Aer Lingus joined the oneworld Transatlantic Joint Business and things are finally beginning to happen. American Airlines announced that they have started a codeshare agreement with the Irish airline.
This means that passengers of both airlines have access to more destinations in the United States, Ireland and Europe. What it means for frequent flyers is less clear.
AA and EI Started A Codeshare
According to the American Airlines press release, the US airline will place its code on various flights. These are between Dublin and London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Amsterdam, Birmingham and Manchester.
In addition, they have started a codeshare on routes between London Heathrow and Ireland, specifically to Belfast City, Cork and Shannon. That would cover the whole network from LHR that Aer Lingus operates.
Passengers using Aer Lingus also have access to more destinations on American Airlines via Chicago O’Hare. You will be able to fly on a single ticket to and from Albuquerque, Nashville, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, San Jose and Tucson.
Aer Lingus is not a member of the oneworld alliance and no information about frequent flyer benefits has come out. Presumably you will be able to earn miles one way or another, but who knows how that will work. Time will tell.
Overall Thoughts
After Aer Lingus was dragged seemingly kicking and screaming into the Transatlantic Joint Business (which also includes British Airways, Iberia and Finnair) it’s good to see things actually happening. The Irish airline continues to have a relationship with United Airlines, including the ability to earn miles and points, so perhaps this has been the reason behind the slow implementation.
One would expect that the United Airlines agreement will lapse or expire at some stage, and I’d be curious about the Aer Lingus relationship with JetBlue as well. What will survive and what will not? Who knows.
What do you think of the fact that American Airlines and Aer Lingus have started a codeshare? Will you be likely to book onto these flights? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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This agreement seems to be like a good “first date” in the new AA/EI relationship. But they have a ways to go before they’re “knocking boots”, as it were. Maybe BA doesn’t want EI taking a large chunk of connecting traffic to Europe instead of themselves? Baby steps…
That’s a great way to describe it actually! 🙂 I don’t think BA would care, because EI traditionally target the UK regions, and now that it’s a joint venture, the money is pooled anyway. Not to mention BA is owned by the same people that own EI.
True enough, and down the road the money all flows to AA/IAG, but the way things are during “the mess”, BA may want to see more $$$ (don’t have a pound key!) flowing into BA via the Euro-connections. I may be wrong of course but in “normal” times you’re right, they probably wouldn’t care (as much). I always thought the IAG purchase of EI was a way to get a “third, soon fourth” runway at LHR. At the time, to me anyway, it seemed a no-brainer buy, with EI being much more connected to the UK regions than BA itself.… Read more »
Yes. It will be the same again, Aer Lingus have a new operator for Aer Lingus Regional and the previous network will be pretty much restored. Curious to see how everything plays out once the dust settles.