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Aer Lingus, a partner of United MileagePlus and British Airways Avios, debuts a Washington-Dulles to Dublin route on May 1, 2015. It has 4 economy seats and 4 business class seats available for awards on nearly every flight through October 2015 at the moment.

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This is in addition to the gold mine award routes to Europe for next summer that I discussed Tuesday.

  • What days will Aer Lingus operate Washington to Dublin?
  • What is the award space picture?
  • What is the cheapest way to book the flight with miles?

When?

Aer Lingus will operate the new transatlantic service 4x weekly beginning May 1, 2015 on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in both directions.

The eastbound leaves a bit early for my taste, so I’m not sure I’d be able to fall asleep on board.

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The route will be served by an A330. Aer Lingus A330s will be retrofitted in the coming months to offer fully flat 6’6″ beds.

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The refurbishment of Aer Lingus’ A330s will be a big improvement of the angled lie flat seats that the airline currently features in Business Class.

The new beds will be in a staggered pattern that will offer aisle access to all Business Class passengers except those with a window seat in the first row.

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The Award Space

I searched united.com for award space on the new route. Space there does not always match up with what can be booked with British Airways Avios.

I found exactly 4 economy seats and exactly 4 business class seats available for awards on almost every flight in both directions from May 1 until the end of the bookable schedule, currently October 7, 2015.

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How to Book the Award Space

To book the award space with United miles, you can search and book on united.com. United charges:

  • 30k miles each way between the upper 49 United States or Canada and Europe in economy
  • 70k miles each way between the upper 49 United States or Canada and Europe in partner business class

To book with British Airways Avios, call 800-AIRWAYS. Because of this flight’s distance, British Airways charges:

  • 20k Avios each way between Washington and Dublin in economy
  • 40k Avios each way between Washington and Dublin in business

The flights do not have fuel surcharges with either miles, and roundtrip taxes are around $50!

Avios will be the better option if you live in Washington or just want to go to Dublin. But if you need to connect to Washington and plan to use this flight to get to Eastern Europe, each segment of the Avios award will drive the price up.

United miles are probably the better miles if you need to make connections, especially since Dulles is a United hub, so you can connect to it on United flights for zero extra miles.

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