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For transatlantic travelers, Aer Lingus can be a useful airline thanks to its route network (it operates to/from 12 US cities), thanks to its partnerships with American Airlines and British Airways, and thanks to the fact that it doesn’t usually charge heinous surcharges on award bookings.
This week, we’ve had some good news from Aer Lingus as we’re told that three new routes will launch this coming winter. All three routes are short-haul routes, all three will start in Dublin, and all three are to destinations that should be popular with people connecting from transatlantic flights.
New Aer Lingus routes for Winter 2024/25
One of the new destinations that Aer Lingus is adding is in North Africa while the other two are in Europe.
Marrakech (RAK)
Aer Lingus will launch flights between Dublin and Marrakech (Morocco) on 26 October 2024 and as things stand, this is what the schedule looks like:
EI708 DUB 10:15 – 17:05 RAK (Sat)
EI708 DUB 12:30 – 17:05 RAK (Tue & Thu)
EI709 RAK 15:40 – 18:20 DUB (Sat)
EI709 RAK 17:55 – 20:35 DUB (Tue & Thu)
The outbound timing will work for several Aer Lingus routes from North America, but with the airline’s west-bound flights all departing well before any of the inbound flights from Marrakech land in Dublin, anyone connecting to this route from the US will need to factor in an overnight stay in Dublin on the way back.
Per the current schedule, this route will be suspended from 30 March 2025 with the last flights taking off on 29 March 2025.
Malta (MLA)
From 25 October 2024 Aer Lingus will offer a new service between Dublin and Malta on the following schedule:
EI464 DUB 13:10 – 17:55 MLA (Tue, Thu & Sat)
EI465 MLA 18:45 – 21:50 DUB (Tue, Thu & Sat)
Once again, the outbound timing should work well for connections from several of Aer Lingus’ North America routes, but the late arrival into Dublin of the inbound flights from Malta means that customers returning to North America will need to book an overnight stop in Dublin.
Per the current schedule, this route will be suspended from 30 March 2025 with the last flights taking off on 29 March 2025.
Seville (SVQ)
Another new route to launch on 25 October 2025 is the route between Dublin and Seville (Spain), and it’s currently set to operate on the following schedule:
EI756 DUB 14:10 – 18:05 SVQ (Wed, Fri & Sun)
EI757 SVQ 18:45 – 20:45 DUB (Wed, Fri & Sun)
The news for connections from/to North America is the same for this route as it is for the other two with the outbound flight timings making it relatively easy to connect from most Aer Lingus easterly transatlantic flights, but the late arrival into Dublin of the inbound flight will force an overnight layover in the Irish capital.
Per the current schedule, this route will be suspended from 29 March 2025 with the last flights taking off on 28 March 2025.
The aircraft
All three of these new routes are currently set to be operated by Aer Lingus A320ceo aircraft which don’t offer a Business Class cabin (none of the airline’s short-haul flights offer a Business Class cabin) and on some routes feature 4 AerSpace seats in row 1 (the middle seat is blocked).
Based on the seat selection options I was given when looking at flights on all three routes, Aer Lingus doesn’t appear to be offering AerSpace seats to Marrakech, Malta or Seville (this may change), so the aircraft simply offer 174 Economy Class seats with most rows offering just 30″ of pitch (row 1 may offer a little more while the two exit rows will definitely offer more).
Seat selection costs
Aer Lingus offers three types of Economy Class fare on these routes, ‘saver’, ‘plus’, and ‘advantage’ …
… and while the ‘plus’ and ‘advantage’ fares offer free seat selection (to a degree), anyone booking a ‘saver’ fare will have to pay a fee if they don’t want the airline to assign them a seat at check-in.
For the Malta and Marrakech routes, these are the seat selection costs for ‘saver’ fares (it’s €4.99/€9.99/€12.99/€18.99/€21.99 on the Seville route):
Passengers booking ‘plus’ fares get free seat selection for ‘standard’, ‘standard+’, and ‘front’ seats at the time of booking but will have to pay €4.99/€5.99 for a preferred seat and €8.99/€9.99 for an extra legroom seat (prices are for one way travel).
Customers booking an ‘advantage’ fare can choose any seat free of extra charge at the time of booking.
Bookings
At this of writing, all three routes are bookable from Dublin or Seville/Malta/Marrakech, but the Aer Lingus booking engine is not yet recognising the new destination as option when you try to book a connecting itinerary.
I suspect a further update is required (possibly this weekend) before those options open up.
Where to credit the flights
Aer Lingus partners with several larger airlines, but I suspect the ones that will most interest TFM readers are Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, and United Airlines.
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan members can earn redeemable miles and elite qualifying miles on select Aer Lingus bookings based on the cabin in which they travel, and the distance traveled (see here for more details). They can also use their miles to book award travel on Aer Lingus.
American Airlines AAdvantage members can earn miles and Loyalty Points on select Aer Lingus bookings based on the price of the fare they book (see here for more details). They can also use their miles to book award travel on Aer Lingus.
British Airways Executive Club members can earn Avios and Tier on select Aer Lingus bookings based on the cabin in which they travel, and the distance traveled (members will have to check individual routes on the airline’s flight calculator to view potential earnings). They can also use their Avios to book award travel on Aer Lingus.
United Airlines MileagePlus members can earn redeemable miles and elite qualifying miles on select Aer Lingus bookings based on the cabin in which they travel, and the distance traveled (see here for more details). They can also use their miles to book award travel on Aer Lingus*.
*United and Aer Lingus ended their codeshare agreement in October 2023, but at the time of writing, they continue to offer reciprocal mileage earning and burning. This situation may change so make sure you check before you book.
Bottom line
Aer Lingus has announced that it will launch flights from Dublin to Marrakech, Malta and Seville this October with all tree routes currently scheduled to operate through the end of March.
With Aer Lingus having partnerships with several North American Airlines, these new routes could open up nice new options for award bookings or mileage earning for those of us based west of the Atlantic … although the flight timings on inbound flights will mean that an overnight stopover in Dublin will be required in at least on direction.
