BOS-DUB or DUB-BOS using Avios
 

Been putting together a trip using Avios on Aer Lingus for RT BOS-DUB in July of 2014. Was hoping to book for my family of 4 in business class. A couple of weeks ago there was tons of availability and now, when I go to finally book, it is all gone. I am hoping things open back up!

It will. I watched it disappear and reappear over the course of about 6 months before I booked my trip over Thanksgiving. Don't worry.

Okay, thanks for the info. I just setup an alert in ExpertFlyer. So hopefully something will open up soon.

Have you rang BAEC to check? I don't believe there are any tools online that give reliable info on award seats for EI using avios.

EF is accurate, from what I've seen over checking for months.

I did try calling BA and they also said nothing was available. I will keep tabs on ExpertFlyer and get into the habit of calling BA each week. Hopefully something will open up soon!

I am in a similar situation but with 3 rather than 4, and traveling in Dec. From what I could establish only 2 seats in business tend to be given to BA for avios on the BOS-DUB flights. I grabbed the ones I wanted when they showed up and the other one of us will travel in economy. EF had it as 4 (or 9 maybe) but there were only actually 2 seats available, and there has been nothing ever since. You might have to split up cabins or split the flights 2 and 2.

On that note, any idea how far in advance the seats are released? is it 11 months?

if you can not get 4 tix, try splitting up , there are 2 flights a day BOS/DUB

Also you could try BOS/SNN

The problem with BOS to SNN is that it's 2,990 miles and the award for business class increases to 80K BA points round trip instead of 50K BA points for BOS to DUB.

Say what? Since Shannon is on the west coast of Ireland and Dublin is on the east, it sort of makes sense that while BOS-DUB is 2990, BOS-SNN is 2895. Since both routes are less than 3000 miles, both fit within the BA 50K (25K for economy) zone.

Good luck booking DUB-BOS. :D

Why? Tough to get?

This deal has received a lot of publicity in the past year. A little over a year ago, business class and economy tickets were relatively easy to get. After the publicity, business class availability seems to have dropped severely (EI may be limiting redemptions for partners) while economy availability is much tougher, especially if you're looking for more than two seats.

If you ever see seats available that meet your plans, don't assume they'll be there for long.

I find that the availability tends to come and go, at least judging by ExpertFlyer. Whole weeks will show 9s next to every flight, and a few days later nothing will be available.

I booked a one-way BOS-DUB via the BA call centre last week... EF showed 9 seats in business, but as soon as the booking was made it dropped to 0. Seems to indicate that while EF might be correct in indicating whether or not seats are available, it may not correctly display the number of available seats.

Keep checking - and good luck!