All you need to know about earning Avios in Aer Lingus AerClub

Aer Lingus AerClub finally launched last week.  This is important news for Head for Points readers because Avios is the currency of AerClub.

Any Avios points you earn in AerClub will (eventually) be transferrable across to British Airways Executive Club or avios.com via ‘Combine My Avios’.  The functionality is not yet available but it has been promised.

What this means is that any interesting promotions which become available to AerClub members should be of interest to UK readers, because of the ability to move the points across.

The key point – from my view – is that United Airlines is an AerClub partner.  I wrote a separate article about this today.  You can now earn Avios in AerClub when you fly United Airlines.

Earning Avios in AerClub

The home page for earning Avios is here.

Earning from flying Aer Lingus:

Aer Lingus flights earn Avios at the rate of 3 per € spent.  This is based on the cash price of your flight, excluding “Government taxes”.   In the small print of AerClub, however, it says “excluding taxes, fees and charges imposed other than by Aer Lingus”.  This means that they may also deduct landing charges etc which will leave very little behind.

For flights not paid for in €, you will earn 4 Avios per £1 or 3 Avios per US or Canadian $1.  Flights booked in other currencies will be converted to €.

You do not earn Avios on ancillary charges such as baggage or seat selection fees.

Earning from flying partners:

Because Aer Lingus is not in the oneworld alliance, you cannot credit all oneworld partner flights to AerClub.  The only participating airlines are British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Qantas and United.

In most cases, the earning rates are the same as crediting flights to British Airways Executive Club so there is no advantage to crediting to AerClub.  The differences are – and frankly this is a pretty odd list:

• Qantas Premium Economy is 110% in AerClub vs 100% in BAEC
• Qantas Economy (K, L, M, V, S) is 50% in Aer Club vs 25% in BAEC
• Cathay Pacific Premium Economy (W only) is 110% in BAEC vs 100% in AerClub
• Cathay Pacific Economy (H only) is 100% in BAEC vs 50% in AerClub
• Cathay Pacific Economy (L, K, M, V) is 50% in AerClub vs 25% in BAEC
• Cathay Pacific Economy (M, N, Q, S) is 25% in BAEC but nothing in AerClub

Earning from non-flying partners:

I was disappointed by this list, to be honest.  Given that AerClub has launched six months late I would have expected a better selection of deals to have been negotiated.  At present, the only partners active are:

Kildare Village and its sister facilities including Bicester Village  (earn 1.25 Avios per €1)

Aer Lingus Holidays (1 Avios per €1)

Appleby Jewellers, Dublin (1-5 Avios per €1)

The Avios eStore

Hotel bookings via Agoda, Kaligo.com or Rocketmiles

There is one upside I spotted.  As long as you use a different email address, you will be able to claim a new ‘first time booker’ bonus on a Kaligo or Rocketmiles booking because you can give your AerClub number instead of your BAEC number.

Spending Avios in AerClub:

The Aer Lingus website page for spending Avios is here.

I wrote my own take about spending Avios from AerClub here.

Because redemptions are handled via avios.com, there is nothing new to know here.  There is nothing you can do with Avios in AerClub that you cannot also do with Avios in avios.com.

Conclusion

The key thing to know about AerClub is that it lets you earn Avios when flying with United Airlines.

It will also let you earn a 2nd ‘first time hotel booker’ bonus from Agoda, Kaligo.com or Rocketmiles because you can now credit a booking to AerClub.

There are no exclusive redemptions which would require you to transfer your points to AerClub and no interesting partnerships (yet?).  The failure to have ‘Combine My Avios’ operating from Day 1 is also frustrating.

We will keep you updated with AerClub as new opportunities to earn and spend Avios emerge.

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.)