Bits: Dublin Airport opens US preclearance lounge (with photos), South African Airways sale

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News in brief:

Dublin Airport opens a new US preclearance lounge

One benefit of booking an Avios redemption to the United States on Aer Lingus is the incredibly low taxes. These are usually around £75 return in Business Class, compared to £500 on British Airways – see my Avios Redemption University article here.

Given the smart new Aer Lingus business class seating, you can see why a lot of people are happy to catch a connecting flight to Dublin and redeem from there.

The 2nd reason is that you can clear US customs and immigration in Dublin. You land in the USA as a domestic passenger and can walk straight out of the airport without any delay.

Yesterday, a brand new airport lounge opened in Dublin – The 51st Green.

It is located AFTER the US immigration desks and will give premium passengers on any airline heading to the US somewhere to wait during the final few minutes before boarding. It may even improve punctuality as it will encourage passengers to pass through immigration earlier. It isn’t clear if oneworld / BA status members will gain access if flying Economy on Aer Lingus or American Airlines.

A HfP reader was in Dublin yesterday and sent me the pictures used in this article – thanks Jeff. Click on the images to enlarge them.

South African Airways sale ends today

Whilst the latest British Airways sale finished last week, South African Airways has a few hours to go on its own Summer sale. Here are the headline prices in Economy and Business – the Business fares are available over Christmas and New Year:

Johannesburg £512 / £2455
Cape Town £529 / £2472
Windhoek £530 / £2756
Durban £537 / £2699
Port Elizabeth £537 / £2670
East London £637 / £2832

…. amongst other destinations. As a Star Alliance member, you can credit the miles from the flight to a number of loyalty schemes including Lufthansa’s Miles & More, SAS EuroBonus and United MileagePlus.

You can find out more on the SAA site here but, unless the sale gets extended, you need to book today.

Category

Aer Lingus and AerClub, American Airlines and AAdvantage

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Liz says:

19 Jul19 July 16:35

OT has anyone tried transferring some MR points to a Kris Flyer account not in their name – but surnames the same – my hubby is going to have more MR points than me and I want to build up enough points in an account for each of us for a future trip.
Peter K says:

19 Jul19 July 23:18

It’s a bit late to the conversation on the supercard extra fees so I’ll add it here.
Supercard’s little extra charges are basically their way of making money.

I bought the Iberia Groupon codes first on curve, then on supercard on the same day coincidentally, both linked to the same underlying card.

Before the extra charges were added curve was 1% more expensive almost exactly, as expected. After the charges it was only 0.85% more expensive. Likely the shift of currency value but effectively a 0.15% fee on the supercard. Small maybe but NOT fee free.
Polly says:

19 Jul19 July 23:58

Any HFPters here in NYC Concorde lounge tonight, we are heading back to LHR on the 21.30, love to say hello!
MIM says:

20 Jul20 July 16:26

What’s the latest on Aer Lingus Avios redemptions being visible/bookable via BA.com?
- Rob says:
  
  20 Jul20 July 21:26
  
  No news. Launch of Aer Club keeps getting pushed back.
- Alan says:
  
  21 Jul21 July 08:50
  
  Here’s hoping even when Aer Club launches they won’t be visible as availability will plummet for HfP readers!
Brian says:

21 Jul21 July 04:37

I flew through Dublin this week to test out pre-clearance.
The US immigration and customs service is excellent BUT:
1. Why do you have to go through Irish immigration, completely unnecessary when firstly you are transferring and secondly you’re in the CTA. Particularly annoying when an entire Italian High school is in front of you.
2. Two rounds of security scanning after going through Irish immigration ! Ludicrous. I’ve been through security at LHR. Interested to see what would happen if you bought duty free at LHR..
Roisin says:

22 Jul22 July 12:18

Can you use One Time United Club passes to gain access to 51st & Green?