Fun ways to use Avios: Dublin

East Coasters looking to get away for the weekend need look no further. Dublin, an historic city and the capital of Ireland, is just a 6 hour flight from Boston, New York, and Washington. And for just 25,000 Avios roundtrip you could go there.

British Airways Avios is a distance-based program, meaning that you pay based on how far you’re flying. One of Avios’ partners is Aer Lingus, the flag carrier of Ireland. Aer Lingus flies from both New York JFK and Boston to Dublin each day. It just so happens that the distance between Boston and Dublin is just under 3,000 miles, meaning that with Avios it costs just 12,500 miles each way. 25,000 miles to get to Europe. That’s ridiculous. Flying from JFK would cost 40,000 roundtrip, still a great deal I would argue.

Finding Aer Lingus availability

Unfortunately the British Airways site does not show Aer Lingus’ award availability, so you can’t search for flights there. Luckily Qantas, which also partners with Aer Lingus, does show availability. Here’s how to search.

1    1.       Go to www.qantas.com.au and make an account

2.       Go to www.qantas.com.au and log in

3.       Click Book – Flights on the top

4.       Enter your departure city (Boston) and then enter your dates

5.       Click the arrival city and check the “Show Qantas & Classic Partner Award cities” BEFORE entering “Dublin” (otherwise it won’t show up)

6.       Click “Flexible with dates” and search

7.       Up will come a list of dates with little people icons. The people icons show dates with availability. Click the dates you want and hit continue at the bottom.

8.       The available flights will appear on the next page. Only pick direct flights on Aer Lingus, otherwise this deal won’t work. Write down the flight numbers you’ve found.

9.       Call British Airways Avios at 800-452-1201 to book. Feed them the flights you found. It should price out to 25,000 miles roundtrip plus about $47. Ask them to waive the $25 booking fee because you are unable to book this online.

And there you have it. 25,000 miles to a wonderful European city. I’ve seen worse deals!