The Aer Lingus AerClub 50% bonus on purchasing Avios is back, after last being run in June 2023 and November 2023. This is where you purchase frequent flyer points for your account and then have them available to redeem for award flights.
For quite some time I thought these offers were pretty worthless until that time when I saw the light. I topped up my account with a bunch of Avios and booked first and business class tickets to Australia. The saving over the straight airline ticket price was pretty substantial.
Purchasing Avios
It must be pointed out that the airlines run the bonus Avios promotion relatively frequently. Back in March 2023, Aer Lingus offered a 45% bonus for a few days. When it ended British Airways did the same, offering a 40% bonus.
These bonus periods pop up three or four times a year and 50% seems to be the best you’ll get. It should go without saying never to buy Avios during the periods when the extra points are not being offered.
You can go purchasing Avios on the website here. You will need to have an Aer Lingus AerClub account (obviously) to do this.
Remember You Can Transfer Avios
Some of the Irish airline’s frequent flyers lament the lack of award space being offered to them. You should remember that you can transfer Avios points from Aer Lingus to British Airways and Iberia, and from British Airways to Qatar Airways. All use Avios as the currency and all you need is to have an account in the other programmes.
Overall Thoughts
Purchasing Avios during the promotion to get the bonus is a good strategy, especially if you know what flights you want to book. My advice is to check award space for the dates you want first. When you find seats available, check how many Avios they require to book. Next, check the cash price for the same flights. Once you’ve done all that, check the cost to buy Avios and see if you make a saving by buying points and then booking a reward flight.
In case you’re wondering, when you make your purchase, the points land in your account pretty much instantly. Transferring the points – officially “Combine My Avios” – also works instantly, in my experience.
Last year, I paid about €1,200 for return flights in business class on Qatar Airways from Dublin to Doha and back. How? I bought the points and redeemed them. That ticket was €4,600 return buying it the normal way with cash on the website… need I say more?
Will you be buying Avios in this sale? Have you ever bought them before and if so, did you make a big saving? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image via Aer Lingus.
