Irish site TRAVELExtra have reported that Aer Lingus and British Airways have extended their codeshare agreement. The airlines are already codeshare partners on routes between Ireland and the United Kingdom and this new agreement covers routes between Ireland and Europe. Both airlines are owned by International Airlines Group (IAG) which means this extension is no surprise. It is expected that Aer Lingus will join the transatlantic joint venture in due course.
Codeshare Beware
On the face of it this is great news! It means you can book Aer Lingus flights on the British Airways web site and earn all your normal Avios miles without having to worry about fare class. I was kicking myself for not checking the British Airways web site for a recent booking from Dublin to Glasgow. Upon investigation though, I made the right choice.
Aer Lingus flights between Dublin and Glasgow out on 8 November and back on 9 November price up as follows.
This is a total of €54.98 in the lowest fare class or €106.96 on a Plus Fare which gives you seat selection and a 20kg hold bag. British Airways on the other hand price the exact same flights as follows.
€181.00 for exactly the same flights! They do include a bag and seat selection but even so it is almost €75.00 more for absolutely no reason whatsoever.
Overall Thoughts
The integration of Aer Lingus into IAG joining Iberia, British Airways and Vueling is a good thing. It will provide many more options for frequent flyers to earn points on more flights and that is excellent. Anyone who finds a suitable Aer Lingus flight on the British Airways web site should check with Aer Lingus directly. There could be a substantial cost saving on the ticket. I understand the price difference is due to which fare classes are available for the codeshare however it certainly pays to be informed. Thanks for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please let me know.
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This is often the case. One carrier for the same flights will have a much cheaper fare. You may search the same flights marketed by Delta, Air France, and KLM. Each with the same operating airline. But each has a different fare (in some cases it can be hundreds of dollars, I booked a traveler from Chicago on Lufthansa and he wanted premium economy and he wanted it ticketed by United.) I booked him what he demanded and then looked and found the same flight in Business class both directions for $400 more and fully refundable if he needed to… Read more »
What an excellent reply – thanks so much for that! I know through trial and error that sometimes you can come up with a great fare on unexpected airlines if you price in connections. I once went from Dublin to Sydney via Budapest, Amman and Bangkok in order to use a combination of redemption flights and cash tickets to get an overall decent deal. Frequent flyers tend to swear by the ITA Matrix site, but I don’t use it too much. I really need to get into it – I think Google Flights uses this as well? You do need… Read more »
For me it was the opposite, I found a flight from Gatwick to LA via Dublin (both legs with Aer Lingus) for £300 something on BA website but £700 something on the Aerlingus website for the same flights!
Well that’s definitely interesting, I’d never come across that. I’ll have to have a look and see if that’s a thing or not, because the short haul routes are usually very pricey on BA compared to Aer Lingus. Thanks for the heads up!
Thanks for the insight/info, Trent. I’ll be sure to do my homework.
Never doubted you for a minute 🙂