Originally Posted by
erikt311
M60_to_LGA - does the following sound like a viable strategy?
Wife and I merge Executive Club accounts into a household account so we can pool Avios. then we each sign up for the Chase British Air card and get the 50k Avios each. We then redeem those Avios for Aer Lingus flights. this is the part I'm not clear on. We just book those partner flights through British Air like we would any reward flights? No problem using the pooled Household Avios for that?
No guarantees on this, but since you're relatively new to FlyerTalk, you should be aware that Chase has run 100K promos on its BA card the last several springs. Might not happen in 2013, but since you have time on your hands, I would consider structuring your strategy for other cards while waiting to see if Chase runs the promo again. If not, the standard offer outside of the 100K promos has been 50K.
BA and Aer Lingus are airline partners, and as a result, you can redeem Avios for Aer Lingus flights. Because BA runs a distance-based (as well as segment-based) award chart and because Dublin and Boston fall just within one of the dividing lines for redemption, a BOS-DUB roundtrip coach ticket will run 25K Avios plus about $130 in cash while a roundtrip business class ticket will run 50K Avios plus cash for the same route. JFK-DUB or ORD-DUB fall into the next level of redemption, meaning that you'll pay 40K RT for coach and 80K RT for business. The farther from the East Coast you begin your flights, the higher possibly the redemption requirement will be--both because of the increase in distance and the likelihood that you'll have several segments to your trip, each priced according to its distance.
Keep in mind that AA, UA, and BA all allow one-way redemptions while DL and US do not. This can be very helpful in that you can get sets of two different airline cards and book your way to Europe on one airline (with AA, for example) and then come back on another (say, UA). That approach might help you get more than sufficient miles for you and your wife to do roundtrips.
London has many representatives of the chains that offer hotel points in the US. Dublin does as well, but as soon as you leave Dublin, the options drop dramatically. While I think Dublin is worth a visit for several days, I agree that you'll want to go around the rest of the countryside, and that's difficult to do if you only have four or five days.
I have done two trips to Ireland, with two more coming in the next nine months. Even in Dublin, I've found B&Bs a reasonable alternative, but once you leave Dublin, I think they're a better option along with some independent country house hotels. I'd note that in Ireland (as in England and Scotland), there is a wide range of prices offered by B&Bs, including some very modestly priced accommodations. That contrasts with the US where B&Bs have the reputation of costing as much or more than top level hotels.