Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Aer Lingus redemptions are still far cheaper when booked at avios.com (but no 2-4-1’s)

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

It’s been a while since we talked about booking Aer Lingus flight redemptions, but a big release of business class reward seats between Dublin and Philadelphia this week (hat-tip to US site Frequent Miler) reminded me to remind you of how you can pay too much.

If you were thinking of visiting Philadelphia next spring, there are two business class seats per flight available virtually every day between January and March on Aer Lingus from Dublin.

I’m not here to recommend Philadelphia in January or not – I’m guessing it could be chilly – but late March / potentially April if the seats are there should be better. I simply want to use it as an example.

Aer Lingus Avios to Philadelphia

If you were planning on booking Aer Lingus in business class, here is my review of Aer Lingus A321LR business class. Here is Rhys reviewing one of the A330 Aer Lingus business class routes from Manchester.

There are two ways of booking Aer Lingus redemption flights

Aer Lingus flights are now bookable on ba.com so this is where you would logically decide to start.

If you want to use a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher on Aer Lingus (which you now can, plus Iberia), you MUST book on ba.com.

You’ll get a bad deal, but you’ve got no choice!

This isn’t where Aer Lingus frequent flyers book their redemptions though. They use the avios.com website, which is also used by Vueling Club members.

You can’t just go to avios.com and log in with your British Airways Executive Club account details. You need to open an Aer Lingus Aer Club or Vueling Club account (free, on their respective websites) and then use ‘Combine My Avios’ on avios.com to move your points across from British Airways Executive Club.

Moving Avios is free, instant and can be reversed if needed.

A full HfP article on using ‘Combine My Avios’ is here.

Look at how ba.com rips you off when booking Aer Lingus flights

I did dummy bookings for business class flights using Avios between Dublin and Philadelphia. By starting in Dublin and not London you can avoid long haul UK Air Passenger Duty, albeit that you need to buy a ticket to Dublin.

Using ba.com:

  • Dublin to Philadelphia, return in Business: 100,000 Avios + £419
  • Dublin to Philadelphia, one way in Business: 50,000 Avios + £221
  • Philadelphia to Dublin, one way in Business: 50,000 Avios + £691
Booking Aer Lingus flights with Avios

If we swap over to the avios.com website to book exactly the same flights:

Using avios.com:

  • Dublin to Philadelphia, return in Business: 100,000 Avios + £241 (save £178)
  • Dublin to Philadelphia, one way in Business: 50,000 Avios + £132 (save £89)
  • Philadelphia to Dublin, one way in Business: 50,000 Avios + £108 (save £583!)

The savings in taxes and charges are huge. A couple flying from Dublin to Philadelphia and back in business class would save £356 in charges by booking at avios.com.

The really scary saving is the one you get if booking a one way flight from Philadelphia to Dublin. The £691 taxes and charges bill drops to £108 if you use the avios.com website.

Even avios.com is a bit of a swizz though ….

United Airlines is, intriguingly, an Aer Lingus partner. This is despite the fact that United Airlines is in Star Alliance and Aer Lingus, whilst not in an alliance, has a parent aligned with oneworld.

Let’s look at what it would cost to book using United Airlines miles using Philadelphia to Dublin, one way, in Business.

The same flight which costs 50,000 Avios + £691 via ba.com, and 50,000 Avios + £108 via avios.com, costs just 88,000 United MileagePlus miles + $5. Avios.com is still pocketing over £100 of random charges.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

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

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

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

Category

Aer Lingus and AerClub, British Airways and Avios

Comments (39)

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

  • Thomas says:
    10 Aug10 August 06:12

    Slightly OT, but does anyone know if the VS points offer and $4 tax to fly Delta metal US to mainland europe still exists?

    • Lev441 says:
      10 Aug10 August 07:41

      Yes but very limited in availability

    • Rob says:
      10 Aug10 August 07:43

      Yes, was in our Delta / VS piece last week. I found Eco seats at $6 tax, couldn’t find any Business availability but as this is Delta it’s not surprising.

    • EvilGazebo says:
      10 Aug10 August 08:52

      I’m finding the odd ITA seat (sometimes 2) to Rome from JFK or LAX in J for $6 in tax but searching for them on the VS site is a pain. Tons of AF availability but more like $300 in taxes.

