Aer Lingus Gold Circle Club - First Time Gold Circle Applicant Q

Do I have to fly EI metal as an applicant to earn miles? or Jetblue?

No, any airline which gives gold circle points will do. However, the number of points awarded on non-EI flights is paltry.

Might I ask why you're interested in getting Aer Lingus status? Its benefits are... limited.

Paltry? Some CX agent told me I got 100% mileage accrual on a LAX-HKG. Huh.

I chose Aer Lingus because of my future trips in Dublin and Europe, so I thought lounge access and complimentary upgrades would be a nicer change.

Be aware that EI's non-TATL services are 1 class and that upgrades on European airlines are almost always OpUps and rarely on the basis of status alone.

I fear you may be misguided - the benefits of GC status are minimal, apart from lounge access, unless you get to GC-E, where the upgrade vouchers are useful.

On European flights, you will probably earn absolutely nothing. I fly somewhere between 10 and 20 sectors on EI every year, but I haven't managed to earn any Gold Circle points in the last 5 years with this flying pattern.

(Unless you're booking relatively late before travel and as a result the lower booking classes are sold out, meaning that your ticket is more expensive and books into one of the higher fare buckets; or unless you ring up Aer Lingus and always ask for a ticket that's not "Flexi" but that books into the cheapest available point-earning fare bucket (it's not possible to do this online); or unless you pay directly for the far more expensive "Flexi" fares, you will most likely end up in a fare class that earns you nothing)

What GoldCircle said. EI can't upgrade you on most of its flights, and in Europe airlines don't generally upgrade unless they have to because of oversells down the back. You are probably better off trying for status on BA, which at Silver has an unofficial benefit of Aer Lingus lounge access.

You are probably better off trying for status on BA, which at Silver has an unofficial benefit of Aer Lingus lounge access.

...though flying EI won't help you get status at all with BA either - even transatlantics in business class on EI will earn you no Tier Points in the BA Exec Club.

That is quite correct. It works reasonably well for me as I have family in Ireland, which is close to a oneworld desert (one route each from DUB with AA, MA, IB, and S7), but accumulating frequent flyer points (of any description) on EI is challenging.