Chase Launches Aer Lingus Card With 100,000 Point Bonus

Chase has launched the Aer Lingus Visa signature card. Let’s take a look at the new credit card.

Card Basics

  • $95 annual fee not waived first year
  • Sign up bonus of up to 100,000 points, broken down as follows:
    • 50,000 Bonus Avios after $3,000 spend within first 3 months
    • Plus 25,000 Bonus Avios after $10,000 spend within your first year.
    • Plus a further 25,000 Bonus Avios after you spend $20,000 total on purchases within your first year from account opening.
  • Card earns a the following rates:
    • Earn 3 Avios for every $1 you spend on Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia, LEVEL and OpenSkies purchases.
    • Earn 1 Avios for every $1 you spend on all other purchases
  • Companion ticket every year you make purchases of $30,000 or more on your card
  • Priority boarding for you and any authorized users
  • No foreign transaction fees

Our Verdict

Seems to be exactly the same as the British Airways card. I assume the Chase 5/24 rule doesn’t apply to this card, if anybody confirms this we will update accordingly (doesn’t apply: 1, 2) . Bonuses on the Iberia & British Airways cards have also been increased.  For me this is one of those cards that isn’t work keeping long term, but it is worth getting the sign up bonus for. The only problem with the bonus is the spend required, let’s break it down into how much you’d earn per $1 spent:

  • First 50,000 points requires $3,000 in spend, that’s an additional 16.5x points per $1 spent
  • Next 25,000 points requires an additional $7,000 in spend, that’s an additional 3.57x points per $1 spent
  • Next 25,000 points requires an additional $10,000 in spend, that’s an additional 2.5x points per $1 spent

The nice thing is that even 50,000 is a nice sign up bonus and you have a full year to meet the other spend requirements.
    William Charles
  • On April 19, 2018, 17:11

View Comments (24)

  • Has anyone tried to get this card and were recently denied due to too many new accounts? Iberia card as well?

  • Sorry if this is a stupid question but are these avios different than the BA avios? I just picked up the bonus on BA so can these be added to that account?

  • Any idea of how long the 100k bonus on this and the BA card will be around? Or is this now standard?

  • Since Aer Lingus/BA/Iberia Avios can be transferred back and forth, is there any reason one of these cards is better than the others? Or should just pick whichever one has the best card graphics?

    • All three cards are identical in function except for the perk you get on anniversary if you spend $30,000 during the year.

      If you have no intention of meeting that $30,000 spend, then they are effectively identical for you, so yes, pick the one you like the most aesthetically. (Aer Lingus has a cute shamrock!) (Iberia is red!) (Or whatever floats your boat.)

      HOWEVER, if you think you might hit that $30,000 (and with spending bonuses encouraging you to $20,000, maybe you do want to do that last $10,000, at least the first year?) , then carefully consider which perk will work best for you. Iberia gives you $1,000 off the purchase of two tickets (on the same itinerary). For a fairly inexpensive itinerary, this could equal a very cheap paid trip for two (but with full credit for two paid tickets). (Example: say you chose a fare of $640 per ticket round trip DC to Dublin; That's $1280 plus taxes, minus $1000, equals just $280 plus taxes.) British Airways gives you a free companion ticket (you pay only taxes) to go along with an award booking. This is great if you have Avios and intended to use them to fly on BA itself, but it rather sucks if either you do not have enough Avios in your account for an award flight or you planned on using the Avios on other airlines. Aer Lingus gives you a free companion ticket (you pay only taxes) to go along with your paid fare. This is excellent if you were going to fly Aer Lingus and pay for it - doubly so if your employer is going to pay to send you on Aer Lingus, because you can then take your spouse along for just the taxes. Of course, it sucks if you have tons of award miles and would rather use them than pay for a trip.

      So... in short, get Iberia if you plan on doing a cheap-ish paid flight for two, get Aer Lingus if you plan on doing an expensive paid flight for two or if you jet-set around the world on your employer's dime and would like to drag your spouse along on one trip, and get British Airways if you've been saving up your Avios and you want to spend them flying British Airways.

      • Porque no quiero "get toasted" con un shutdown de Chase

        I have a specific redemption in mind I need 90K Avios for. I'll pickup one card in the short term, and maybe get another one down the road. Question is which one to pick first.

        • Lol. Don't think it really matters to be honest, I suspect all three will always have the same bonus.

  • But will they shutdown all of your cards once they take a look at your total relationship? I need Avios, but I need my Chase relationship more.

      • I'm flying RT to Patagonia next austral summer (south to Buenos Aires and back via Santiago). These flights are $1500-$2000 each leg so I am getting a great deal, even though they are long haul. Within Patagonia, my avios worked on one expensive short-haul trips (Puerto Montt to Santiago). My other short-hauls were so cheap that I paid cash.

      • Book AA through BA, sometimes you get lucky find decent redemptions, for example BWI to PHX first class direct saver award is 25k AA miles (10% rebate if you have the right AA cc), but only 20k Avios.

      • Short flights overseas which would otherwise be very expensive. For example, BKK-SIN in J on CX is only 15k + $40 vs. $400 paid. 2.4cpp which is decent. Last I checked this flight was $900+ so not as good value.

    • Depends on what your x/12 status is. The consensus seems to be that you're starting to risk it once you're over 10-12 new cards in 12 months.

      • I'm 13/12 plus 3/12 business cards. I was wondering about a shutdown but Chase approved me for a Marriott biz last month when I was 12/12 personal 2/12 biz. Honestly I don't care if they shut me down, I have the Chase Amazon I got a few years ago & never use, the old IHG card that just got destroyed & my new Marriott Biz. I think their cards are pretty good, but overrated in terms of how restrictive 5/24 is. Amex has approved me for 6 cards in 5 months & I've put $10's of thousands worth of spend on their cards. If I could've gotten the CSR 100k way back when Chase would've gotten quite a chunk of that & more, instead they get sock drawered & Amex gets my business. Just my opinion.

      • Hmm, looks like I'm only at 6/12. They don't count x/24 for account reviews on new cards?

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