What American Airlines, Aer Lingus New Codeshare Partnership Means for Travelers

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It's been a little over a year since Aer Lingus joined the Oneworld Transatlantic Joint Venture, and it's now announced codeshare flights with American Airlines. Here are the selected routes available, plus the benefits of such a partnership.

American Airlines and Aer Lingus Codeshare Partnership

The Oneworld Transatlantic Joint Venture includes American Airlines, British Airways, OpenSkies, Iberia, Finnair, and now Aer Lingus. Through this partnership, airlines can coordinate fares, schedules, and routes for transatlantic flights.

Although Aer Lingus has been in the joint venture for over a year, it's just now announced codeshare flights with American Airlines on select routes. Travelers can book flights on American Airlines from the U.S. to Dublin, Ireland and then get an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin (DUB) to the following destinations:

• Amsterdam, Netherlands (AMS)
• Birmingham, England (BHX)
• London Gatwick, England (LGW)
• Manchester, England (MAN)

Or you can fly AA to London Gatwick (LGW) and get a connecting flight with Aer Lingus to these destinations:

• Belfast City, Northern Ireland (BHD)
• Cork, Ireland (ORK)
• Dublin, Ireland (DUB)
• Shannon, Ireland (SNN)

Conversely, travelers flying with Aer Lingus to Chicago O'Hare (ORD) can continue on an American Airlines codeshare flight to the following destinations:

• Albuquerque, New Mexico (ABQ)
• Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas (DFW)
• Los Angeles, California (LAX)
• Nashville, Tennessee (BNA)
• San Francisco, California (SFO)
• San Jose, California (SJC)
• Seattle-Tacoma, Washington (SEA)
• Tuscon, Arizona (TUS)

Pros and Cons

The pros of this partnership are as follows.

• When booking codeshare flights, you can book all flight segments on the same ticket and through the same booking portal, saving you the hassle of multiple bookings and tickets.
• Codeshare flights handle all the baggage for you. That means you don't have to collect your baggage and check in again on a transit flight (which can be very frustrating and time-consuming from personal experience).
• You'll earn AAdvantage miles and Loyalty Points on Aer Lingus codeshare flights — as long as you book an AA flight number.

The missing part of this partnership is travelers still can't earn miles or Loyalty Points on Aer Lingus-marketed flights (flights booked with an “EI” flight number). American Airlines doesn't currently list Aer Lingus as a partner, and vice versa.

Aer Lingus is no longer part of the Oneworld Alliance (as of 2006). However, American Airlines allows mileage earning and even elite status earning on other non-alliance partners — like JetBlue and GOL. So, it's disappointing that American Airlines AAdvantage members still won't be able to earn not only miles but also Loyalty Points toward status when flying on Aer Lingus.

Our Take

The routes offered with this partnership are a bit limited currently but are expected to expand in the future.

Not everyone will be able to take advantage of this partnership, but I myself could have used it last summer when I had to fly to the UK last minute to take care of my ailing father. At the time, the only last-minute flights during the pandemic were an absolute nightmare with switching airlines and missed flights from delays. So, if you are traveling along any of the routes mentioned above, consider booking flights with the American Airlines and Aer Lingus codeshare.

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