[PatJordan]

Some time ago, I mentioned that Aer Lingus extended Aer Club membership levels at pre-covid levels.

Due to a number of issues in the aftermath of the pandemic, I have travelled very little. However normality has returned to the Jordan household, and Mrs.J & I are making plans for a number of trips.

To this end, I enquired from Aer Lingus whether my two Transatlantic upgrades were still available, and indeed they were!

With that in mind, I booked return flights to New York, paying for mine, and using the vouchers for Mrs.J.

Within a very short time, confirmation was received that the upgrades were in place.

So despite not having set foot on Aer Lingus metal since pre-covid times all my tier benefits were retained. Yes, I am looing through rose tinted glasses as I write this, but surely it is only right to highlight my great experience.

Next month, I am going to LHR on an Airbus A320 Neo, and will report on the trip.

A big thank you to all at Aer Lingus.

Safe travels everyone!

5 users thanked author for this post.

cwoodward, Jacob, AndrewinHK, fqtvgla, Ekond222

[cwoodward]

Its good to read that the Jordan’s are on the move again Pat. I have missed your informative posts over the past months.

Its interesting that Aer Lingus appears to be so well run and its stable mate BA seeming to be so very poor. There seems no reason why it is so poorly run and seemingly delivers such a poor product (at least short haul) and service to is club members.

Fortunately my local airline Cathay has also done a decent job of looking after its Club members while doing the hard yards of recovering from that horrendous two and a half year lockdown.

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JonathanCohen09, MartynSinclair, PatJordan

[Jacobwhite]

That is great to hear, thank you for your post

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PatJordan

[TominScotland]

cwoodward, not ALL things BA are that bleak!! I have just had my Gold status renewed for a year, despite attaining less that 1,000 Tier Points in the past year (requirement is normally 1,500).

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PatJordan

[cwoodward]

Tom I am honestly pleased that you enjoy and are happy flying BA and perhaps you would be in the majority if it were a better run airline.

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PatJordan

[AlanOrton1]

Good result Pat and well done to Aer Lingus on this approach.

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PatJordan

[TominScotland]

cwoodward, thanks for your endorsement!! Living in Scotland, I fly BA when it suits, more often going east, it is Qatar from Edinburgh.

As an example of the benefits of BA loyalty and value to me, I have just booked a day return GLA-LHR for £70, giving me a full working day in London. For that as a Gold status holder, I get all the benefits of reasonable lounges, a good breakfast in the BA Lounge in Glasgow and a very decent dinner prior to my return in the First Lounge in T5. This is marginally more than Easyjet but with rather better value connections from airport to city.

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Ekond222, PatJordan, cybertravller

[PatJordan]

Tom, a day return for £70 is great value, and a full working day in London is something I doubt you’d achieve by any other mode of transport.

Factoring in your Gold Status benefits, taking this route is really a no-brainer!

Safe travels everyone,

Pat

[SwissExPat]

Good to hear Pat,

I recently needed to get to the West of Ireland (SNN or Knock) for a family event.

Options from Switzerland were pricey so I looked to use Avios which I did.

I was able to buy (cash) a Trip departing switzerland with BA via LHR to SNN (but this was very pricey). Note baggage would have been through checked.

I attempted to get the same flights via avios (throug ticketing) and the BAEC site showed this as available but chen clicking through to make the booking, I got the message that “there is a problem”). Repeat attenpts failed

In the end I bought 2 split tickets usig avios (for the same flights as above) which had a 3 hour layover in LHR (T5-T2).

Despite the BAEC booking screen of the EI sector indicating that I had a baggage allowance (as is the case for all Avios bookings with BA [on BA metal]), afterwards checking my booking on the EI website using the booking reference number, I learned that I had NO Baggage allowance. Worse was that, any BA Avios booking on EI is made on the SUPER SAVER lowest tarrif so that not only did I not have a checked baggage allowance, I was not even entitled to a carry on Bag. As you might know, I can bring a Stroller bag plus a personal item but the STROLLER needs to be checked in!!!!!! (and all the wait that this entails (at both ends)).

Lesson learned is that a BA avios booking comes with a baggage allowance (1 checked and more if you are Silver or more)on a BA plane but on EI metal, you get no checked baggage and have to check in your main hand baggage item. Of course, none of this is mentioned when making the booking.

I and Mrs ExPat made the journey suffessfully with “Personal item luggage” only.

The LHR-SNN leg was quite grim. The seats pockets have been covered over on this Aircraft and the pitch mus have been an industry minimum and no in seat charging. Only upside was that it landed us close to our destination.

The return leg was from DUB with Swiss and even in Y, the general feel (in an A220) was like night and day (Water and chocolates were free!).

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PatJordan

[onajetplane]

SwissExPat – Appreciate your frustration, but despite what the Aer Lingus website shows for an BA Avios booking, you do actually get 23kg baggage included. I have done this on many occasions. A few times I have been queried at check-in, but someone in the know has always swooped in and pointed out that my ticket number is a BA ticket number and thus 23kg is included. Its definitely a failing/error on the part of BA to not have flagged this to Aer Lingus as it seems like an on-going and recurring issue, but the BA Avios email confirmation will show baggage included at the time of booking. I have always found that even if initially queried, Aer Lingus will always uphold and honour the 23kg. Free seat selection in advance however is another story!

[SwissExPat]

Thanks @OnAJetPlane

If only I had known!

My main worry was having to check in my handluggage. This is quite a major disincentive to purchasing their Lowest fare since it addes another set of variables to the start and end of the journey.

I will print out the BA booking data next time.

All the above suggests that BA and EI are destined to remain very separate companies.

I will be flying EI transatlantic next month (in J on the A321neo in a throne seat) so will report back.

3 users thanked author for this post.

cwoodward, PatJordan, onajetplane

[PatJordan]

Hi SwissExPat,

I’ve just had the pleasure of a throne on DUB-LHR: an A321 Neo flies EI 154.

It was really comfortable, and I have no doubt it will be more so long haul. I added a report on the forum, if you care to have a look at it.

Do let us know how you find the long haul experience!

[Author]

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