andrewkeith5

Hi All,

Having been a mere viewer for a while now, and being fairly new to the airline points game, I have come across huge confusion which I don't seem to be able to find an answer to and hope you can help with!

I want to travel Gatwick to Dublin early next year - which by my reckoning means I've a choice of Aer Lingus (acceptable) or Ryanair (rather not). The EI flights are at good times for me and the Plus tickets are the ones I'd go for, but here starts the confusion:

Do I book with EI, or with BA on a codeshare? The prices are within £5 of each other...

I am BAEC Blue, and not bothered too much about tier points, but I do want avios out of any trip I do, and I can't get any clarification from the EI website/app about whether the tickets they're offering me give Avios, whereas what I've read suggests the BA ticket would issue them as if it were a BA flight.

Then there is the complicated matter of baggage, priority boarding and selecting a seat - you get all three booking with EI, but as far as I can tell you get 1 bag with BA and nothing else is mentioned. Can I select a seat if I book on a BA codeshare as if I'd booked thru EI (i.e. any seat anywhere included)?

Final question - would the flight work through the BA app, showing up, letting me check in and use the boarding pass etc?

Thanks in advance!

corporate-wage-slave

Welcome to Flyertalk and the BA Forum, andrewkeith5, it's good to see you here, and you aren't the first to find this area confusing, even some forum regulars find this area difficult to navigate. Welcome on board.

You can book with BA or EI and get fairly similar products.

If you book BA, and you book under a BA flight number, so a codeshare or "sold as" flight, you should get some Avios and Tier Points. If bought via aerlingus.com you wouldn't get Avios and Tier Points at the moment, but you could get Avios via their new AerClub (personally I'd leave that a few months for it to settle down). No lounge access for BAEC members, but there is for AerClub status members at LGW due to the use of a third party lounge - well that is almost certainly going to change in the new year, or so I'm told. There are paid for alternatives at LGW, including within aerlingus.com

The checked baggage is fairly strictly enforced on EI, no matter how you do, and yes under BA it's one bag at 20 kgs, under EI there are different options. EI makes a lot of money from baggage fees, which is why some basic tickets are very cheap indeed.

If you book under BA you're unlikely to be able to get seat selection very easily, personally I wouldn't bother, I just sort it out at the airport and LGW's handling agents for EI are helpful in my experience. You should be able to check-in online via BA.com, and you get one shot at getting a boarding pass via there. without seat selection. But you may be able to get a boarding pass and/or do seat changes via aerlingus.com or the App, though it may only be in the final 24 hours. Aer Lingus has a very clunky IT system that manages to make BA look slick. No priority boarding on EI if booked via BA, but I don't presonally see the value of that on a very short flight.

You do get this trio of benefits if booked via Aer Lingus instead of BA, you lose the Avios/TPs, and you gain better baggage booking options, at least in online form.

If you go to the forum Dashboard you'll find a thread on travelling to SNN/ORK/NOC which while not directly relevant to your travels has a bit of Aer Lingus background information in it.

andrewkeith5

Hmm OK, thank you for your incredibly good reply! I have to say I have spent a lot of time reading your posts C-W-S and you are very knowledgeable Thanks for the other thread suggestion, I'm working my way through it now...

So as Avios are more important to me than priority boarding, and I still get a bag in the hold (20kg is fine for me), I think I'll go with BA.

Can I still phone EI and get a seat allocation, then just check in at the airport? I am a little picky about where I sit and it's either digital or cardboard boarding passes for me, the A4 sheets of paper just don't work!

corporate-wage-slave

First of all, after you have booked, see if aerlingus.com allows you to do it. BA will give you a PNR, what you then need is the Aer Lingus PNR which begins with a 2. You should see this on BA.com under seating, or it may be visible under classic.checkmytrip.com. However note that you will have to pay for specific seat selection, not that I would bother on such a short flight. If you pay for an emergency row seat then you also get Priority Boarding with the same fee.

Thereafter, yes by all means ring up, there are some threads in the Aer Lingus forum which may help with how seating allocation works there. I would consider getting the Aer Lingus app, particularly if you have further travel ahead, whilst not as good as BA's App, it is quite useful. I'm told they are trying to link seat selection in BA.com for Aer Lingus flights, but I can well believe this to be complicated. But if you can get the App to work, then if the flight is in the morning check-in after 21:00 hrs the night before, select "sit anywhere" and you should get a good seat. Evening flights you best do on the morning of travel.

technical_bob

Hello experts,

I have a J booking that has some BA codeshare segments on Aer Lingus metal, and MMB won't let me choose seats (neither will aer lingus site when inputting my PNR). Not massively surprised by that, but I'm wondering if I can phone up to select them, and if so whether should phone aer lingus or BA?

Andriyko

Call Aer Lingus and they will assign the seats.

corporate-wage-slave

Have a look at this thread from yesterday:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...res-terms.html

You may have to pay for seat selection, but it depends on the details.

FlyerTalker6245

Not my experience - at least not without payment.

That said, the Gold Circle lounge was more than happy to move to something more desirable and block the middle seat. ^

Andriyko

Hmm. I was never charged as a GCH and booking as a BA codeshare. And I am always in economy.

corporate-wage-slave

There are circumstances when it could be free. E.g. if done within 24 hours of departure, if it's longhaul (irrespective of status), certain fare buckets. Also they do entertain the window/aisle preference for free. But broadly speaking, and with about 12 exceptions, being Gold does not yet give a blanket free seat selection.

Andriyko

I must have been lucky, then. Got seat assignments months in advance on the cheapest fare in economy.

corporate-wage-slave

You can be very persuasive!

ClareM

Hello, I'm flying Dublin to JFK next week, with flights booked with AerLingus, using my Avios points. While I have received a booking code for my flight, I have been having difficulties getting answers from both AerLingus and Avios in relation to a couple of points, because AerLingus are saying that Avios is a 3rd Party, therefore they are looking after all queries re the flight, and Avios say it's AerLingus's responsibility.

Either way I feel unsure as to where I stand now in relation to my flight.

Does anyone know if I am entitled to check in on-line before my flight with AerLingus, using the booking code that Avios gave me? Am I entitled, as a result, to choose my seats beforehand.

Am I also entitled to the same baggage allowance as if I had booked directly with AerLingus.

Am I entitled to the inflight meal?

From my current experience, I'm not sure how keen I would be to book an AerLingus flight again using my Avios points.

Can anyone advise me?

Thanks.

corporate-wage-slave

Welcome to Flyertalk ClareM and welcome to the BA forum. I wouldn't get too concerned about finding out these details from call centres, they get a lot of calls from people asking sometimes very detailed questions, and yet the people answering may have never stepped on an aircraft in their life. On the other hand this forum is filled with people who fly, sometimes many times a week. So for some sorts of questions this really is the right place to visit.

And it is basically a yes to all those questions, you can check-in online (and I would certainly advise it) and via the App with Avios bookings. You should get seat selection, but if the flight is full the options may be limited. However at the airport Aer Lingus staff will be on hand to help get you a better seat if necessary. You do get the same meal and baggage allowance as the rest of the people in your cabin. You are on a ticket like everyone else, there aren't many differences with redemption bookings on the whole.

irishguy28

Yes. (As long as there is nothing untoward regarding your entitlement to fly to the USA). You can select your seat for free during check-in.

Yes. (You actually get a greater allowance than those booking a Saver TATL, or a Saver shorthaul booking, as they come with no free baggage allowance).

Yes.

I think that's a little bit of an over-reaction!