Where is the best place to credit Aer Lingus flights in the oneworld alliance?

Aer Lingus is not a member of the oneworld alliance, having left in 2007. There are still frequent flyer agreements in place with a couple of the airlines, so I was curious where the best place to credit flights was.

Frequent flyers in Ireland have been impatiently waiting for the airline to rejoin the alliance in some capacity, yet there has been no movement in this area. Perhaps we will see something happening soon, but perhaps not.

Best Place To Credit Aer Lingus Flights

You might think the British Airways Executive Club is the best place to credit Aer Lingus flights. After all, the two airlines are owned by the same company and they have a close relationship spanning many years. Sadly, this is not the case.

Economy class earning is very poor, with only L, S, R, W, Y, M and N being eligible. Now lets compare that with another oneworld carrier, Alaska Airlines. Members of their Mileage Plan programme earn points on virtually every Aer Lingus fare. I was quite frankly gobsmacked when I came across this table. There is a whole range of fare buckets earning points that are not included for members of the British Airways programme.

Overall Thoughts

Having had a look around, Alaska Airlines and British Airways are the only two oneworld alliance airlines where flying Aer Lingus allows you to earn points. None of the others seem to have an agreement with the Irish airline.

Since Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan offers far more opportunities for earning, you might want to credit your points there. That is perhaps not great for people in Europe, but those people really should just credit the flights to the AerClub.

Full participation of the Dublin based airline in the oneworld transatlantic joint venture is coming soon. Perhaps at that point we will see an increased range of earning opportunities on the airlines involved.

What do you think of the fact the best place to credit is Alaska Airlines and not British Airways? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by Mark Bess on Flickr via Wikimedia Commons.