My favorite way to fly to Europe on miles is a great deal offered by Aer Lingus that lets you fly to Dublin for 26,000 miles per person round-trip plus fuel surcharges and taxes from certain major US cities.
To take advantage of this deal, you need to fly during Aer Lingus’ “off-peak” dates, which run two-thirds of the year.
Now available is the Aer Lingus Calendar for 2021 that shows the airline’s “peak” and “off-peak” dates, so you, too, can take advantage of this fabulous deal!

Credit: Aer Lingus
To take advantage, you’ll need to fly from one of several major U.S. cities like Chicago or New York City directly to Dublin or Shannon, Ireland.
From there, you can fly to other cities in Europe by using Avios (Aer Lingus & British Airways’ miles currency) to book more flights on Aer Lingus or pay to fly a cheap airline like Ryanair.
Get access to my online course about how to travel free to Europe inside my Families Fly Free members program, as well as learn a simple process to fly your family free forever! Learn more by clicking the image below…
Here are Aer Lingus’ OFF-PEAK dates for 2021:
- Jan. 7-March 25
- April 12-June 11
- Sept. 6-Dec. 15
We like to fly in late May as soon as the kids are out of school, returning mid-June.

Aer Lingus has a great deal to get you to Europe for 26,000 points!
You can also transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points earned from cards like Chase Sapphire Preferred (this is my FAVORITE travel credit card; read my full review of this card) directly to Aer Lingus Avios now to book your flight to make things even EASIER.
Another good option to earn points is the British Airways Visa Signature Card (read my full review of this card).
To apply for any credit cards included in this post, please use the links in this post or start at the CREDIT CARDS link in the Go to Travel Gal main menu shown in the image below. This allows me to earn a commission — at no cost to you — to help support our small business! I sincerely appreciate you taking this step!
Got questions about how the Aer Lingus Calendar 2021 works? Leave a comment below!
Cami says
Is Aer Lingus part of an alliance? Would love to go back to Ireland!!
Lyn Mettler says
HI Cami, yes, here is the link to their partner airlines:
https://www.aerlingus.com/plan-and-book/plan/our-airline-partners/
What’s great about Aer Lingus is you can now transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards directly to Aer Lingus to book the flights, so a sign up for 1 Chase Sapphire, Reserve, Ink etc card should be enough to get 2 people there and back. They are also partners with British Airways, so you can use any of those points to transfer to Aer Lingus (via Avios.com) and book your flights. I hope that helps!
Lyn