  • Ed_fly says:
    10 Aug10 August 06:47

    With regard to transferring Avios from BAEC into Aer lingus, am I right to think there is a risk you lose the points if your Aer lingus account has been inactive (no points earning / burning) for a certain period of time?

  • Lev441 says:
    10 Aug10 August 07:44

    Booking air lingua flights via BA executive club phone line was even better. Shame that route got closed.

    I think the last time I booked was £30 in taxes/fees from Dublin – Toronto.

    The flight I booked the other day was £119 on BA.com or £103 on avíos.com

    • rob keane says:
      10 Aug10 August 09:42

      my last most recent DUB-TFS-DUB redemption booking was £34 in taxes&fees on avios.com, and £120 on ba.com. Avios.com always gives you a free 23Kg bag, not sure if BA does.

  • supergraeme says:
    10 Aug10 August 08:01

    Slightly OT – is there any way I can get he AL site to stop sending me a verification text when I try to log in? I get one but my partner doesn’t, it’s really annoying. I can’t remove my number.

    • Brian says:
      10 Aug10 August 09:01

      I am not sure if you can undo the addition of 2FA but I know when they introduced it about a year ago you had the option of just not setting it up. I never got around to doing so and can continue to log in with just username and password.

  • AJA says:
    10 Aug10 August 08:14

    If anyone does fancy Philly in January avoid 15 January 2024 which is Martin Luther King Day as every attraction will be shut. So you will be very chilly in Philly as you will be stuck outside. I wasn’t even vaguely tempted to try walking let alone running up the 72 steps of the Philadephia Museum of Art as they were extremely icy and the museum was closed anyway!

    Trust me. I speak from experiencing this about 10 years ago. On a biz trip I routed via PHL. Big mistake.

    • Mikeact says:
      10 Aug10 August 08:58

      Try March, and drive over to Lancaster County…heart of the Amish community for a different experience.

  • Michael White says:
    10 Aug10 August 09:30

    So what is the best use/value of points out of Dublin?

  • ChrisBCN says:
    10 Aug10 August 10:03

    ‘They use the avios.com website, which is also used by Vueling Club members.’

    I don’t know why you always mention Vueling when talking about avios.com, it’s largely an irrelevance unless you want to move your avios to BAEC.

    The DEFAULT payment option for booking Vueling through their app is now whatever avios miles you have – you have to click away to pay by card, and if you are not careful you have used your avios at their terrible rate, and topped up with cash. Just one of the scummy practices they have added in the last few weeks.

    • Rob says:
      10 Aug10 August 10:33

      Hadn’t seen that, thanks.

    • Red Flyer says:
      10 Aug10 August 12:06

      Not always – I used just that route to book MAN-DUB return this coming week. Avios was 9000 plus £51 instead of 9000 plus £93 on BA.com.

  • iamfugly says:
    10 Aug10 August 10:51

    Is it just me…I have never been able to setup an AerClub profile?
    I contact Aer Lingus (a number of times) and they in turn fob me off to contact Avios (who I contact a number of times) who never respond.

    • TooPoorToBeHere says:
      10 Aug10 August 11:47

      I was also in this boat and also had unhelpful (and quite slow) responses from Aer Lingus.

      I *think* the problem is that if you have used an email address with Aer Lingus before – either to attempt to create an account/profile, or just for a booking, then account creation fails. I think any use of an email address with the site generates an account on their back-end, and if AerClub wasn’t immediately set up then it can’t be done afterwards.

      In one of the failed attempts to help, they claimed to have removed my account so that I could re-create – but it still didn’t work.

      I fixed it by using a new email address. I then found that it was impossible to link BA and EI accounts at avios.com unless both used the same address – but amazingly (!) the “change my email address” function at ba.com worked, so I was able to set both to the same address and can now associate them at avios.com and transfer between them.

      • iamfugly says:
        10 Aug10 August 18:11

        TooPoor: I think you are right. I managed the same; to set up an account with a different email address to one I had used to set up an Aer Lingus account previously. But as like yourself discovered it was not possible to link my Avios as the emails had to match. I did not think to change my Avios email (so gold star for you!), nor do I particularly want to but it appears I may have no choice. Thanks for raising this workaround. Much appreciated.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 80,000 bonus points (worth 80,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card (Offer ends 27th May)

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 30,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold (ends 27th May)

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!