…. and here’s the Aer Lingus peak and off peak Avios calendar for 2018

Yesterday we published the Iberia and British Airways peak and off peak calendars for 2018 which are very useful when booking reward flights, especially during school holidays.

Yesterday, to our surprise, we learnt that Aer Lingus now has its own peak and off peak calendar as well.

Three periods are noticeably different from the BA calendar.  Aer Lingus doesn’t have an October and February peak season during the UK half terms, the April peak season is one week shorter and there’s also no peak season towards the end of May / early June.

February is also off peak on Iberia, but if you are travelling in October Aer Lingus is the only IAG airline with Avios off peak redemptions.

On short haul the cost differences are modest.  If you want to fly from London to Dublin in Economy on 12th February 2018 you would pay 4,000 Avios with Aer Lingus (off peak) and 4,500 Avios (peak) with BA, one way.

On a long haul flight the saving would be way more, of course, and makes the Aer Lingus long haul services from Dublin to North America particularly attractive during these periods.

Aer Lingus long haul in Business Class is also very attractive, versus British Airways Club World, with the new 1-2-1 fully flat seats.  We are planning to review this in September.

Just to be clear the Aer Lingus peak and off-peak dates apply to Aer Lingus flights wherever you book them.   If you book an Aer Lingus flight on ba.com then it goes by the Aer Lingus calendar and not the BA calendar.  The same goes for Iberia and, if booked on the Iberia site, BA.

In a day or so we will merge this with the BA / Iberia tables and you will be able to find a link to the combined article under the ‘Key BA links’ section of the HFP sidebar.

Remember the odd rules now in place for booking Aer Lingus flights with Avios:

online booking is now available via avios.com and taxes are higher (stupidly high on short haul) – long-haul business class is just over £200 return

telephone booking is available via British Airways Executive Club and taxes are lower – long-haul business class should be under £100 return

you should check availability on avios.com and then call BAEC to book – so your Avios points need to be sitting at ba.com

Aer Lingus 2017  (green = off-peak)

Aer Lingus 2018

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.)