Aer Lingus Launches Its First Transatlantic Avios-Only Flight to New York

Aer Lingus has just announced its first-ever transatlantic Avios-Only flight, an exclusive Dublin to New York (JFK) service that goes on sale today to mark 10 years of its loyalty programme, AerClub. Every seat on board can only be bought with Avios - no cash fares - and to celebrate the milestone, the points pricing is a flat 10% below the standard reward rate. It's a genuinely interesting one, so let's dig into the numbers.

Avios-Only flights aren't new in themselves - Aer Lingus ran its first one (Dublin to Tenerife) back in August 2024, and British Airways has been doing them to the likes of Faro, Corfu and Barbados for a while now. The twist here is that this is the first time the concept has gone long-haul with Aer Lingus, crossing the Atlantic.

The headline details, straight from IAG Loyalty:

Every seat is reserved exclusively for AerClub members, sold on a first-come, first-served basis, and bookable through the Aer Lingus Rewards website. It's pitched as a long weekend in the Big Apple - handy timing for some pre-Christmas shopping, which is clearly the angle they're going for.

This is where it pays to check the maths rather than take "10% off" at face value. A standard off-peak AerClub reward flight from Dublin to New York is 13,000 Avios each way in economy - so 26,000 Avios return. Knock 10% off and you land at 23,400 Avios. So the discount is real and it checks out.

For context, 23,400 Avios return to the US East Coast is a strong economy redemption by any measure. The equivalent BA flight from London is 25,000 Avios each way off-peak in economy (plus around £50 in taxes), so you can see why a Dublin departure has always been a quiet sweet spot for Avios collectors - and why routing through Ireland comes up so often in these conversations.

Business Class at 90,000 Avios return is less of a slam-dunk. Aer Lingus lie-flat seats across the Atlantic are perfectly pleasant, but standard AerClub business pricing and the various partner routings (you can sometimes book the same metal for 60,000 Avios one-way through BA, or via Alaska) mean the 90k figure is more "fair" than "fantastic". Still, having a guaranteed flat-rate business seat with no dynamic pricing or availability roulette has its own value - especially if you've been refreshing award calendars for months.

Here's the detail that jumped out at me. IAG Loyalty notes that Tesco Ireland Clubcard vouchers can now be converted straight into Avios - and that €100 in Tesco vouchers is enough to cover this entire flight to New York. That's a remarkable line when you sit with it: a return transatlantic flight, funded by your weekly shop.

It won't apply to most of our UK readers directly, since this is the Tesco Ireland partnership rather than the UK Clubcard scheme, but it's a neat illustration of just how far the Avios ecosystem now reaches. If you're collecting Avios through everyday spending, this is exactly the kind of redemption that makes the grind worthwhile.

And if you don't have the full Avios balance? Aer Lingus confirms a range of Avios + Cash options on these flights, so you don't need to be sitting on the whole amount to book.

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For UK-based readers, the obvious snag is that this flight departs from Dublin, not London or Manchester. So the real question is what it costs you to position to Dublin and back around those fixed November dates.

The good news is that Dublin is cheap and easy to reach on Avios. A short-haul reward hop from the UK to Dublin starts at 9,250 Avios return off-peak in economy (plus minimal taxes), or you can grab a cash fare for very little if you book sensibly. The dates are fixed (out 13 November, back 17 November), so you'll want to slot your positioning flights around them - and arrive into Dublin with enough buffer, given it's an international connection rather than a through-ticket.

One genuine bonus of flying out of Dublin: US Customs and Border Protection preclearance. You clear US immigration before you even board in Dublin, which means you land at JFK as a domestic arrival and walk straight out. On a short city break, that's a real time-saver.

If you want to sanity-check what those positioning flights cost in Avios, our "how many Avios for a flight" tool has the full BA chart, and the BA Avios earning calculator will tell you how many Avios a cash positioning fare would earn back.

I like this one. Avios-Only flights solve the single most frustrating thing about reward travel - availability - because every seat is up for grabs, not the usual two or four the airline grudgingly releases. At 23,400 Avios return to New York, the economy pricing is legitimately good, and the fixed November long-weekend dates are actually well chosen for a city break.

The honest caveat is that this is a single flight on fixed dates from Dublin, so it suits people who can be flexible and who either live in Ireland or don't mind a positioning leg. It's not a year-round programme. But as a statement of where the Avios ecosystem is heading - and as a reminder that Dublin remains one of the best-value transatlantic gateways for points collectors - it's well worth a look.

If you're sitting on a healthy Avios balance and fancy New York in November, I'd book sooner rather than later. Seats are limited and first-come, first-served, and these things do tend to go quickly once word gets round.

The Avios-Only flights are bookable now via the Aer Lingus Rewards website, and availability will also show on Avios.com and the Avios app. If you're weighing this up against other ways to cross the Atlantic on points, our Award Travel Finder searches award space across multiple airlines so you can compare before committing your Avios. And if you want to see exactly what you're getting on board the A330, pull up the seat map for EI109 to check the cabin layout and live availability.

Travelling out of Dublin and want to know how long security might take? Flight Queue has live queue estimates for Dublin Airport. And if you've got a lounge-worthy layover, Airport Lounge List has the full rundown of what's open and what you can get into.

If this flight has you eyeing up your Avios pot, the fastest way to top it up is through a points-earning credit card. We keep a running list of the best Avios-earning credit cards in the UK, and for business owners the best business cards too. A current personal favourite for everyday earning is the American Express range, while business owners should look at Capital on Tap for flexible Avios earning. Just remember to weigh up any annual fees against how much you'll actually spend.

Got a view on Avios-Only flights, or planning to book this one? Hit reply and let me know - and don't forget to vote in the poll above.

Safe travels,
Jack @ Smart With Points