SanDiego1K

Yes, I'm planning well in advance.

I'm looking for award travel to Dublin in October 2014. Aer Lingus is to be flying nonstop from San Francisco to Dublin by then. I believe that service is to be 4 days a week, Sunday, Wed, Fri and Sat. I've got several questions.

Who has the best site to look for award availability?

How far in advance are award seats released for other routes?

How difficult is it to find 2 business seats?

When will Aer Lingus load award availability for this route?

I looked on AA.com and found nothing on Aer Lingus in late August and early September (as far as they show award seats). I've seen conjecture of UA codeshare on this flight. Since it hasn't been announced, I can't search on united.com.

PHLisa

I'm routing through BOS, so decided business class wasn't worth it for such a short flight, but I did see it on several dates. I searched on United for ease of use and then confirmed with Qantas (they matched). I don't think AA shows EI availability.

I've also noticed EI availability would zero out for a while, then come back a few weeks to a month later. I think I started looking in early June for Thanksgiving (on a whim after the MR transfer bonus). I didn't book the first time I saw seats, then they disappeared completely, then they came back, then disappeared again, then I booked in early September when they came back a third time.

GoldCircle

Hi SanDiego1k,

These probably aren't the answers you're looking for, but here goes:

Probably BA but that does not always translate in to seats - sometimes they are ghosts. I understand that UA can be useful also, but we don't see too many reports of that here.

That will be programme specific, but in general it is almost impossible to predict when EI will release inventory to the Gold Circle programme - and even less predictable for partners. Capricious is a word that gets used round here.

This is the good news - if you can find 1, you may even find 4.

Typically 6-9 months. New route, though, so revenue mgt. may be conservative, till they build a better picture.

My advice to you is to check often, and to book immediately so see it - Aer Lingus has a nasty habit of zeroing availability for long periods of time for no obvious reason.

irishguy28

Except that EI availability cannot be checked on the BA website. This can only be queried by ringing the Executive Club - which is not an option for someone hoping to book with United miles.

MileageAddict

If you find award seats to Dublin a challenge, you may want to look at flying into LHR and then grabbing a one way ticket to Dublin which is often under $100.

Of course, returning to the USA, you want to avoid flying back via the UK since they impose such draconian departure fees on longhaul flights.

alison lee

- 200k Avios
- Family of 6 (3 adults + 3 children)
- Interested in EI economy to SFO for both legs June/or return leg early July
- Or EI economy MCO May for both legs/or return leg early June

What are the chances of any reward availability, particularly for SFO?
Used to live there, haven't been back in a decade.

tangey

Not necessarily, that only applies if the flight STARTS within the UK. Fly DUB->LHR->SFO, on 1 ticket with less than a 24hr stopover, and the UK APD fee doesn't apply.

On a separate point, has anyone personally tried, or heard 3rd party of anyone getting a redemption yet on the EI SFO flights, either using EI gold circle points or Avios ?

stifle

You don't have enough Avios. You'd need 300K for six return tickets to SFO or MCO as there are no child discounts.

alison lee

Thanks Stifle and apologies for not being clearer.
I should have said using Avios for part of the group.
We would buy the remaining seats for the other 2.
Have called BAEC a few times and still can't get availability for any of May or any of June.

tangey

Just put a call into BAEC. No biz redemption seats available on EI SFO-DUB for 7th,8th,15th or 16th Nov. The agent could see revenue seats for Nov, but nothing for redemption.

tangey

Not being able to see any availability on the direct SFO-DUB flight, I've contented myself with SFO-ORD on AA and ORD-DUB on EI. Two separate BA bookings (BA charges an inflated price for multiple-partners on a single award), so although I have a 4 hr connection, there will be a bit of a concern. I'll still be on the lookout for those non-stop flights, and will switch if they come available.

The following is a bit off-topic for here, but was related to my booking.

An interesting anomaly turned up for me, that others on the BA forum could not replicate.

SFO-ORD on 22nd nov, is showing no milesaaver availability for 2 seats in biz for any flights.

BA.com is showing multiple availability all day. Its a similar story in economy. When I reported it, no one else could replicate it, so I assumed it was a cache issue, that would die when I try to complete the booking (even though I'd tried multiple PCs and two BAEC accounts). But I successfully booked the flights the following day, when my avios balance allowed me.

Its anomaly still exists for me, as I've just rechecked availability.

Separately, due to a complex cancellation, BA could not refund some avios for my original return flight, in time for me to book the EI ORD-DUB flight. As this was a tech issue, they were prepared (and surprisingly able) to hold the 2 EI redemption seats on Friday. I phoned up today, and the person I spoke to said that EI might cancel the hold at anytime, so he forced the refund, allowing me to make the EI booking.

Interesting, in that I didn't think BA could put a hold on such flights (even if its not a hard hold)

swift89

you should be able to check the loads by now
try www.skyscanner.com its throws up loads of variables
I use it for ideas then go to the airlines websites it saves time looking around

jasonz9238

Has anyone been able to score 2 tickets for SFO - DUB route? I haven't been able to find any award seat on this route for random dates in 2014.

trustno1

I contacted EI last week to book DUB-SFO return in Premier and was advised that EI will let me know in September.

tangey

When are you looking to fly ?