Seven North American Cities to Ireland for 13k Miles Most of Year

Bad news, good news:

The bad news is that the year-round 12,500 Avios award from Boston to Dublin or Shannon, Ireland on Aer Lingus is dead.

The good news is that those awards from Boston as well as awards from New York, Newark, Hartford, Toronto, Washington-Dulles, and Chicago to Ireland are now only 13,000 Avios for more than two-thirds of the year.

British Airways Buying Aer Lingus? What Does It Mean for Your Miles?

Ireland's government announced its approval for IAG--the parent company of British Airways, Iberia, and Vueling--to purchase Aer Lingus, the flag carrier of Ireland. The Irish government owns a 25% stake in Aer Lingus.

Other shareholders, including Ryanair which owns a 30% stake in Aer Lingus, have not weighed in, but if the deal goes through it will have a big effect on your miles.

Right now Aer Lingus is not a member of any airline alliance.

British Airways Buying Aer Lingus Would Be Terrible for Your Miles

Aer Lingus has decided to accept IAG's takeover bid, which would mean that one company would own the flag carriers of the United Kingdom, Spain, and Ireland, since IAG already owns British Airways and Iberia.

The deal is far from done because the Irish government owns a 25% stake in Aer Lingus and governments always seem to fear losing control of their home airline.

Take Your Whole Family to Europe This Summer

Aer Lingus, a partner of United MileagePlus and British Airways Avios, debuts a Washington-Dulles to Dublin route on May 1, 2015.

New Dreamliner Flight LAX to Europe with Tons of Award Space

Update 10/23/14: Commenter Jeremy finds the award space now on aeroplan.com, and I can confirm that the space on these Ethiopian flights is now bookable and is still excellent! (None of the rest of the post has been updated to reflect this information.)

Ethiopian Airlines will begin flying Los Angeles to Dublin to Addis Ababa in June 2015 with a 787 Dreamliner.

Five Under-Priced Awards on the American Airlines Chart

Yesterday's post on the Coolest Thing You Can Do with 60,000 Miles was a hit, so I thought I'd follow up with how you can create your own THINK BIG itineraries with miles.

The basic premise of that post was connecting far-flung regions into a single trip by taking advantage of under-priced awards between the regions.