Avios Upgrade Availability
 

Looking at booking a cash Y fare and upgrading to J with Avios on IAD to DUB. I will be transferring BA avios to AL.

1. Do I need a specific fare bucket for Y or will the basic economy be okay?
2. I know I need to email to request the upgrade, if there is currently avios availability in business, does that mean the upgrade will clear? I don’t want to buy a flight and then not be able to upgrade it.

Thanks

1. There is no specific fare bucket according to the Aer Lingus website, so any kind of ticket would be okay.

2. If there is current Avios availability in business, it will mean you have a very good chance of it clearing. It's not guaranteed, but you have a far better chance this way than on a flight with no award seats available.

Either way, you'll have to be prepared to fly economy (which is actually not too bad on Aer Lingus) or to get a refund to a voucher if you are travelling before 30 September and the upgrade doesn't clear. You might also check the criteria for voucher refunds as I don't believe Basic fares qualify.

Good luck!

I've a request submitted over a week to redeem upgrade. How long does it normally take to confirm or decline.

Just following up on this post… I’m looking to book LAX to DUB in September and want to use a avios to upgrade to business. How did this work out for you?

You can't use Avios to upgrade

??? according to their website you can…

Seems to be very few data points on using the 'avios to upgrade' (from an EI cash fare) option.
It would be good to have a few experiences successful or not on route, timeliness of request response, fees paid etc.

This plan is likely to fall at the first hurdle - that there simply are no seats open for redemptions in business class, let alone for upgrades.

I've just checked each day from 10-16 September inclusive, and there simply is no business award availability on EI068 (LAX-DUB).

If a business class seat isn't available to redeem into outright using Avios, there is definitely also no business class seat available to upgrade into using Avios.

You may wish to consider using your Avios on a BA flight instead.

I reckon the likely hope with the request is a seat opening up close to the date if loading is low and EI can see they have an Avios U/G request in hand.

worked for me a few weeks ago . No reward seats available for my chosen dates . I contacted aer club who confirmed upgrade with avios redemption

bumping this rather than starting a new thread on it, as I'm currently in this situation myself...

Looking for LAX-DUB around May 11 for 12 total days, business class. Nothing on Avios, nothing on Aer Lingus, nothing on Iberia or BA for the Aer Lingus nonstop flight.

I, too, was told to buy coach tickets then use Avios (through AerClub directly, with an email request) to upgrade to business, but I'd obviously prefer to book award travel strictly with Avios - I'm thinking that one-flight-a-day is just not one they like to open up for full Avios award travel, perhaps?

Any tips on this?

I mean if you don't mind potentially having Avios stranded I'd go ahead book the Y seat and send the email.

The A330 Y in 2-4-2 is one of the better ways to cross the Atlantic worst case scenario.

Recently booked basic economy flight to Dublin and was able to get a avios upgrade on outbound (off peak 45,000 or so) and wait listed for return. Happy that it seemed to work so far.

How long after you sent the email did you get confirmation that your grade was successful? TIA

Who did you email? The email address we sent to said we were not able to upgrade since it was booked via Avios and not via Aer Lingus. It was booked using Avios in our AerClub account.