Aer Lingus introduces US immigration pre-clearance at Dublin for ALL flights

Aer Lingus redemptions to the United States are very popular amongst Head for Points readers.  There are two reasons for this.

The first is that they charge SUBSTANTIALLY less tax than British Airways when redeeming Avios.

The second is that, if you fly to Boston, the flight is under 3,000 miles which means it falls into the cheaper Avios pricing zone!  A business class return from Dublin to Boston is just 50,000 Avios rather than 80,000 from London.

You can learn more about Aer Lingus redemptions in this Avios Redemption University post of mine here.

A further benefit of Aer Lingus is US customs and immigration pre-clearance.  US immigration can be a painfully slow process, often taking well over an hour.  Dublin has its own branch of US immigration, however, which allows you to clear your formalities before leaving Ireland.  On arriving in the US, you are treated as a domestic arrival and can walk straight out of the airport!

The following has now been posted on the Aer Lingus website:

From 27 October 2013 all flights to the US will pre-clear US Customs and Immigration in Terminal 2 (Dublin) or Shannon airport before departure.

At the moment, these Dublin flights do NOT have US preclearance:

EI 125 – Dublin to Chicago

EI 137 – Dublin to Boston

EI 139 – Dublin to Boston

The following Dublin flights already have US preclearance and will continue to have it:

EI 105 – Dublin to New York

EI 109 – Dublin to New York

EI 121 – Dublin to Orlando

EI 123 – Dublin to Chicago

The Shannon flights which retain preclearance are:

EI 111 – Shannon to New York

EI 135 – Shannon to Boston

All in all, this in another good reason to keep Aer Lingus in mind when planning redemptions.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios?  Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)