Clseeper

I received an email today for scheduled maintenance on aerclub accounts 26-27 Sep. You can still book but can do nothing to avios. It claims they are making improvements. I doubt it's anything for the title of this thread with Oneworld talk, but adds credibility to something larger happening in Oct.

I'm hoping for at least proper transatlantic joint venture integration. Would make sense around the time of all IAG airline moving towards the spend based rules. EI were already on a spend basis so wouldn't have needed to make changes solely for them.

Not holding my breath but fingers crossed.

mccartje

They also raised all the fees on avios redemptions for TATL flights to match the price available on BAs website.

irishguy28

😪😪😪

DELLAS

Enjoy the enhancements guys

tangey

Yes, just a few weeks after a certain UK blogger did a long post about the big cash saving to be had in doing those avios.com bookings instead of BA.com.

Anything to keep those credit card referrals rolling in. Nothing ever remains niche or lowkey anymore...especially when you have "disciples" who are so keen to impress that they are happy to blab away in the comments.

Irishtraveler

I would love to see EI join Oneworld again I fly between Ireland and the US monthly but typically fly BA because they are in Oneworld so I can use and earn tier points when flying in America as well as transatlantic. I also like premium economy which EI doesn't offer. But if EI joined the alliance I would fly them more since it would be nonstop and EI have a fairley affordable business class sometimes less than 1800 roundtrip..

Visconti

Likewise.

In my view, not only do I think this works best for me, but also for EI. While not getting into the specifics, because I have Global Entry (I can enter the US in less than 2 minutes with a simple photo snap), the preclearance scheme is a deal breaker for me. When departing DUB, I prefer to use AF or BA, just to avoid the preclear stuff, and head home via CDG or LHR with an overnight layover.

However, with a OW alliance, at least there would be an enticement to endure the preclear checks, which otherwise offers ZERO benefit for me with GE.

zkzkz

Even with GE preclearance was always a huge plus for me. In fact with GE I found it even more useful. Fwiw the GE experience (strangely) varies enormously by arrival airport and has varied over time. If you're flying to SFO then you could basically walk through immigration without stopping. But if you arrive at JFK you basically just get to use a slightly shorter line and then deal with the same interview questions everyone else gets. And heaven help you if you land at EWR or MIA with or without GE. And even with GE you could always end up getting randomly screened.

But with preclearance none of that matters. You're always dealing getting the same experience. Which wasn't ideal but is pretty good. And then you land in the US and can do a gate-to-gate transfer without dealing with the TSA or immigration at all. And without that variable delay you could reliably schedule a connection without adding extra padding in case of the worst case.

Visconti

This would be the only reason I'd ever consider going through the pre-clear process again. Perhaps, it's my own limitations, but going through it once was quite enough. And, while I haven't been through MIA/EWR customs, I have quite often at SFO, LAX, JFK, DFW, and can't ever recall any of them taking more than a few minutes, at most. And, once back on US soil, missing a domestic flight can easily be replaced by another, whereas missing a flight from DUB would pose a greater challenge.

We'll have to agree to disagree on the value of the pre-clearance scheme to US based GEs.

mccartje

I just noticed the transaction lines in my aerclub account are now more detailed (including the cabin/booking class and who the flight was operated by) and the avios and tier credits are posted on a single line transaction now versus the 2 separate ones previously. I'm guessing this change was to do with the fare class reorganisation that just happened.
It is probably much ado about nothing re oneworld membership but it is interesting to note the "operated by" piece of info which if they were to link in with oneworld would be required info on transactions.

Note: This is only for a new recent transaction on the 5th October. The older flight transaction lines did not change retrospectively.

ROKNA

My recent flights haven't posted at all which makes me suspicious of these changes

ChurnieEls

Preclearance in DUB has GE terminals.

I personally wouldn't think twice about avoiding the connection hellhole that LHR is if EI joined OW. The benefits of a direct flight far outweight whatever incrementally better lounge offering LHR has - and ultimately you'll be doing security twice with either choice & at least the pre clearance security is less of a lift than the LHR cluster (and indeed usually just a simply walkthrough on a J ticket).

ROKNA

Passengers who start their journey in Dublin are not subject to a second security screening at CBP (well thats the pattern) and J passengers are anyway going down the faster lane if needed. LHR T5 security is a zoo and easily rates as one of the worst. That why EI has good traffic from UK regions to DUB to the US as Heathrow is a pain and Dublin is bliss in comparison

GE is available in Dublin and is the exact same experience as in the US, that said the processing times for regular passengers has fallen dramatically as the setup is now just the photograph and facial recognition, not even a stamp in the passport

FlightDetective

Yes, the internal system was changed. There was one system for Avios and one for Tier Points (hence the two lines) and now they are all together in another system. I'm sure the amendments will help facilitate future plans.

irishguy28

There's also the fact that EI serves almost twice as many UK airports from Dublin as BA does from LHR, so it's either drive to Heathrow or fly to Dublin (or Amsterdam! KLM get a lot of connecting traffic from the UK too!) for a lot of those UK regions....