Earning Avios in the Aer Lingus AerClub can be a difficult experience at times. There is no longer any supermarket earning partner in Ireland and there is also no minimum earn on flights.
This means you sometimes earn a very small amount of points indeed, which makes those reward flights just that much harder to get. That is a disincentive as far as I am concerned and things could be better.
How Low Can You Go?
Currently you earn 3 Avios per Euro spent with Aer Lingus. That means if you spend €99 for example, you will end up with a grand total of 298 Avios on the other side.
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- A €99 spend in total.
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- 298 Avios for you.
Now that is actually quite good, as I have actually earned zero on certain flights in the past. It seems some of the more onerous terms and conditions have been removed, where Avios were only earned on the fare component and a couple of fare buckets were excluded completely. That’s a good thing!
Minimum Avios Please
In my example above, I was on an AerSpace fare, which is the business class premium economy product on European flights. That is I class and over at British Airways I would have earned a minimum of 750 Avios for that fare bucket.
Looking at the lowest fares on the Irish airline, €45.29 seems to be one of the cheapest. That’s 136 Avios, but something more generous might be putting in a minimum of 250 Avios or 300 Avios. That way all those on the best fares have a shot at actually accumulating enough points to use someday.
Overall Thoughts
While other airlines do a minimum amount of frequent flyer points earning, there are also those that don’t. I think if you are trying to achieve a goal, you need to be incentivised to do so and making it seem difficult really does turn people off.
Perhaps another idea, instead of using a floor amount, is to offer a bonus for those buying higher fares. Members of the AerClub who are Green, Silver or Concierge earn 25%, 50% and 75% more Avios on flights. Perhaps those purchasing a Plus, Advantage or AerSpace fare on European flights could get a bonus of 10%, 15% and 20% on their Avios? Someone should run the numbers on that.
Do you think Aer Lingus should have a minimum number of AerClub points earned when flying? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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The points accuel system is seriously broken and I agree with you that there should be minimum amount. I have experienced booking Biz class and getting a lot les than I expected, and when I queried it, was told that the fare class I booked did not give any more points, and therein lies a huge problem, when people are booking flights, you really only discover your fare class at the end of the purchase … it should be upfront and the customer should see it clearly. Each fare class should show the points etc that will be earned and… Read more »
That is definitely an IT issue, where it doesn’t show the amount of points you will earn. I know at British Airways it shows the Avios and Tier Points in Manage Booking after you’ve booked, but it doesn’t show it on the fly. I think perhaps nowadays the fare class issue you mention is gone, because it doesn’t mention them at all on the website anymore, whereas it used to specify which ones earned less. I agree the credit card market here is not really geared towards things. I used to have a Bank of Ireland Gold Visa card through… Read more »
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EI only have aerclub because they feel they need to have some sort of programme. They have no interest in doing more than the bare minimum, so I cannot see them bringing in a minimum miles concept. In the unimaginative eyes of the EI bean counters, AerClub is a cost center rather than a revenue stream
I am not sure about that actually, I think there is an appetite to keep it appealing, as evidenced by the changes since it launched. It’s actually better than it originally was when it comes to flight earning. The big issue, I suppose, is that anyone who actually wants to earn Avios properly in Ireland is a member of the BA Executive Club because of all the oneworld partners and so on. AerClub has potential but it’s not really being marketed very well. While Ireland is smaller, they should look to Australia where Qantas Frequent Flyer routinely brings in several… Read more »