In the summer of 2017, my family flew to Europe on Aer Lingus for 26,000 miles per person round-trip plus fuel surcharges and taxes. We got the 26,000-mile deal by flying Aer Lingus’ “off-peak” dates, which run two-thirds of the year and by signing up for the Chase Sapphire Reserve when it was offering a 100,000-point bonus after meeting the minimum spend.
Credit: Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus has published their 2019 “off-peak” dates calendar, which shows you the dates when you, too, can score the 26,000-mile round-trip deal.
Here are complete details about how to earn and book the 26,000 miles for a trip to Europe. 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.
Aer Lingus has a great deal to get you to Europe for 26,000 points!
Here are Aer Lingus’ off-peak dates for 2019:
- Jan. 7-April 11
- April 29-June 14
- Sept. 9-Dec. 17
We flew in late May as soon as the kids were out of school returning June 16 (the end of the off-peak dates in 2017).
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) or Chase Ink Business Preferred directly to Aer Lingus Avios now to book your flight.
Another good option to earn points is the British Airways Visa Signature Card (read my full review of this card).
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Cami says
January 9, 2018 at 11:05 pmIs Aer Lingus part of an alliance? Would love to go back to Ireland!!
Lyn Mettler says
January 10, 2018 at 8:44 amHI 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