
      24 Mar24 March 10:28

      The one I looked at, the direct flight in Y was about 50% of going via DUB, J was about 20% more, but yes have to agree that pre-clearance isn’t to be sniffed at.

    • Rhys says:
      24 Mar24 March 10:29

      You clearly haven’t seen what Virgin charges from Manchester for peak Orlando flights!

      • Blair says:
        24 Mar24 March 10:45

        Well indeed, they appear to be matching Virgin in business. £2500ish return. No thanks. I’ll maximise my tier points on a connection of use.

        • Jonathan says:
          24 Mar24 March 11:55

          £2500 is probably par for a peak season business return of that length.

          You’ve just been conditioned to think £12-1500 is a fair price when that is essentially capacity dumping by the big players who half fill their business cabins with people on expenses paying £6k+ for flexible return.

          When the numbers of price insensitive customers diminish (or don’t exist on tourist routes) then the airlines either charge more or cut the route.

          Clearly airlines are price takers not setters on core routes with competition but who else offers longhaul flat bed business out of Manchester? If they can’t generate demand at those prices they’ll kill the route not cut the price.

      • Anna says:
        24 Mar24 March 13:57

        People pay those prices, though! I know people with decent jobs who save up all year for 2 weeks in Orlando and think making their kids happy is worth paying £1000 pp for economy flights. They think we’re weird for travelling via LHR, even though my 4 xJ flights to MIA this summer (2 on avios and 2 cash) cost less than £3.5k in cash.

        • The cyclist says:
          24 Mar24 March 17:11

          Except you won’t be going , have two weeks in the kimpton clock tower instead. Reports say it’s rather good

          • Anna says:
            24 Mar24 March 19:38

            I might do that as well, @cyclist, I’ve certainly got enough IHG points.

    • ChrisW says:
      24 Mar24 March 11:09

      I can see MAN – JFK direct for £400 return in August. That is very reasonable and much cheaper than Virgin.

      • Hydebear says:
        24 Mar24 March 12:42

        £321 MAN-JFK return for the weekend of 17-20 Sept – really not to be sniffed at. Be interesting to see what the BAH offers look like in due course….

    • Dublin Boy says:
      24 Mar24 March 22:37

      UK long haul taxes are much more expensive than Irish taxes on similar flights.

  • C says:
    24 Mar24 March 10:25

    Interesting that US originating tickets are not possible – seems like major oversight (not that MAN is a hotspot for US tourists, but surely there will be some demand for VFR and business travel). Will this be different for AA/BA codeshares on EI metal?

    • Sandgrounder says:
      24 Mar24 March 11:12

      Liverpool is still a pretty big draw for US tourists of a certain age.

    • Sam G says:
      24 Mar24 March 12:08

      I imagine it is temporary whilst they wait some approval on the US side. Can’t think of a commercial reason why they’d want such a restriction!

  • Stu N says:
    24 Mar24 March 10:59

    Typical cycle of non-London route discussions on HfP
    1. “No-one offers long haul from regional airports, if they did I’d definitely use it”
    2. Someone announces new route, cue much excitement.
    3. Route goes on sale. “I’m not paying that, it’s blooming’ outrageous, it’s loads cheaper to go from London/ via DUB/AMS/CDG”. Usually same people as (1).
    4. Route folds due to lack of demand
    5. Go to 1.

    • ChrisW says:
      24 Mar24 March 11:06

      It’s almost as if airlines charge a premium for the convenience and efficiency of non-stop flights…..

    • Marc says:
      24 Mar24 March 12:26

      MCR (Covid aside) has filled aircraft from Emirates, Etihad, Singapore, Cathay, United, American etc etc for years with passemgers who don’t live within the M25.
      BA is an irrelevance here.
      Aer Lingus will fill up as the thought of travelling all the way down to LHR is too daunting for most people.
      There is talk of allowing MCR to have US Immigration pre-clearance in the future making it an even better option.

    • Doommonger says:
      24 Mar24 March 19:55

      Hey Stu,

      and I thought Doom mongering and cynicism were my bag on this site.

      The Doomster

  • Graeme says:
    24 Mar24 March 11:06

    Good for those of us from the Northwest with regards pricing and competition. I know Thomas Cook used to compete on MCO with Virgin, but you’d have to be seriously concerned for the future of VS now surely if they lose customers on summer cashcow routes.

    • David Safir says:
      24 Mar24 March 11:16

      .but the VS VFR and leisure offer beats BA by launching LHR-LHE & ISB and moving MCO, LAS and Caribbean flights from LGW to LHR

  • David says:
    24 Mar24 March 11:09

    Surely it’s just about IAG competing with VS for longhaul ex MAN

  • Freddy says:
    24 Mar24 March 11:16

    Good to see some new options for those not in the London!

  • pigeon says:
    24 Mar24 March 12:27

    Still worth driving down to Heathrow to avoid Manchester security.

    • Oh Matron! says:
      24 Mar24 March 13:19

      Manchester security isn’t too bad. It’s not great, but my mountain first aid kit resulted in a secondary check. I had no idea what the kerfuffle was about until we spotted the rather large scissors (this first aid kit really is amazing). Seeing that I had my climbing rucksack on my back, as well as the scissors being part of, well, a rather obvious first aid kit, we had a laugh, and he did something which LHR security would never do: used his common sense, put the scissors back in the first aid kit and wished me a pleasant journey 🙂

      • Sandgrounder says:
        24 Mar24 March 13:55

        Security can be busy, but fast track is available, for a small fee if you are not entitled. I personally try and avoid LHR, a small event can cause so many knock-on delays.

        • Doug M says:
          24 Mar24 March 14:01

          Is that the fast track they route the families through.

          • Jonathan says:
            24 Mar24 March 14:07

            Exactly. It should be renamed slow track as it’s the same scanner they divert all the families with buggies etc through (who invariably take 5 minutes separating everything then need a secondary screening).

          • Sandgrounder says:
            24 Mar24 March 17:31

            Didn’t they re-route the fast track past the families when they started to let you buy tickets in-airport? It might just be the times I travel but I haven’t been held up for a long time.

      • Doug M says:
        24 Mar24 March 14:00

        I find the scissor thing quite a fail. If large scissors are a risk of some sort then the idea that having other items that effectively justify them described as common sense is surprising. There’s a reason blades go in checked luggage. I guess one person’s common sense is another’s security lapse.

        • kitten says:
          24 Mar24 March 19:44

          …. but Stansted staff will insist on confiscating them anyway saying it’s at their discretion

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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