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Aer Lingus has announced a new promotion in which it’s offering members of its AerClub (free to join) a 50% discount on the number of Avios needed to offset the cash element of any fare they book before the end of this weekend. Surprisingly, this may be a reasonable deal.
The promotion
Per Aer Lingus:
This weekend only, AerClub members can snag any flight booked on Aerlingus.com or on the Aer Lingus app for 50% less Avios. Book by this Sunday, 15 October 2023 for travel through 31 March 2024.
What is this about?
Forget reward flights. This promotion has nothing to do with those. This has everything to do with using Avios to pay for what would otherwise be a cash fare.
Aer Lingus allows members of its AerClub to use Avios in the place of cash to pay for their fares. Avios can be used to pay part or all of a fare and outside of promotions, this isn’t usually a good idea (you can get much better value out of your Avios elsewhere).
Through Sunday 15 October, however, the 50% discount that’s on offer will make a big difference and I’ll use the example that Aer Lingus has provided to show why.
“[A] €29.99 fare usually costs 4,725 Avios. However, during this flash sale, you can book that flight for just 2,365 Avios“.
€29.99 is currently equivalent to ~$31.55 or £25.90 and as you can see above, to offset that cost would ordinarily require 4,725 Avios and that would see an AerClub member getting €0.006/$0.0067/£0.0055 of value out of each Avios. That’s terrible.
Under this new promotion, however, €29.99/$31.55/£25.90 can now be offset with just 2,365 Avios and this would see an AerClub member getting approximately €0.013/$0.0013/£0.011 of value out of each Avios and that’s not too bad.
Ordinarily, I look to get at least $0.01 of value out of each Avios that I use (I often do a lot better) so mathematically, this is a good deal.
Personally, I wouldn’t use this promotion to book any fares I wasn’t planning to book already, but anyone with a small-ish Avios balance they have been struggling to use could use this promotion to good effect.
Also, because cash fares that have been paid for using Avios still earn Avios and Tier credits in the same way as a regular cash fare, this promotion could work well for anyone with a large Avios balance who needs a little help to earn/retain their elite status.
Note: Don’t forget that you can move Avios into AerClub from British Airways and Iberia, and as you can move Avios into BA from Qatar Airways, this offer should be easy to use for anyone who wanted to take part.
Key terms
- Options for any eligible flight will be shown automatically when you are logged in and have sufficient Avios in your AerClub account.
- Your discount options will depend on your Avios balance and the total cost of your journey.
- The 50% discount is only valid on bookings made between the 13 and 15 October 2023 on aerlingus.com and on the Aer Lingus app and for travel up to 13 March 2024.
- The 50% off discount will be applied directly on the portion of the flight paid with Avios, either partial or full redemption.
- Additional services acquired during the booking process are excluded and will have to be paid with your credit or debit card.
- Promotion is not valid in conjunction with other promotions.
- The price of your flight will adjust automatically based on your chosen discount and will include the 50% off the Avios amount.
Full terms and conditions can be found on the promotion page.
Bottom line
For the next couple of days, Aer Lingus is offering 50% off the cost of using Avios to offset the cash element of a fare on all its routes for travel through the end of March 2024.
Based on the example given by the airline, this looks to be a reasonable deal and could offer some people an easy way to burn any Avios that they have been having trouble using economically.
