Aer Lingus Business Class For 4 (Summer 2022)
If you're looking for a trip to Europe this summer, this one is a great opportunity to book 4 people in business class to Dublin and beyond. Below, I'll talk about how you can book one-way for 47,000 points or round-trip for 93,000 points.
Now, let's get into it!
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Straight To The Points:
Routes: IAD/PHL/SEA-DUB
Operating airline: Aer Lingus
Class of service: Business class
Dates: July - August 2022
Seats available: 4
Cabin layout:
- A330: 1-2-1/2-2-1
- A321LR: 1-1/2-2
Book with (per person, one-way):
- Alaska Mileage Plan: 60,000 miles
- Aer Lingus:
- SEA: 75,000 Avios
- IAD: 60,000 Avios
- British Airways Executive Club:
- SEA: 75,000 Avios
- IAD/PHL: 60,000 Avios
- *United MileagePlus: 82,000 miles
- 85,500 miles within 21 days of departure
*No surcharges
Taxes/fees (per person):
- One-way: $5.60 (~$140 via Avios)
- Round-trip: ~$44 (~$310 via Avios)
- Surcharges:
- One-way: ~$720
- Round-trip: ~$1,440
- Alaska Partner Booking Fee: $12.50 one-way, $25 round-trip
Bank transfer partners:
- Alaska Mileage Plan: Marriott
- Aer Lingus: Amex, Capital One, Chase, Marriott
- British Airways: Amex, Capital One, Chase, Citi (via Qatar), Marriott
- Chase: 30% transfer bonus through July 31, 2022
- United MileagePlus: Bilt, Chase, Marriott
Don't forget to let me know if you book and how you did it!
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DISCLAIMER: Please be aware that the COVID-19 situation and the resulting travel restrictions that could prevent you from traveling. Make sure you understand the cancellation/redeposit/change fees before booking.
Travel Restrictions and Requirements
Please see the US Embassy's Ireland site for any updates.
Flight Experience
On the A330, the business class cabin has a combo 1-2-1 and 2-2-1 layout. Seats 3K and 5K are the best as they're throne seats which provide the most privacy and space. If you're traveling solo and can't get one of those, Row A is your best option to sit by yourself. For couples, the middle section will allow you to sit together and both have direct aisle access.
The A321LR cabin is arranged in 1-1/2-2 layout. Seats 3A, 3K, 5A, and 5K are solo seats that offer maximum privacy while the other rows allow couples to sit next to each other. For reference, it's the same layout as the older JetBlue Mint product.
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Available Dates
SEA-DUB (A330)
July: 9, 11, 12, 14-16, 18, 19, 21, 23, 25, 30
August: 1, 2, 4-6, 8, 9, 11-13, 15, 16, 18, 22, 23, 25
DUB-SEA
August: 9, 12, 13, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 29, 30
IAD-DUB (A321)
July: 4, 5, 7, 10-14, 17-19, 21-31
August: 2-31
DUB-IAD
July: 3, 5-8, 20
August: 1, 3, 5, 6, 8-11, 13, 16-31
PHL-DUB (A321)
July: 5, 6, 8, 9, 10-14, 16, 17, 19-21, 23, 24, 26-28, 30, 31
August: 26, 29
DUB-PHL
July: 7
August: 18, 30
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Best Ways To Book
Alaska Mileage Plan: Great Option, Tough To Earn
Alaska miles are a great way to book if you have them (or a ton of Marriott points). However, as they're hard to earn, I expect using Avios or United miles will be the preferred option for most people.
Aer Lingus AerClub: Great Option With Some Quirks
With the Chase 30% transfer bonus to British Airways, this is an even better option than usual. You can book one-way with 47,000 Chase points or round-trip with 93,000 Chase points. You can move BA Avios to your Avios account from the BA site and you'll want to do this.
Booking on the British Airways site will require steep surcharges. To use Avios, you'll want to use Avios and log into your Aer Lingus account. You can keep the taxes/fees to ~$140 on the outbound and ~$310 on the round-trip by booking on Avios.
This is still a solid option if you have Amex, Capital One, or Citi points but Chase points provide the best option with the transfer bonus. If you want to use Citi points, you'll need to transfer to Qatar then combine into your BA account before moving them to your Avios account. It's a bit tedious but it works.
United MileagePlus: More Points, Lower Taxes/Fees
If you'd prefer to use more Chase points and save some cash, United is your best bet. With the transfer bonus to British Airways, the difference in points required is too large for the lower cash portion to be a factor, in my opinion.
If you have Bilt points, United is the only option.
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How To Book
You can use United or Alaska's site to run a calendar search and see your options. Here's how to run the search with United:
- From United's homepage, select Advanced search
- Choose to show price in miles
- Enter the origin & destination
- Select your dates or choose Flexible dates and choose a month
- Select nonstop
- Select the number of passengers
- Select Business
- Show flights from "Star Alliance airlines"
- Run the search
- Transfer points (if necessary)
- Log into your account
- Run the search again
- Complete the booking
Once you know the exact dates you want, you can run the search with the program you'll be using to book. As always, I recommend confirming the program you're using sees the award space before you transfer points.
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Bottom Line
Finding business class award space for 4+ people is always fun. However, when you consider how tight award space has been recently, this really is a great opportunity to visit Europe this summer!
Happy Booking!
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