Nice! Must've been a pretty expensive cash rate that night I guess. Hilton does seem to be quite good with things like that - I've had a few little 'mistakes' go in my favour recently.
After my complaint to the manager of the Hampton Inn Boston Crosstown, she has asked Hilton to restore all the points. I will be pleased if this happens... (30K). This holiday gets better and better!
I used a free night certificate for the Ames Hotel, so I won't get that back, unless Hilton want to give me one 8k points for that stay, 2.5k points for the Hampton Inn and 4k for Hilton Dublin Airport... I'm awfully glad you ran that item about using SLH to status match to Diamond!
Just looking at ITA Matrix for the taxes and charges from Dublin to other US destinations and they're all exactly the same as they were to Boston. Plus, according to avios.com, the miles required for travel as far west as Chicago are also the same as I paid to Boston. So just to save me calling BA to check (and going on hold for ages) can anyone confirm that the cost in miles and tax on Aer Lingus is the same to all their routes in the Eastern US? It's just that I've always seen a lot of discussion about DUB-BOS being a great deal but no one mentions Dublin to New York, Washington, Chicago...
Boston was arbitrarily moved west so it's not the same deal as it was before, but it does make it the same as the other Eastern U.S. destinations. I have seen American blogs talk about the other Aer Lingus destinations but I'm not sure InsideFlyer UK has talked about it. Let me double-check and maybe do a blog post on it. Since Aer Lingus does have a peak/off-peak calendar, lower surcharges and US customs clearance in DUB, it definitely makes sense. Anybody who otherwise would need to position to London for a BA flight should really be thinking about positioning to Dublin instead. Also need to check and see if Avios applies UK long-haul APD if you include an Aer Lingus connection from MAN or wherever... P.S. You can check Aer Lingus via avios.com. I would have to investigate but possibly BA is still charging different amounts of tax / surcharge.
I use avios.com to check the Aer Lingus mileage requirements. I don't use it to check taxes, because the BA call centre is still charging the old Aer Lingus taxes. That's how I got to Boston for £91 return and not £200+ which avios.com charges. If the BA call centre is only charging £91 return to all Eastern US destinations via Aer Lingus (as ITA matrix suggests), then all the routes from Dublin are well worth looking at.
I have seen reports along those lines (BA still charging less) so it's worth a call to BA. Haven't booked an Aer Lingus award myself in a couple of years...
OK, looking at ITA matrix and avios.com, this is what I think the state of play is if I call BA: BOS £91 + 26,000 economy/100,000 business off-peak BDL £91 + 26,000/100,000 JFK £91 + 26,000/100,000 EWR £91 + 26,000/100,000 IAD £91 + 26,000/100,000 ORD £91 + 26,000/100,000 MCO £91 + 32,500/125,000 MIA £91 + 32,500/125,000 SFO £91 + 32,500/125,000 LAX £91 + 32,500/125,000 If anyone knows if this is the case, please confirm and save me a call Booking these flights online, taxes are £200 approx.
Unfortunately I've found that airlines sometimes charge a different YQ on rewards than they do on paid tickets. I've never come to a landing on why that is the case. So ITA Matrix isn't a definitive source, just a potential guide. But I'm not aware of BA charging a different YQ for different US airports.
I did something along those lines here: https://insideflyer.co.uk/2016/12/new-aer-lingus-avios-sweetspots/
So, you did, thanks! If no one else knows about the taxes, I will call BA myself and ask about LAX, as it's the farthest. If it's £91, I assume the other routes will be the same.
That'd be great! - I just used the avios.com figures which are obviously (though inexplicably...) higher than BA.
It's the same in business. An excellent deal. As regards economy, you get more value out of a trip to SFO over Boston because the taxes are the same for both routes, even though you're travelling an extra 5,400 miles roundtrip! If only the avios cost hadn't gone up so drastically. Amazing to think that 18 months ago it only cost 25k one way in business.
Haha, I've done Shannon-Boston in Economy which was absolutely fine, so maybe going to SFO wouldn't be too bad (maybe? - I haven't been on a plane for more than 7 hours in Economy for a long time). Coming back could be awful, depending on the time of the flight. As much as I love to see Norwegian etc expanding and flights getting cheaper, the prospect of a proper long-haul overnight in Economy is something I'd try very hard to avoid.
Yep, that's basically my policy. Daytime Y or PE on a case-by-case basis up to about 7 or 8 hours tops. Overnight... J or F only. I'll even position to Chicago or New York for one of the daytime flights from North America to London if I can't do any better...
I just hate the East Coast flights back to Europe (never tried the daytime ones which might be better, but could even be worse in terms of screwing up your sleep pattern, maybe?). Too short to sleep in any meaningful way regardless of the cabin. I think my new 'strategy', having tested Norwegian from JFK last month, is just to book the cheapest Economy flight (using cash or Miles) and deal with it. I'm going to be knackered regardless, so it's not that big a difference and Miles prices in Biz (with the exception of Iberia and potentially a couple of others) are too high to justify on a 6-7 hour flight where I'm going to arrive feeling rubbish anyway.
This is another reason I like Dublin. After the relatively short flight from Boston, I effectively arrived at Dublin Airport about 12:25am, so my body clock was not screaming 'sleep!' just yet. A short hop to the Hilton and I got a good six hours before waking up feeling refreshed. Then the flight home to Manchester. I had no trouble getting to sleep that night, either. Had I gone straight through to Manchester, I would have had to contend with an extra hour on the flight, then the pain of Manchester Airport immigration, then a 90 minute train home. I speak from experience when I say that really does make you a zombie.
