How does the Aer Lingus travel earlier than scheduled Concierge benefit work?

Aer Lingus AerClub Concierge members are pretty spoiled for all their flying. Not only do they get four free upgrade coupons and a companion ticket each year, they can also elect to travel earlier than scheduled at no additional cost.

This is a real benefit on routes where the Irish airline operates multiple flights per day. Destinations with multiple frequencies include New York, Boston, Chicago, London Heathrow, Amsterdam, Paris and many more.

Travel Earlier Than Scheduled

According to the Aer Lingus website, “As a Concierge Member you can request to travel earlier than scheduled on the same route and date of the original booking within 24 hours of date of travel free of charge subject to availability.”

This means you need to contact the airline the day before you’re due to travel or on the day of travel and switch the flight over. The verbiage on the website specifically mentions that it is not possible in the lounges or at the boarding gate.

Naturally this means a telephone call to the airline or contacting via Social Media. Since Concierge members have their own dedicated phone number, that would be the quickest and most efficient way to do it.

Since flight prices generally increase the closer it is to travel day, this can result in substantial cash savings. I think the intention is to assist frequent flyers who might have a meeting end early so they can get home faster.

Overall Thoughts

I know I’d be happy to travel earlier instead of waiting around in an Aer Lingus lounge. In fact, I’d prefer it to waiting around in most lounges. What a shame I don’t have the kind of cash to reach Concierge!

When travelling with hand baggage, I have occasionally been offered a move to an earlier flight by the Aer Lingus lounge staff. That is different though and seems to be their method of freeing up space on certain busy flights.

What do you think of this Concierge benefit? Have you ever used it before and if so, how much did you save? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by Mitchul Hope on Flickr via Wikimedia Commons.