Originally Posted by
irishguy28
First things first - Spring 2026 is only weeks away. These flights would have been released for mileage awards at the start of 2025 so it's not surprising that you are finding no availability now. They've been available to "purchase" using Avios for most of this year and it is therfore unsurprising that others got there ahead of you and picked the limited availability clean already.
(The "60 days out" thing only really seems to apply to shorthaul - though a quick look for DUB-AMS flights seems to suggest that, on this route at least currently, the window has been reduced to 30 days)
I really don't think this is correct in my (limited) experience. I am waiting for 2 biz Reward tickets for Spring 2026 and since September/October the furthest date in the future where reward biz seats DUB-JFK start appearing in the planner has gradually moved forward. E.g. in late February 2026/early March 2026 there are now 4 or 5 biz reward seats available on many flights. 6 weeks ago there were absolutely zero available on any of those dates - only available up to mid January.
It looks clear that Aer Lingus wait to see how many biz seats sell at full price, then gradually start releasing reward seats 2-3 months in advance. I noticed the exact same thing early this year - when I logged in to the reward portal in early Jan - there were reward seats available DUB-JFK up to and including late March.