Tag Archives: Aer Lingus

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I Cancelled My Trip to Ireland

Good afternoon everyone.  Yesterday, after hearing about the Europe travel ban, we decided to cancel our trip to Ireland.  It’s disappointing but life is unpredictable right now.  Thankfully, most of the trip was booked with miles and points, so cancelling was easy.  I was able to cancel my Hyatt award stay and all 5 Radisson Blu award stays since I was outside the cancellation period and the hotel points were immediately redeposited to my accounts.   I cancelled my rental car reservation booked through Priceline.  I had purchased a few activities through Expedia and was able to cancel those as well.  I should receive the credit card refund in a few days.

Lastly, I needed to cancel my round trip SFO-DUB Aer Lingus award ticket booked with British Airways Avios.  Online, it shows a $55 cancellation fee per passenger.  I called BA and asked if they could waive the cancellation fee but was told that the flight is still operating as scheduled and that if the phone agent cancelled the reservation, there would be an additional $25 fee.  I decided to cancel the award ticket online and the BA Avios were immediately redeposited to my BA account.  The cash refund should arrive in the next 1-2 weeks.

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Upgraded JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton Visa Infinite Credit Card $300 Annual Travel Credit for 2019 Still Available

Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday and any other holiday in between that I missed.  A few weeks ago, I wrote Why Did I Upgrade my Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Visa Signature to JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton Visa Infinite?  In that post, I went through all the card benefits and explained why this card was interesting to me.  One of the key features of this card is the $300 annual travel credit.  Accord to the terms and condition, the $300 Annual Travel Credit can be used for the following purchases, “airline lounge day pass, or towards a yearly lounge membership of your choice; airline seat upgrades; airline baggage fees; in-flight Internet/entertainment; in-flight meals.”

Since I still had a few weeks left in the year, I called JPMorgan Chase and asked if the $300 annual travel credit was available to me since I recently upgraded from the Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card.  The rep said yes and listed the same qualifying purchases as above.  I started thinking about my upcoming trips to see if I could pay for airline seat upgrades on any of my flights…

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How to Book Aer Lingus Award Tickets with British Airways Avios (Call BA to Save $100+ on Taxes & Fees)

Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  Yesterday, I was looking for a flight from San Francisco to Dublin and found this roundtrip, nonstop Aer Lingus flight for $895.36 in economy.  Aer Lingus is the only airline that flies this SFO-DUB route nonstop.  I wanted to see if there was award space on Aer Lingus (there was), award space on United Airlines (there was), award space on Iberia (nope), and award space on British Airways (yes, but not bookable online).  In this post, I will show you how I searched for award space, booked the award ticket using British Airways Avios, and saved hundreds of dollars in taxes/fees compared to booking the same flight using Aer Lingus Avios.

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Guest Post from Shelli: There’s more to Ireland than just Guinness

Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is off to a great start.  My friend Shelli is a personal health and fitness blogger at Joy In Movement and she recently returned from a trip to Ireland.  We were emailing on St. Patrick’s Day and she mentioned that several other travel bloggers were talking about Ireland and Guinness.  After a few emails back and forth, she wanted to write a quick guest post about her trip to Ireland.  Take it away Shelli…


St. Patrick’s Day was a few days ago, so let’s leave the Guinness behind us, only for a moment, and focus on all the other wonderful sites, restaurants, coffee, day trips, and hotel options for making your Dublin visit a success!  Having just spent 9 days in Dublin, I can certainly vouch for it as a great city to visit and here are my top reasons why.

It’s an amazing city for those of us who like to walk and get out of touristy areas.

Phoenix Park is a wonderful destination.  It’s the world’s largest enclosed municipal park and it’s filled with monuments like the Papal Cross, the Dublin Zoo, gardens and lots of open spaces and views of the city.  After you leave Phoenix Park, it’s an easy walk back into town to the Guinness Storehouse for your tour and free pint!

Dublin Guinness Storehouse

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2016 Eurotrip Travel and Expense Summary

Good afternoon everyone, here is a summary of my 2 week trip to Europe from January 2016.  Here is my planning and booking process: Hotel & Flight Bookings for LHR, CDG, NCE, MUC, VCE, and DUB.  Here is a visual representation of my intra-European flights.  I also flew from SFO-LAX-LHR on American Airlines and DUB-SFO on Aer Lingus (not pictured).

GCM Eurotrip 2016

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