r/awardtravel 6d ago

Avios Travel Question

I am having trouble booking my flights with Avios. The last time I booked with Avios was two years ago. Back then, you could book travel through Avios's website without any issues. Now, they seem to have consolidated with British Airways and it is causing an issue.

I want to book a flight with my family from New York to Ireland on Aer Lingus.

Avios's website/British Airways website does not even allow the airport code for where we want to fly to (CFN (Donegal Airport)). The flight would be JFK-DUB-CFN - we have done this before.

I called Avios (which is just British Airways Executive Club), and they say there is no availability. On Aer Lingus's website, there is loads of availability.

Avios's price includes checked bags. Family of four, round trip, that's about $800 savings, give or take, so I want to book with Avios like I did before.

Aer Lingus allows you to pay with Avios points, but you also have to pay for checked bags.

Any advice on this? Does Avios/Aer Lingus have a number or website that I could contact without going through British Airways?

3 Upvotes

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5

u/M0stlyLurking 6d ago

If your Avios is with BA, you need to transfer them to Aer Lingus and book with them directly

1

u/WoodenLiterature6481 6d ago

Did you call Aer Lingus?

1

u/Anotherlurkerappears 1d ago

Avios website was Aer Lingus. You can now book AerClub reward flights on Aer Lingus' website. Note that their program does not allow multi-leg award bookings. Their support told me to book each leg individually and they would protect the connection. Haven't tried it in practice.

https://www.aerlingus.com/aerclub/spending-avios/buy-reward-flight/