The Aer Lingus Visa Signature® Card offers 100,000 bonus Avios after you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening. We value the 100k Avios points to be worth an average $1,500. Compare with other card bonuses.
The Aer Lingus Visa Signature® card targets frequent Aer Lingus flyers who spend big. If you don’t often fly to Ireland, it’ll be hard to justify having this card in your wallet.
There are three airline branded cards issued by Chase that earn Avios rewards. All three cards have similar bonus offers and ongoing rewards. With any of the cards, you’ll earn Avios rewards for purchases on all three airlines and you can redeem Avios on all three airlines. Each card has perks slightly different from the others. Here are the cards and the region where they are headquartered:
- Aer Lingus Visa Signature® Card – Ireland
- British Airways Visa Signature® Card – United Kingdom
- Iberia Visa Signature® Card – Spain
Aer Lingus isn’t part of the Oneworld alliance. You won’t be able to redeem towards flights for those partner airlines (see below for list). Both British Airways and Iberia are part of the Oneworld alliance, so this opens up redemption options with the partner airlines. Luckily, AerClub members can transfer their Avios to either their Iberia Plus or British Airways Executive Club accounts. That’s the workaround.
*Aer Lingus Visa Signature® card is issued by Chase Bank. Chase also offers great sign-up bonuses for its Checking/Savings accounts.
BRITISH AIRWAYS VISA SIGNATURE® CARD
The British Airways Visa Signature® Card has an offer for 100,000 bonus Avios after you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening. We value 100k Avios to be worth around $1,500.
You earn 5 Avios per $1 spent on purchases with British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, and LEVEL within your first 12 months from account opening. After that, earn the ongoing reward of 3 Avios for those purchases. It’s 3 Avios per $1 spent on hotel accommodations when you book directly with the hotel within your first 12 months, thereafter you earn 2 Avios. Plus 1 Avios per $1 spent on all other purchases. Read more about this card’s rewards program here.
When you spend $30,000 in a calendar year, you’ll earn a Travel Together Ticket good for two years.
There are no foreign transaction fees with this card and the annual fee is $95.
Aer Lingus Card Earn 100,000 Avios
Earn 100,000 Avios after you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening.
100,000 Avios are worth around $1,500 per our valuation (more below). That bonus seems high when compared to other top credit card bonuses. But you also have to spend a lot more to get the full value.
Here are some ideas to increase your monthly spending for the bonus Avios.
What Are Aer Lingus Avios Worth?
Like many other airline-branded credit cards, the value of your Avios depends on how you use them. On average, each Avios is worth around $0.015. Using this figure, 100k Avios have an approximate $1,500 value.
You can redeem your Avios for:
- Flights
- Hotel stays
- Car rentals
- Experiences
- Wine
- Seat reservations & upgrades
- Inflight M&S food & beverages
To maximize the value of your Avios, redeem them for flights. All other options will devalue your Avios.
Be careful redeeming for transatlantic flights with your Avios. These bookings are well known for incurring ridiculous surcharges (taxes, fees, carrier charges). Even the offer terms for the Aer Lingus card give this example:
“At time of this publication all reward flights and travel together tickets are subject to taxes, fees and carrier charges of approximately $682 – $1,250 per adult in economy or $1,250 in business class based on travel from Seattle to London.”
It’s better to redeem for shorter domestic flights. Also, take advantage of transferring your Avios over to the Iberia or British Airways mileage programs. You’ll have the Oneworld alliance partner airlines open for redemption.
By the way, your Avios will expire if you don’t collect, spend, share or purchase any for 36 consecutive months.
Bottom Line
The Aer Lingus Visa Signature® card is a good rewards card, especially if you spend enough to get the full welcome bonus and annual companion pass each year.
However, if you don’t fly to Ireland at least once a year, you’re better off with a general travel rewards card.
| OFFER LINK | OFFER | OUR REVIEW |
| Chase Business Complete Banking℠ | $300 Cash | Review |
| Chase Total Checking® | $225 Cash | Review |
| Chase Secure Banking℠ | $100 Cash | Review |
| TD Bank Beyond Checking | $300 Cash | Review |
| TD Bank Convenience Checking℠ | $150 Cash | Review |
| HSBC Premier Checking | $450 Cash | Review |
| Axos Business Checking | $100 Cash | Review |
| Aspiration Checking | $150/$200 Cash | Review |
| Ally Invest | Up To $3,000 | Review |
| Betterment | Up To 1 Year Free | Review |
| BlockFi | Up To $250 BTC | Review |
| Voyager (code BH5F1A) | $25 In BTC | Review |
| TradeStation | $100 Bonus | Review |
| Coinbase | $10 In BTC | Review |
| Robinhood | Free Stock | Review |
| Motley Fool | Stock Advisor Discount | Review |
Editorial Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
Disclaimer: These responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, credit card issuer, hotel, airline or other entity. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post. It is not the bank advertiser's or any other entity's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.