Aer Lingus is resuming non-stop flights to Miami (Business Class awards available)

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Aer Lingus has announced that it plans to restart non-stop flights between Dublin and Miami later this year and as long as this plan isn’t upended by an unexpected turn of events courtesy of the coronavirus, this should be good news for fans of Avios who have been burned by the latest British Airways devaluation.

The Aer Lingus Dublin – Miami route

Aer Lingus has confirmed that it will restart its Dublin – Miami service on 21 October 2022 with three flights per week operating between the two cities from 29 October 2022.

This is what the schedule looks like at the time of writing:

EI141 DUB 15:30 – 19:45 MIA (Wed, Fri & Sun)
EI140 MIA 22:00 – 11:15+1 day DUB (Wed, Fri & Sun)

Aer Lingus will be operating this route using its Airbus A330-300 aircraft which offer 30 Business Class seats…

…and 287 Economy Class seats with the Business Class cabin looking something like this:

These Business Class seats may not be as impressive as the new Club Suite that you’ll find on select British Airways aircraft but as I’ll show in a moment, they represent a considerably more economical way to travel between Europe and Miami if you’re using Avios to pay for your fare.

Business Class awards are available (and offer value)

At the time of writing, Business Class awards are available on this route with Aer Lingus charging 125,000 Avios + £246.50 (~$335) for a roundtrip booking in October/November…

…and that looks like pretty good value when you compare it to the 125,000 Avios + £788.90 that British Airways is charging for roundtrip travel between London and Miami during its off-peak season.

Yes, if you’re based in or near London and not Dublin, you will have to factor in the cost and inconvenience of roundtrip travel between the two cities, but as each passenger would be saving approximately £542/$737 on the Business Class flight, I suspect that may be an added cost and inconvenience that a lot of people will be happy to swallow.

Also, it’s worth keeping in mind that while the surcharges that Aer Lingus charges are pretty much the same regardless of whether you’re originating in Dublin or Miami, British Airways charges utterly farcical surcharges for anyone originating in the US.

Here’s the cost of a British Airways off-peak roundtrip Business Class award originating in Miami and landing at Heathrow:

And here’s what Aer Lingus will charge on its route between Miami and Dublin:

A passenger would save well over £1,000 (~$1,360) by choosing the Aer Lingus + Dublin option over the British Airways + London option.

Even if you only want to fly one-way, there’s a significant difference in the surcharges.

British Airways will charge 62,500 Avios + £537/$730 for an off-peak one-way Business Class award between Miami and London…

…while Aer Lingus will charge 62,500 Avios + £112 ($152) for an off-peak one-way Business Class award between Miami and London:

That’s a difference of £425/$578 per person so if you don’t mind flying into Dublin rather than London, why would you book with British Airways?

Bottom line

Aer Lingus has announced that it will restart its Dublin – Miami route from October 2022 and that signals the return of a route on which it’s possible to get good value out of any Avios that readers may have. Considering what we’ve seen BA do with its surcharges over the past few days, this will be welcome news to many.