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Aer Lingus launches flights to Las Vegas, bookable with low taxes and 2-4-1 vouchers

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Aer Lingus has announced a new US route – Las Vegas!

This opens up a new option to spend Avios to Las Vegas, with the benefits of being able to connect from many UK regional airports and clearing US Customs & Immigration in Dublin.

Taxes and charges are also attractive, especially if you travel to Dublin on a separate ticket to reduce Air Passenger Duty.

Remember that British Airways American Express 2-4-1 companion vouchers can now be used on Aer Lingus.

Aer Lingus launches flights to Las Vegas

Here are the details:

  • Flights will start on 25th October
  • Services are due to end for the summer on 29th April 2025, although I suspect this is flexible if the route performs well
  • Flights will operate three days per week, on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
  • It will use an Airbus A330-300
  • Flights depart Dublin at 15.20, landing in Las Vegas at 17.50, which is convenient for connecting from the UK
  • The return flight leaves Las Vegas at 19.35, arriving in Dublin at 13.10 the following day

What’s Business Class like on Aer Lingus?

Rhys reviewed the Aer Lingus A330-300 seat and service here.

Whilst it’s not the most modern seat (no privacy doors here) it is perfectly pleasant. The best seats to get are the ‘throne’ seats, pictured below. These give you huge amounts of personal space of both sides and ensure that you don’t have a neighbour.

Aer Lingus launches flights to Las Vegas

How much are Avios flights?

In summary, 125,000 or 150,000 Avios plus around £250 for a return Business Class flight from Dublin.

If you have a British Airways American Express companion voucher, you’d pay 125,000 or 150,000 Avios plus around £500 in total for TWO people.

IMPORTANT: As of last night, Avios tickets were not available even though cash tickets were bookable. This may or may not have changed overnight.

Las Vegas has the same pricing as other West Coast services:

Dublin to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, San Francisco, Seattle:

  • Economy (off peak): 16,250 Avios each way
  • Economy (peak): 25,000 Avios each way
  • Business (off peak): 62,500 Avios each way
  • Business (peak): 75,000 Avios each way

Following a recent IT upgrade, you can now redeem Avios for reward flights at aerlingus.com, as well as via ba.com – click to read.

To redeem at aerlingus.com, you need to open an Aer Lingus AerClub account and use ‘Combine My Avios’ at ba.com to move your Avios across. Transfers are instant, free and reversible.

Availability and additional charges should be identical across ba.com and aerlingus.com on long haul services. Availability did not match when the new Aer Lingus Avios website launched but the team was hoping to iron out the bugs quickly. It is still worth checking both ba.com and aerlingus.com just in case.

The taxes and charges on a RETURN Business Class flight from Dublin to Las Vegas should be around £250 when tickets are available, assuming they are not live this morning.

This pricing assumes that you travel from the UK to Dublin on a separate ticket to avoid triggering long haul premium cabin Air Passenger Duty, which is now approaching £200.

Aer Lingus launches flights to Las Vegas

You can also upgrade using Avios

Another option is to buy a cash ticket on Aer Lingus and upgrade it with Avios. Full details are in this HfP article.

Upgrades are fairly expensive for points but this is offset by the fact that even the cheapest cash Economy ticket is upgradable, as long as a Business Class reward seat is showing. Upgrade pricing is here.

Cash tickets now earn Avios and tier points in British Airways Executive Club

Remember that, following a recent change, Aer Lingus tickets now earn tier points in British Airways Executive Club as well as Avios.

Full details are in this HfP article.

Conclusion

It’s good to see Aer Lingus continuing to expand its network, even though a bit more variety (ie outside the USA!) would be welcome.

You can find out more, and check out cash pricing, on the Aer Lingus website here.

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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:

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

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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.

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Category

Aer Lingus and AerClub

Comments (47)

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

  • ukpolak says:
    22 May22 May 06:04

    “It will use an Airbus A300-300“

    I was tempted to take a look at tickets for the nostalgia factor, although later on refers to the A330 (I guess not quite as nostalgic)!

    I think my old man once flew to Vegas in a monarch (remember?) A300 as I seem to recall him bringing me back the yellow golden Wooster model.

    • Stu says:
      22 May22 May 07:26

      Flew on an Ariana Afghan A300 a few years back, a colleague told me it was an ex-Laker Airways plane. Think they’ve upgraded to the A310 since then.

    • Rhys says:
      22 May22 May 07:36

      Corrected!

  • JPK says:
    22 May22 May 06:28

    West coast services – Miami and Orlando!

  • John says:
    22 May22 May 06:39

    “ Remember that, following a recent change, Aer Lingus tickets now earn tier points in British Airways Executive Club as well as Avios.”

    Makes you wonder why anybody would provide EI with an AerClub number in preference to BAEC, as the former has no OW status regardless of the lofty tier you might reach.

