Cheapest Airfare to Ireland

[kadiem]

Hi all. My daughter and her BF want to go to Ireland in May 2016. We are in the Philadelphia area. Any tips to fly there affordably? Is there a credit card that would help with miles a la Southwest? I'd love to help her plan, but I've never really gone anywhere except Orlando LOL! Thanks!

 

[Madteaparty001]

I haven't been in a quite a few years but assuming nothing has changed there are no direct flights to Ireland, you will have to land in England first and take a smaller plane over to Ireland. So you may want to price the round trip flights and individual flights to see what combination will get you the best deal. I believe British Airways or American Airlines is the points you want, they do have their own credit cards just like Southwest.

 

[Madteaparty001]

Here's a link to get you started: http://millionmilesecrets.com/2015/02/10/top-5-cheap-ways-to-get-to-europe-using-miles-and-points/

 

[justlook3]

There are nonstop flights to Dublin and Shannon from Philadelphia. Mind you it's been 9 years since I flew but my flight was nonstop from Philly on US Air. Today it seems British Airways, Iberia, Finnair and American all fly nonstop. There are other airlines that fly into England or elsewhere first and are probably cheaper flights.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

There are non stops flights to Ireland. Dh and I went there for our honeymoon. It's been a while but we flew Aer Lingus out of JFK to Shannon and returned into Boston.
The last time I checked, US Airways offered non stop flights from Philly into Dublin.
You probably will need to book on aa.com since they have taken over USAirways.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

As for getting the cheapest prices choosing the most off peak days/dates/times would help to lower the price.
We saved for YEARS to get enough USAirways miles (via cc) to be able to fly 3 of us to Europe. They may say it takes 40,000 miles for Europe but that is really hard to find. Perhaps that's in mid January. Lol.
Our flights ended up costing 90,000 miles pp (to Barcelona) which will take a LOT of cc spending to achieve this for a May trip. Like buying a home with a cc.

 

[BadPinkTink]

WAVES Irish person here

I use www.skyscanner.com to find the cheapest flights

There are 2 international airports in Ireland
Dublin - Capital City, East coast
Shannon - South West Coast

Airlines which fly from Dublin Airport
Air Lingus
Emirates
Etihad Airways
Delta
United
US Airways
American Airlines

Airlines which fly from Shannon Airport
American Airlines
Delta
United

You can also fly to Ireland from America Via Heathrow in London. I have done this many times. You check in in America and get 2 boarding cards. Your luggage gets checked through straight to Dublin. At Heathrow you transfer internally, to Air Lingus.

Any questions about flying or vacationing in Ireland let me know

 

[kadiem]

Thank you all so much! Lots of info to check out. I appreciate it.

 

[jedijill]

Check out Icelandair as well. They have some great deals.

Jill in CO

 

[mjkacmom]

Just booked flights NJ to Shannon for 676 for March.

 

[Arielle22]

My family and I flew direct from Boston to Dublin and then back direct from Shannon. It was 1k for each ticket. We left on a Friday night and returned home the following Saturday at 11am.

 

[eliza61]

HI Op, I live in Philly also. Don't discount JFK and Newark. When we went to both Paris and London, flights were 200 cheaper leaving JFK. now for one person that may not make it worth the hassle but for 4 tickets, we were able to get a limo to take us and pick us up for 125 each way.

I just checked travelocity. Delta has some fares for about 1K a person that stops in JFK. JFK had those same flights for 700 bucks a piece. so for two people that's a savings of 600 bucks. more than enough to fly out of JFK and get a limo from Philly


sign up for fare watchers.

 

[sharona]

If you can accumulate enough British Airways Avios points (from a credit card sign up or transfer points from Amerixan Express or Chase rewards) you can use them on Aer Lingus to fly round trip from Boston to Dublin for 25K miles pp for coach. Not sure of the miles needed from PHL but for that kind of a deal you could pay $ for positioning flights to BOS if needed...

 

[Jimsig]

As others have said check JFK, Newark, but don't forget the DC airports as well and of course your own PHL .

 

[Pesky]

Loved flying into Shannon. Definitely a very easy airport to navigate.

 

[disneypharm]

FYI - Air Lingus has a sale right now, but it does not cover May 2016 (ends March 31st).
http://www.aerlingus.com/travelinformation/weboffersfromusa/flightsonsale/