Travel in spacious Aer Lingus business class to Europe starting at only 45,000 points each way

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan partners with Aer Lingus and with its revamped award chart, business class from the East Coast to Europe rings in at just 45,000 miles each way. Right now, I’m seeing wide open business availability for up to 4 passengers on Aer Lingus routes to Europe, including during summer 2024 dates. While I find the Aer Lingus flights to be a bit too short to fully enjoy the benefit of a lie-flat seat, but business class to and from Europe can be a tough find during peak summer travel and the price is certainly right in this case. And keep in mind that Alaska Mileage Plan offers a free stopover on a one-way — so you could, for example, fly to Dublin and stop over for a few days en route to Paris.

The Deal

• Aer Lingus has wide open Summer 2024 business class award availability between the east coast of the US and Europe. This space is bookable via:
  • Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan for 45K or 55K one-way (originating from the east coast and depending on distance from the east coast). You can add a free stopover in Dublin in either direction.
  • British Airways or Aer Lingus Avios for 60K Avios and about $120 in additional taxes & fees
  • United Mileage Plus for 88K miles one way.

Quick Thoughts

I flew Aer Lingus to Europe last summer, from Washington Dulles to Dublin to Milan (en route to the Grand Hotel Victoria on Lake Como). The seats were fine, though service was slow considering the short flight distance. It almost felt like you had either had to choose between eating dinner or sleeping — due to strong winds, I think our flight time ended up being about 6 hours and it was almost an hour and a half before a meal was served.

Still, if you go in knowing that much, being able to lie flat and get even 4 or 5 hours of sleep on the way to Europe beats sitting up straight, particularly at 45K miles each way, which is the price that Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan charges for these awards.

Availability for at least 2 passengers between New York and Dublin is wide open in both directions even in July 2024.

Availability is also good (though not quite as good) from Boston to Dublin in July.

Unfortunately, I only found three dates with seats for two or more passengers in July in the opposite direction (Dublin to Boston). That said, availability looked strong in August.

Keep in mind that if you are booking via Alaska Airlines Mileage plan, you can have a free stopover in Dublin in either direction and connect beyond Dublin for either 45K or 55K miles depending on distance flown (under 3,500 miles flown is 45K and 3501 to 5000 miles flown is 55K miles). For example, fly to Dublin, stop over for a few days, and then connect to Paris for the summer Olympics so long as you don’t mind the intra-European leg being in economy class in this mixed-cabin itinerary.

In some cases, we’re seeing 4 seats available — sometimes on two different flights on the same day. Other Aer Lingus destinations like Washington-Dulles also have plenty of availability.

You can of course book Aer Lingus with a number of other mileage programs in addition to the great deal here via Alaska Mileage Plan. For instance, you could book via United Mileage Plus, though you’ll pay nearly double the number of miles at 88K miles each way.

British Airways Avios is distance-based and charges for each leg, so it isn’t the best for connecting itineraries. However, it could work for the nonstop at 60K, though it’ll cost you about $170 in taxes & fees departing Ireland.

Oddly, that saves you 1 Avios over booking via Aer Lingus.

Any way you slice it, premium cabin space for multiple passengers during peak summer travel dates is notable.

While these are shorter business class flights, the seats are nonetheless lie-flat business class that could certainly be a comfortable way to get to and from Europe for a reasonable number of miles.