I’m a huge fan of Chase Ultimate Rewards, so it was great to see a note from Chase in my e-mail about adding yet more transfer partners!

Chase Ultimate Rewards adds 2 new partners!

The particularly exciting thing about this is that Iberia usually has fewer fuel surcharges on premium cabin awards! There is a way to transfer between Avios accounts, but if you’re able to just transfer points directly, it becomes a time saver.

I’m not particularly familiar with Aer Lingus’ AerClub, but looking at the award chart, it seems to be cheaper than the British Airways chart by just a bit. First you’ve got to consider the distances (in order to make the award chart make sense):

Now understanding Aer Lingus AerClub’s zones, take a look at the redemption costs:

I couldn’t find a one to one match, as the BA flight I could find included a connection in London, but if AerClub prices out based on total mileage of the itinerary, rather than on a per segment itinerary, then this could be a helpful option.

Wrapping Up – Chase Ultimate Rewards new partners

Overall, I’m not sure that this action necessarily changes the game for Chase Ultimate Rewards. They are logical partners to add given the Avios tie up and strong co-brand card relationship Chase has with British Airways. Does it make the program more attractive? Definitely. For me, this makes me want to spend some more time looking to see if there are any discriminators that make AerClub more attractive than say, Iberia. On the whole, this is a good news story.

Have you redeemed with Aer Lingus’ AerClub? Should this be a bigger deal?