Aer Lingus Gold Circle Club - Aer Lingus longhaul + shorthaul baggage Q's?

A couple of questions regarding Aer Lingus... We will be traveling BOS-DUB on a partner (BA) award booking and then are making a paid booking for DUB-FCO.

we arrive in Dub at 5:25 and leave to FCO at 7:10. I am told that's a safe connector but to pull that off, we'll need them to xfer our bags for us as there's no time for us to pick up our bags and recheck them.

So my questions are:
#1 can they xfer bags from two seperate bookings? I've been told conflicting reports by phone agents but then again, I might have more luck asking my cat.;)
#2 if they can link the flights and xfer the bags, will that allow us to have 1 free bag per person and they'll treat it just as a stopover, as longhaul flights allow for 1 free bag (with stopovers), or do we need to prepay the bags as if it were a shorthaul flight?

thanks in advance for any insight or thoughts!

1) Yes, of course they can check through the bags even if they are on two separate tickets. Both flights will be operated by Aer Lingus. Just make sure you have the details of the DUB-FCO tickets to hand at check-in in Boston.

2) Technically, as you are on two separate tickets, you will have to pay for your bags on DUB-FCO. Though you might be lucky and not be charged at check-in at BOS. There is every chance, though, that Aer Lingus in Dublin will realise and you may be paged at the gate and told that payment is required for your bags (at least, someone reported that this sometimes happens at LHR when connecting from BA flights to EI flights on separate tickets, where the second ticket has not had a baggage fee collected). But you can log in to your booking on the Aer Lingus website and pay these fees in advance - it's cheaper online thatn paying at the airport.

OTish, but I would be curious to know how much cash you had to pay for this reward flight.

I wonder if it is a more affordable way to use Avios.

yes very affordable...Tax was around $120 which beats london taxes any day and since boston is just under the 6K miles mark it's 12.5K BA miles each way and it's a 2 class flight service and they call it business not first so business is 25K which is an amazing value if you can find availability for business.

OTish, but I would be curious to know how much cash you had to pay for this reward flight.

I wonder if it is a more affordable way to use Avios.

yes very affordable...Tax was around $120 which beats london taxes any day and since boston is just under the 6K miles mark it's 12.5K BA miles each way and it's a 2 class flight service and they call it business not first so business is 25K which is an amazing value if you can find availability for business.

That does sound like a good deal. Anything to avoid BA surcharges is worth it. It might still be cheaper to buy a ticket from DUB to somewhere else in Europe than to fly BA.

Saw this on the Aer Lingus website.
For Aer Lingus journeys between North America and the UK or Continental Europe, the long-haul checked baggage allowance will apply for all flights within a single.itinerary or reservation, unless there is a.stopover of more than 14 days.in Ireland, then each flight within the itinerary will have the relevant shorthaul or longhaul baggage policy applied to that part of the journey. Relevant shorthaul or longhaul policies shall apply to itineraries booked as separate reservations.

good info, I wonder if that will be enforced if they xfer the bags for the connector though?

Saw this on the Aer Lingus website.

To Update those that are still interested:

#1 can they xfer bags from two seperate bookings? They can definitely xfer the luggage however the request can & must be done at the departing airport as they can't link the 2 bookings over the phone.

#2 At the airport when they link the flights and xfer the bags, technically that will not allow for free bags as there are two seperate bookings and 1 is a shorthaul, however there is a chance the agent will overlook it and check the bags all the way through without charging a fee.

To resolve this, the agent on the phone was able to book me tickets including free bags for the shorthaul for the same price as the tickets online that don't include bags...not sure why but problem solved:D

good info, I wonder if that will be enforced if they xfer the bags for the connector though?

Not that it matters to you now, but of course not; the quoted Aer Lingus text specifically refers to "all flights within a single.itinerary or reservation". Your specific example involved two separate itineraries and two separate reservations. Having bags checked through - or even "linking" the PNRs (which only involves putting a note in the reservations, which may not even be seen or noticed once it's in there) - does not magically unify your separte itineraries/reservations/tickets into a single journey (it just means your bags will be checked through!).

A couple of questions regarding Aer Lingus... We will be traveling BOS-DUB on a partner (BA) award booking and then are making a paid booking for DUB-FCO.

we arrive in Dub at 5:25 and leave to FCO at 7:10. I am told that's a safe connector but to pull that off, we'll need them to xfer our bags for us as there's no time for us to pick up our bags and recheck them.

So my questions are:
#1 can they xfer bags from two seperate bookings? I've been told conflicting reports by phone agents but then again, I might have more luck asking my cat.;)
#2 if they can link the flights and xfer the bags, will that allow us to have 1 free bag per person and they'll treat it just as a stopover, as longhaul flights allow for 1 free bag (with stopovers), or do we need to prepay the bags as if it were a shorthaul flight?

thanks in advance for any insight or thoughts!

I am looking at Orlando from Edinburgh for next March and after having had a discussion at a business meeting yesterday with someone who had used the service from Boston and was very pleased (1/3 the cost of BA through LHR and a much easier to transfer in Dublin through to Edinburgh) thought this might be a route to take. Reviews are very favourable.

For the total novice here :rolleyes: were you able to book this on-line through BA.com, through Aer Lingus or was it over the phone? We have miles to burn and would either pay in whole with miles for business or if allowed, use some to upgrade to business from an economy ticket.

Any thoughts / help gratefully received, thank you.

booking is over the phone with BA and you will need to use points for coach or business, not upgrades.