Many people do not think about loyalty programs of airlines when occasionally taking flights one or two times a year. The frequent argument we hear in conversations is: It would not make sense to use the loyalty program; I fly anyway just one or two times per year (or, maybe, just once every two or three years). I take always the cheapest flights. I would never be able to really benefit from the program. The short answer to it is – everybody can benefit from loyalty programs. But which airline loyalty program to choose? Which one would be the right one in your individual situation? A practical example is shown in this article.
Situation for a check
Let’s imagine the following situation:
A young person starting his professional life in Switzerland. The salary is moderate; he closely observes his financial situation. No excessive travel habits, but every now and then he visits his family in Ireland. For it, he chooses the cheapest available flights between ZRH and DUB. Oftentimes, the best ticket prices in economy class come from Aer Lingus. Aer Lingus offers the loyalty program AerClub. Aer Lingus is owned by IAG (the holding company of British Airways and Iberia) to 100% and uses Avios as its loyalty currency. Avios were introduced by British Airways back in 2011 and adopted by quite few other airlines within OneWorld, like Iberia, Qatar and Finnair. Other programs use reward points, reward miles, that’s why in this article we’ll use a neutral “reward currency” if not talking specifically about Avios.
Open questions:
- Would it make sense at all to register for a loyalty program if commuting occasionally between Zurich and Dublin?
- Would AerClub be the right choice?
- Would another loyalty program be eventually more beneficial?
The first question is pretty easy to answer: YES. A loyalty program with the right choice makes definitely sense even in this situation. We just need to define which criteria are the most important in this case:
- If someone does not fly frequently, extensively, and ideally in the upper range (premium economy, business, first), it would take more time to have the number of Avios in the account sufficient for an award ticket. The validity duration of the reward currency of the program and the possibility of an easy extension in case of a potential expiration are consequently very important here. A wrong program choice could eventually cause the expiration of the earned reward currency yet before you would be able to use it.
- Looking ahead of time and thinking strategically, with how many other airlines would it be possible to earn reward currency of the selected program if the person in question would like to fly on vacation somewhere else? Ideally, the earnings should flow to the same program in such cases speeding up the possibility of an award ticket.
- Is there a possibility of earning reward currency together with someone else, like other family members? This would also help to earn reward currency and to benefit from award tickets faster.
Aer Lingus
Partner airlines of Aer Lingus are American Airlines, British Airways and United Airlines. The possibility to earn Avios is limited to flights with these four airlines. On the flights with Aer Lingus you earn 3 Avios per 1 EUR or 4 Avios per GBP spent being the Green level member (the basic level). On other airlines you earn based on the distance and booked class.
The cheapest return flight from ZRH to DUB on 10.06.2026 – 17.06.2026 costs 147 EUR as of 14.05.2026 (s. screenshot below).
The estimated net fare as basis for the calculation of Avios would be around 100 EUR. It means, that the total earning for this flight would be 100 x 3 = 300 Avios in AerClub.
For the completeness of the analysis: from 01.04.2026 flights on Saver fare within Europe brings you 15 tier points per flight. A return flight will help you earning 30 tier credits towards your status qualification. It does not really matter in our example as you need at least 301 tier credits to reach Silver which is the next status level in AerClub.
Avios validity
With 36 months the validity of Avios is very generous. The extension possibility is very easy: any earning or spending of Avios extends all Avios in your account by further 36 months from the date of activity. No rush to earn as much as possible as quickly as possible. No fear of loosing Avios if any movement happens in your account once every 36 months.
A small setback of the program is a limited number of airline partners.
At first sight the program could be acceptable. Still, would it be possible to improve the benefits by selecting another one?
British Airways Club
Let’s check how the situation would look like if you select British Airways Club instead. We wrote about the changes done in the British Airways Club in the last years and mentioned that they were by far not favorable compared to the old regulations. It seems that British Airways understood the feedback of its most loyal travellers and tries to improve its program in the last time.
If you register to British Airways Club, you earn 6 Avios per GBP (50% more than with AerClub) at the first membership level (Blue) when flying with British Airways and some partner airlines. On other airlines, the credits are calculated based on the distance and booked fare of the ticket. The cheapest fares on Aer Lingus are calculated in this way: distance x 25%.
The flight from Zurich to Dublin with the Saver economy ticket on Aer Lingus would bring you 384 Avios (192 x 2), s. screenshot. It is nearly 30% more than in AerClub.
On top, you get 62 tier points (31 x 2). For the qualitication to the Bronze level (the next status level in BA Club) you require 3500 tier points. So again, it is irrelevant at first sight.
Larger selection of airlines
Using your British Airways Club membership you can also earn Avios (and tier points for status qualification) on flights not only with Aer Lingus, but with all airlines within OneWorld alliance. Despite the fact that OneWorld is the smallest among the three main alliances in the world, but it still includes 16 airlines around the world, including such top airlines as Qatar. You can easily transfer Avios from your British Airways Club account to your accounts with Iberia, Finnair or Qatar. The reason why such transfer could make sense would be a separate topic.
The Avios have the same validity duration and the same ease of extension as with AerClub.
Some additional sweet points with British Airways Club:
- Even if you do not reach your status qualification, your tier points count to your lifetime Gold status with British Airways Club. When you reach 550.000 lifetime tier points over years, you get a lifetime Gold status (the highest status within BA Club with a lot of significant benefits in the airports and on flights) and will not need to requalify at all anymore
- BA Club allows you to earn Avios in a family account with up to 6 people in total. This can be a real buster to your Avios and to reward tickets
- You can buy Avios even without flying. Every now and then British Airways Club runs promotions with up to 50% Avios offered on top to your bought amount
If you would like to get a detailed analysis and recommendations for your individual travel situation, do not hesitate to book a consultation with us. A small investment at the beginning which would help you to save 4-5 digits amounts on your future travels.
