Call it the luck of the Irish: We found your best bet to get over to Europe this summer (or all year long, really) in lie-flat business class seats.
Heading to Europe in the thick of summer is pricey, especially flying business class – and even with a mountain of points, finding the award availability to book those seats with miles is typically tough. Not anymore.
We sent our Thrifty Traveler Premium members not one but two alerts this week, unearthing a boatload of chances to book Aer Lingus business class this summer straight into Dublin (DUB), Shannon (SNN), and even Manchester (MAN) over in England. And not from just one or two U.S. cities – it's bookable from airports across the country: Big airports like New York City (JFK) and Chicago-O'Hare (ORD), West Coast hubs like San Francisco (SFO) and Los Angeles (LAX), and even the returning route from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP)!
And you can book these lie-flat seats for just 60,000 points apiece (or even less!) – with award space for two or even four passengers all summer, fall, and into 2025! Just transfer your credit card points, book, and you'll be on the Emerald Isle this summer before you know it!
Get award alerts to use your miles like this one with Thrifty Traveler Premium!
This kind of nationwide, business class availability is unprecedented over the busy (and expensive) summer travel season, when airlines prefer to sell seats for top dollar. Thrifty Traveler Premium members got first dibs on this amazing deal earlier this week, so some peak summer dates have already been gobbled up.
But there's still plenty available to book a trip to Dublin in style in 2024 or early 2025. And from coast to coast and even up into Canada, there are plenty of departure cities to pick from. Keep reading for the full list!
See all these dates with flights available for 88,000 United miles each way from Chicago? Yeah, that's how easy it is to book business class for two or more passengers … in July, no less! And you can book these same flights for even fewer miles than what United is charging.
The easiest way for most travelers to book is using Avios from either British Airways or Aer Lingus itself. Both carriers charge just 50,000 miles each way during the off-peak season or 60,000 miles during the peak summer on most routes – check Aer Lingus's calendar for a breakdown. In most cases, you'll pay roughly $150 or less each way in taxes and fees.
Getting the miles you need is a cinch, too. British Airways is a a Chase transfer partner, Amex transfer partner, Capital One transfer partner, and a Bilt Rewards transfer partner, too. That means as few as 50,000 points from the *chase sapphire preferred*, *venture x*, or the *amex gold* is all you need.
After years of forcing members to book award tickets through a finicky, independent website, Aer Lingus finally has its own booking engine, too. The two airlines generally charge identical rates, with a few exceptions for West Coast residents and Orlando (MCO) where you might want to book via Aer Lingus.
Get more deals like this to use your points and miles with Thrifty Traveler Premium!
If you're flush with Alaska Mileage Plan miles, the price can get even better. Alaska currently charges as few as 45,000 miles each way from cities like Boston (BOS), New York City (JFK), Toronto (YYZ), and Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD). It's a bit more at 55,000 miles each way from the Midwest and more still from the West Coast.
Best of all, Alaska charges just $19 in taxes and fees for the one-way to Dublin – and $55 on the way home from Ireland!
But the best deal of all might be flying from the West Coast to Dublin or Orlando (MCO) to Manchester (MAN) – in peak summer, too. Thanks to an inexplicable pricing quirk, you can book those long-haul flights in June, July, and August for just 47,000 miles and $160 by booking with British Airways!
Head spinning with all these options? We don't blame you. That's the beauty of our Thrifty Traveler Premium alerts: We do all the legwork for you, finding this rare award space and walking you through the best ways to book.
Aer Lingus business class isn't the fanciest you'll find crossing the Atlantic Ocean, but there's no better way to fly nonstop to Dublin no matter when you're going. The seats are plenty comfortable – especially if you snag one of the so-called “throne seats” with more privacy and an incredible amount of storage space. Everything from the service to the meals to the snacks is cheekily Irish, and I mean that in the best way possible.
Whether you fly on a narrowbody Airbus A321 or one of Aer Lingus's huge Airbus A330s, the setup looks more or less like this.
Plus, the food is great and the service is quintessentially (and cheeky) Irish … in the best way possible!
Read our full review of Aer Lingus business class!
How to Book Aer Lingus Business Class
Aer Lingus is a bit of an oddball in the world of airlines and points and miles. It's not part of one of the big airline alliances … and yet it's owned by the same conglomerate that runs British Airways. Plus, it's got a handful of one-off partnerships with other airlines.
