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Earning Avios via Aer Lingus AerClub – and what it means for you

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After interminable delays, Aer Lingus has begun to contact members of its Gold Circle loyalty programme to tell them what their tier level will be in the new AerClub programme.

You cannot log in until 28th November, which is when members will receive their access details for the AerClub website.  At present members are simply being told which of the tiers – Green, Silver, Platinum and Concierge – they will be.  Judging by some of the complaints flying around on Twitter, this has not been error-free.

aerclub-membership-cards

You can find out more about AerClub on this page of the Aer Lingus website.

Even if you never fly Aer Lingus, you will want to keep an eye on AerClub:

Avios points will be transferable to and from AerClub and avios.com / British Airways Executive Club / Iberia Plus via ‘Combine My avios’

This means that it is a no-brainer for every Avios-collecting HfP reader to open an AerClub account because there are bound to be interesting redemption or collection opportunities which you can take advantage of, moving points back and forth from the UK schemes as necessary

That said, you cannot sign up at the moment – although you can register your interest via this page.

Earlier this year Aer Lingus promised 250 Avios to anyone who pre-registered their interest and subsequently joined.  This offer now appears to have ended.  I haven’t yet had an email inviting me to join and collect my 250 Avios but I would expect to be at the back of the queue whilst the transition from Gold Circle is completed.

Once AerClub launches we will covering it in details on Head for Points and, as with Iberia Plus, we will keep you updated with potential points earning opportunities that can be accessed from the UK.


How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

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 BA Amex American Express card

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 BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

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:

Nectar American Express

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

American Express Platinum card Amex

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 card

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.)

Comments (33)

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

  • Philip says:

    I booked a Gold circle economy rewards flight to San Francisco earlier in the year (for departure in under 2 weeks) and was surprised to be charged €307 in taxes & charges, obviously something else in there. Still better that than letting the 4,800 Gold circle points roll over as 9,600 Avios. The United option of 60,000 points and £38.90 in charges much more appealing, must look out for another offer to get bonus points when transferring from IHG to top up my balance.

    • Jason says:

      May be too late for you now – but better option would likely have been to pay for the Economy flights and use points to upgrade (at least 1 way) to Business class… the “charges” on Aer Lingus “Free” flights have always made them a joke – points were best used for upgrades…

      I for one am very disappointed by how this whole thing is being handled – especially at EI not joining One World.

  • Brendan says:

    Aer Lingus starting direct DUB-MIA flights from next September. Wonder will AA codeshare on it. Could open up some additional redemption possibilities.

  • mark1980 says:

    Indeed – anyone any idea when the next Qatar sale will be? They usually have one mid-November dont they??

    • Clive says:

      Yes it happened in Cairo

      • Genghis says:

        Do UK based people really take ex-CAI QR flights for holiday (not including TP runners)? Seems more trouble than it’s worth and you can’t get that much sleep.

        • Rob says:

          Yes, I know people who do (not with kids). The new airport hotel makes it easier. The TPs would always play a decent role though.

    • Rob says:

      Just started today although not crazily generous.

      • Mark1980 says:

        I am looking for some ex-EU fares in J to Australia for March preferably less than £1500pp. I saw the Cairo deal and nearly went for it but it would have involved 4 flights as there are no direct Cairo flight from the regions. Not ideal with a 19 month old in tow. Also it wasn’t really a sale fare was it? It was more to do with collapse of the Egyptian pound…

  • Joe says:

    Got my email saying I was to a green member which makes sense seeing as only applicant in current gold circle membership. Worrying thing is it said I have 0 tier credits! Considering I have 2250 gold circle points (i.e. one European flight away from gold) this would be very annoying if they reset everything to 0 upon launch especially as they said in there FAQ they would credit existing applicant balances with tier credits to keep progress. Interestingly have a flight that would get me gold status booked for November 29th, 1 day after aerclub goes live according to article, so I am really hoping my 0 tier credits is an error and I can get over the line before the year end (or whenever they will set the collection point to end!)

    • JB says:

      Your points will be wiped. I’ve had numerous conversations with Aer Lingus CS. With Gold circle ‘applicant’ status, no points will be carried over. Only members with tier status can carry over. This is confusingly worded in the FAQ. I have 9000 points that will disappear.

    • Alan says:

      I got the very same e-mail, but EI told me that i will get 250 welcome bonus points and my applicant gold circle points of 4600 will be added at some kind of a conversion for my loyalty or some tire bonus, right now it says 0 tires and still no access details and i have a flight from SFO–DUB tomorrow Nov 30th. My sister who was also GC came over last eek and their was no clue or gc number on her boarding pass so very strange.

  • Matt says:

    Just got off the phone with Aer Lingus, as I have a booking this week BDL-LHR via DUB, then later in December LHR-BOS via DUB.

    He told me that as they are no longer accepting Gold Circle members and Aer Club is yet to be launched (28th Nov is the launch date he said) my BDL flight will not be eligible to earn any tier points, basically that flight is stuck in the middle. He suggested that use my BAEC number however that will only earn me avios and not tier points. He then went onto say that when Aer Club is launched there will be no facility to “back date” any tier points flights, despite me registering my interest in Aer Club months ago.

    For the LHR-BOS flight he said that will be eligible for Aer Club tier points as it would have already been launched.

    Has anyone got any advice on this?

  • Mark Whitelegg says:

    I traveled with Aer Lingus from Dublin to Orlando in business class in November, due to Aer Club being delayed it seems I get no tier points, no Avios either although I was asked to enter my BA Exec club number when checking in. Does anyone know whether, by entering my BA Exec number, I might get some Avios after all? Very poor from Aer Lingus if you can neither get Gold Club or Aer Lingus benefits.

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