    • Blair Waldorf Salad says:
      22 May22 May 11:08

      For the short haul benefits on EI. Many users of AerClub see real monetary value in the annual upgrade vouchers too. It doesn’t have to be an either/or between BAEC and AerClub. One can have status in both.

  • NorthernLass says:
    22 May22 May 06:45

    If you’re using a companion voucher don’t you have to book it on ba.com and pay BA’s surcharges?

    • Rob says:
      22 May22 May 07:39

      Yes

    • barry cutters says:
      22 May22 May 07:49

      Yes but BA charges are the same as EL

      • LittleNick says:
        22 May22 May 09:37

        EL used to be less than BA so EL have quietly increased their fees to bring into line with BA? Not so positive really is it

        • barry cutters says:
          22 May22 May 15:22

          Wasnt suggesting it was a +ve or -ve

          the question was – Do you have to book with BA if using a comp voucher?

          The answer is yes but it makes no difference as they are now aligned.

  • Gordon says:
    22 May22 May 06:53

    Better price than I paid LGW-LAS last April, 125,000 Avios and £1,629.04, direct,

    • NorthernLass says:
      22 May22 May 06:59

      Was that on BA? Sounds like you picked a poor value avios/cash combination. RFS pricing starts at 180k avios plus £450 return.

  • Mike says:
    22 May22 May 06:54

    I’ve never successfuly seen a single seat on EI in business class non-stop from DUB when searching via BAEC. I’ve looked 10 months out for ALL their US destinations and there is nothing, There are plenty of Economy seats but no Business. Am I
    doing something wrong or is there no point getting excited abour 2-4-1 on EI from DUB?

    • NorthernLass says:
      22 May22 May 07:03

      IIRC EI don’t guarantee any J seats, but another reader did report good availability (to BGI, I think) not long ago. They may just get snapped up on release, as well, which (again, I think), is at T-331.

    • Chris W says:
      22 May22 May 07:05

      There are some to the north east from time to time but I have never seen an Avios seat to the west Coast

    • CamFlyer says:
      22 May22 May 07:20

      I was looking at a North American trip for June, and saw EI availability in J from DUB on my route on some days (and lots of options from LHR via DUB).

    • Blair Waldorf Salad says:
      22 May22 May 11:10

      I’ve noted before here, AerClub elites get upgrade vouchers and can be waitlisted for when reward seats become available. It’s like an extreme form of how some airlines restrict access to reward inventory to alliance partners.

    • SamG says:
      22 May22 May 11:30

      I saw a blog post that they dropped a lot of availability for this summer recently

  • Thywillbedone says:
    22 May22 May 07:21

    Yet another North American destination from EI. Are the economics so bad flying east? I understand cargo considerations mean some routes east are less attractive for airlines …but come on EI, try going further east than Turkey and you might see what people actually want. Rant/

    • Rhys says:
      22 May22 May 07:35

      I think they probably have looked at the map and decided the USA – Ireland market IS where people actually want to go!

      • Froggee says:
        22 May22 May 07:48

        But what about the large percentage of ethnic Chinese who can trace their ancestry back to Ireland?

      • ADS says:
        22 May22 May 13:30

        indeed … which makes Rob’s conclusion surprising!

        “It’s good to see Aer Lingus continuing to expand its network, even though a bit more variety (ie outside the USA!) would be welcome.”

      • Thywillbedone says:
        22 May22 May 14:48

        Maybe, just maybe, they could serve both directions!

    • Chris W says:
      22 May22 May 07:43

      Lots of wealthy Americans of Irish descent too.

    • Soloflyer1977 says:
      22 May22 May 08:48

      Plus the ME3 and Turkish Airlines all fly from DUB to more than adequately cover the East and beyond!

      • CamFlyer says:
        22 May22 May 09:52

        Exactly — DUB is the furthest west European airline hub. EI can offer far more by offering one stop flights from Europe to secondary US cities on A321LR type aircraft than competing head to head on eastbound routes. BDL, MSP, et al, and one stop connections to hubs from regional UK and elsewhere.

        • CJD says:
          22 May22 May 12:03

          Dublin also has a competitive advantage in that it offers pre-clearance of US immigration prior to departure.

        • Thegasman says:
          22 May22 May 13:35

          Lisbon is 9.13 degrees W vs Dublin at 6.26 degrees if being pedantic but I agree with your sentiment.

    • Michael says:
      22 May22 May 13:32

      Until the new runway opened at DUB recently, there were limits on the ability to fly some of the longer routes including to the far east, especially off a wet runway (most days in Dublin).

  • Stephen says:
    22 May22 May 07:32

    As you’re departing from Dublin, do you pre – clear US immigration on the Vegas flight too?

    • Rob says:
      22 May22 May 07:38

      Yes

    • Travel Strong says:
      22 May22 May 14:10

      However it is of marginal benefit considering that UK flights to LAS land at a quiet time in to a quiet international terminal. Depart the plane swiftly and you enter a literally empty immigration hall.

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

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