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Poor Business Class Award Availability

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Old Jun 19, 2018, 7:35 am
  #1  
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Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: EDI
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 37
Poor Business Class Award Availability
Hi there,

First post on the Aer Lingus forum.

I'm looking to make an avois redemption booking with EI (business class for two people), but noticed poor availability even when looking far in advance.

I am using Expert Flyer. How reliable is this with EI? How many business class award seats are normally released in advance.

Thanks

EdiFrank
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Old Jun 20, 2018, 3:58 am
  #2  
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Programs: Aer Lingus, BA, Hilton
Posts: 33
Not sure about Expert Flyer but even using the Avios website and (painfully) going day by day, months and months in advance, there is very little.

The pecking order for upgrades seems to be:
  1. Paid upgrades for cash ("bid to upgrade", only offered if booking direct with EI)
  2. Concierge free upgrades (four per member per annum)
  3. Platinum free upgrade (one per member per annum)
  4. Upgrades for points
  5. Business class award redemptions using points.
So in my view they keep incrediblyfew slots available for straight business class award redemptions as they know/assume that the various other categories will use up the space available.

It's not true that there is literally no availability for business class redemptions to the US, but there are very, very few, even months in advance.
preacherirl is offline  
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Old Jun 20, 2018, 7:25 am
  #3  
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 687
The standard I believe is 2 business class seats made available on every flight (however I'm not certain on this but it is the BA standard). But these are very quickly snapped up probably by BA FFs due to the low tax & fees redemptions available from DUB (low relative to BA from London that is).
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Old Jun 20, 2018, 7:48 am
  #4  
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Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: EDI
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 37
Originally Posted by mccartje
The standard I believe is 2 business class seats made available on every flight (however I'm not certain on this but it is the BA standard). But these are very quickly snapped up probably by BA FFs due to the low tax & fees redemptions available from DUB (low relative to BA from London that is).
Thanks @mccartje I too thought it was 2 business class seats available. I just did a dummy search on expert flyer DUB-BOS or JFK 27/5/19 and no availability in business class, but 4 seats per flight in economy. I find it hard to believe BAEC member would snap all the business class award seats when there are 2x flights to BOS and 3x to NYC on this particular day.

I guess Aer Lingus have reduced business class redemption availability.

EdiFrank
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Old Jun 20, 2018, 8:05 am
  #5  
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 687
Originally Posted by EdiFrank
Thanks @mccartje I too thought it was 2 business class seats available. I just did a dummy search on expert flyer DUB-BOS or JFK 27/5/19 and no availability in business class, but 4 seats per flight in economy. I find it hard to believe BAEC member would snap all the business class award seats when there are 2x flights to BOS and 3x to NYC on this particular day.

I guess Aer Lingus have reduced business class redemption availability.

EdiFrank
Just looking for myself there. I am seeing lots of availability of 5 economy and 1 business DUB-BOS before the 27th May. Possibly on EI it's a 5-1 split. However I think with the 27th of May you have hit the EI cut off for making flights available as after that date there is nothing for EI. Maybe wait a week or 2 and see if availability pops up.
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Old Jun 20, 2018, 8:17 am
  #6  
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 687
Originally Posted by EdiFrank
Thanks @mccartje I too thought it was 2 business class seats available. I just did a dummy search on expert flyer DUB-BOS or JFK 27/5/19 and no availability in business class, but 4 seats per flight in economy. I find it hard to believe BAEC member would snap all the business class award seats when there are 2x flights to BOS and 3x to NYC on this particular day.

I guess Aer Lingus have reduced business class redemption availability.

EdiFrank
However closer to the date maybe more availability opens up. See below for 3rd of July 2 business seats available. Grab em if you want to jet of soon
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Old Jun 26, 2018, 3:59 pm
  #7  
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 213
I am also looking for Business Class out of JFK, BDL or BOS for next May and it seems the only release 1 seat. Not sure if I should book that in hopes of getting a second at a later date.
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Old Jul 15, 2018, 1:29 pm
  #8  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 845
i'm only seeing 1 business for every day in feb..that can't be right. Last few years I was able to get 2. 1 seems to be the default..hopefully more will pop up closer to the month, but I have doubts now
edit..played around with dates from this july-mid next year...max on every date is 1 business seat available.
Last edited by theplayer; Jul 15, 2018 at 1:36 pm
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Old Jul 16, 2018, 1:58 am
  #9  
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Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: EDI
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 37
Originally Posted by theplayer
i'm only seeing 1 business for every day in feb..that can't be right. Last few years I was able to get 2. 1 seems to be the default..hopefully more will pop up closer to the month, but I have doubts now
edit..played around with dates from this july-mid next year...max on every date is 1 business seat available.
Hi,

Yeah, it does appear that EI now release 1 business class award seat in advance.

However close to the date EI will occasionally open up more business class seating.

Not great, but better than nothing.

EdiFrank
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