And that's a win for travelers looking to redeem some miles for a seat in Aer Lingus business class. There are plenty of options to book, including:
- You can book using as few as just 45,000 Alaska Mileage Plan miles each way, though those miles aren't exactly the easiest to earn
- United MileagePlus miles are an option, and the airline charges roughly 88,000 miles each way (give or take a few thousand). United is a Chase transfer partner, so points from cards like the *chase sapphire preferred* are all you need.
- You could use Aer Lingus Avios, naturally, for 50,000 points each way throughout much of the year or 60,000 points over peak summer and holidays. Same goes with British Airways Avios, which now typically charges identical rates and taxes … with a few exceptions, so it might make sense to compare the two on your flights.
No matter which airline program you're using or which route you're looking for, the best site to find award availability for Aer Lingus is easily United.com. Use the workaround to pull up United's old award search tool so you can see a full month of availability on the nonstops.
That's invaluable to help you pinpoint exactly which days this summer you can book the resuming nonstop from Minneapolis to Dublin in business class.
With this much award space bookable from nearly a dozen cities, you shouldn't need to search to hard. Once you've decided when you're going to Dublin and found what you want through United, plug in your route with Aer Lingus, British Airways, or Alaska Airlines to book.
If you're using Avios, whether you pay 50,000 miles or 60,000 miles each way depends on when you're heading for the Emerald Isle:
- You can book off-peak flights for 50,000 miles for travel from April 8 through June 6, then again from Sept. 2 all the way into mid-December!
- Aer Lingus and British Airways typically charge 60,000 miles each way during the peak summer from June 7 through Sept. 1, plus this late March through early April period and again heading into the winter holidays.
Departure Cities
This excellent availability varies from city to city – and some of it has already been grabbed up by our Thrifty Traveler Premium members who got alerts days ago. But you should still be able to find Aer Lingus business class seats to and from…
- Boston (BOS)
- Chicago-O'Hare (ORD)
- Hartford (BDL)
- Los Angeles (LAX)
- Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP)
- New York City (JFK)
- Newark (EWR)
- Orlando (MCO)
- Philadelphia (PHL)
- San Francisco (SFO)
- Toronto (YYZ)
- Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD)
Bottom Line
Even if you've got 1 million miles or more, finding business class seats over to Europe that you can actually book can be a tall task – especially for a summer trip. That's what makes this Aer Lingus business class availability so spectacular.
A chance to fly to Ireland all summer and fall in lie-flat business class? From several U.S. cities … and even Canada? And it'll cost you just 50,000 to 60,000 points and a few hundred bucks in fees … or maybe far less? You can't beat that.
Did Aer Lingus remove all of their award inventory from United??
Did Aer Lingus remove all of their award inventory from United??
What is the best way to book non-stop from SFO to DUB with Avios? We don’t want to do a positioning flight – we’d like to just fly straight from the west coast over.
There’s an added bonus to using Alaskan Airlines to do this: they allow a long stop in Dublin and then the ability to continue on for the same amount of miles, IE Seattle to Dublin, stay 4 days, then head on to Madrid… All for 60,000 miles business class
Traveled to Scotland last summer on Aer Lingus, they lost our golf clubs for two days and refused to reimburse for added expenses (balls, gloves, shoes etc) NO customer service… Business Class was definitely on the cheap. Heineken was the only beer on board, must have been on sale at a convenience store by the airport. My advice, don’t book it if you want to have a pleasant trip!!
Hi Kyle,
Looking at your comments in this article that “Our Thrifty Traveler Premium+ members got first dibs on this amazing deal last week, so some peak summer dates have disappeared” and “That’s what makes this deal we sent to Thrifty Traveler Premium+ members last week so great” …..What date did this original email alert you reference go out to “Thrifty Traveler Premium+ members last week”, as I’m a subscriber, was watching for an award offer on Air Lingus like a hawk, can find no record of getting any such email “last week”, even checked my spam folder, and I’ve “All NYC Airports” selected as my airport option on my Thrifty Traveler Premium+ membership! Thanks !!!
Hey Robert, shoot our support team an email at [email protected] – we’ll help you get to the bottom of this!
same. I have the Premium membership and I didn’t get the email either. Disappointing. I will still see if it is possible to snag one, but what a bummer.
Hi Kendra, please shoot our support team an email at [email protected] – we’ll make sure we get this fixed ASAP.
I flew Aer Lingus DUB-ORD a few weeks ago. I think we got a coke and no meal the entire trip. Add in a broken monitor to complete the experience and I’d say I’ll pass to trying their business class. Of course Delta replicated the customer service on my LIR-MSP non-stop a few weeks later, however the monitor did work so I could take my mind off my rumbling stomach.