Aer Lingus redemption flights - Avios.com closing down

Avios.com used to be your go-to site for making Aer Lingus redemption bookings.

EI redemption flights are now usually available on BA.com but the "taxes & fees" are often higher on the BA website - and sometimes BA have less redemption seats available.

Avios.com will soon be closing down - and Aer Lingus redemptions will then be bookable on the Aer Lingus website.

Before the Avios.com closure happens I want to look at redemption prices so that we can compare and contrast once AerLingus.com functionality opens up.

For this analysis I'm using the London Heathrow to Ireland West Airport at Knock route - Aer Lingus is the only airline that flies LHR-NOC

If you book a single LHR - NOC it's 4,000 avios + £27.74 on Avios.com

And it's 4,000 avios + £50.74 on BA.com

If you book a single NOC - LHR it's 4,000 avios + £14.50 on Avios.com

And it's 4,000 avios + £35.90 on BA.com

(all passengers pay 10 euro "development fee" on departure)

The price of return redemptions on Avios.com is the same as booking two singles.

The price of return redemptions on BA is almost the same as booking two singles.

Avios.com redemptions come with one free hold bag, so I've never found a reason to pay the higher fees on BA.com

The Avios.com website is pretty awful, and sometimes Amex cards aren't accepted, but if the saving is significant I usually manage to use it

Hopefully redemptions on AerLingus.com will price the same as Avios.com rather than BA.com

  

Avios.com vs British Airways Executive Club

I've written before about the ever changing taxes/surcharges charged on Aer Lingus reward flights - and the difference between booking through British Airways Executive club telephone line, and using the Avios.com website.

I was just looking at a simple Heathrow to Dublin one way flight and phoned up BA to compare prices.  What's really weird is the structure of the Avios/price combination - BA's work in the opposite direction that Avios.com use.

For simplicity let's value each Avios at 1p

On Avios.com the Avios/price combinations are:

4,000 avios + £27.82

3,676 avios + £32.82

3,136 avios + £37.82

2,055 avios + £47.82

1,600 avios + £62.82

1,276 avios + £72.82

Using 1p per Avios value, the 4,000 avios option is the best, with the 2,054 avios option close behind.  The 1,276 avios option is by far the worst.

Assuming the British Airways telephone operator gave me the correct prices - their Avios/price combinations are:

4,000 avios + £40.33

3,676 avios + £43.08

3,136 avios + £47.08

2,055 avios + £55.33

1,600 avios + £60.33

1,276 avios + £65.33

Again using 1p per Avios value, the 2,054 avios option is the best, with the 1,600 avios option close behind.  The 4,000 avios option is the worst.

The best option on Avios.com is significantly cheaper than the best option that the British Airways call agent offered.

But if you only have 1,600 avios to use, then the best option is to book using a British Airways phone operator.

Whilst the Aer Lingus reward flights are still more expensive than the flat Reward Flight Saver option on BA reward flights - at least the Aer Lingus taxes/fees are cheaper than the £39 they were charging a few years ago!

Dublin to St Anton

going to St Anton for some Easter skiing ... a couple of different options:

on Friday 30th March 2018 - Ryanair to Munich

dep DUB 06:10
arr MUC 09:40
67 eur - excluding baggage fees

the 13:00 train cost 60 euro
the 15:00 train cost 45 euro
the 17:00 and 19:00 trains cost 30 euro

alternatively could flight to Zurich

with Eurowings
dep DUB 12:10
arr ZRH 18:20 (via DUS)
100 eur - excluding baggage fees

with Aer Lingus
dep DUB 07:10
arr ZRH 10:40
132 eur - excluding baggage fees

the 12:18 train (under 3 hours) costs 52 eur
the 20:18 train (3.5 hours) costs 61 eur


on Monday 2nd April 2018 - the same routes are available

dep ZRH 21:40
arr DUB  23:00
195 eur - excluding baggage fees

the 16:57 train (arriving 19:42) costs 53 euro

alternatively from Munich there's a Ryanair flight

dep MUC 21:10
arr DUB 22:40
134 eur - excluding baggage fees

or an Aer Lingus flight

dep MUC 20:25
arr DUB 21:55
165 eur - excluding baggage fees

the train timings aren't as helpful for this route, it's a longer journey and there's only a train every two hours - so it would be the 15:03 departure (arriving 18:55) for 69 eur

LYR trip - finally

i've written a few times (actually four) about planning a trip to Svalbard ... so i thought i should explain how i actually finally executed it !

after using the "book activities" section on the Visit Svalbard website to check out potential excursions ... i reckoned that we could see the main sights in just a few days ... and the way the flights worked, that's what we ended up doing.

incidentally, the tourist office in LongYeaRbyen has a couple of computers for tourists to book their trips - and then you can use the booking number generated on the website and make a payment in the tourist office (including by Amex), rather than making payment through the website.  the lady was very helpful, explaining the trips, and calling up a couple of companies to check details.

but back to the journey ...

i used Avios to book a British Airways flight to Norway ... and had a few days in the south doing non Svalbard stuff ... including an incredibly good value ferry journey with Fjordline from Stavanger to Bergen - where the 20 minute bus from Stavanger city centre cost half the price of the 5 hour ferry journey.  just make sure you book it in the correct direction - the website isn't the best designed !

from OSLo to LYR i managed to get a 66 gbp flights on Norwegian (plus 15 gbp for 20kg bag and seat choice).  check in at OSL with Norwegian is completely automated - included printing your luggage label, putting it on the belt, and scanning the label - once a bloke came along to click ok on the screen - which only have norwegian language text !  and the machine accepted my 20.9kg bag without complaint/charge.

transfer from the airport to accommodation is available with a "Flybussen" service - which was 120 NOK for a return.

we stayed in Gjestehuset 102 - which was fine.  i suspect Coal Miners Cabin would have been better - but it was full by the time i booked (less than a week before arrival).

the flight prices for the return journey were getting expensive, but i managed to use 15,000 united airlines points, and book seats on LYR-OSL-LHR and LYR-OSL-LHR-DUB (15k for each seat).  initially the United website wouldn't complete the DUB ticket (i actually ended up with two incomplete DUB bookings).  the first time I called United they claimed that they could no longer book AerLingus flights - and their website was incorrect (despite it showing loads of different EI flights).  the next time i called United, they were able to ticket the incomplete booking, without too much trouble !

United have a "late booking fee" which was applied to the LYR-OSL-LHR booking that went through without human intervention.  apparently they apply it to bookings made within 21 days of departure.  which i didn't know.

there was only availability on the 2.30am departure from LYR, which i wasn't keen on - but it turned out that with window seats, we both managed to get some sleep.  the seats on SAS short haul do not have the useful headrest "wings" that keep you head in place.  those blow up head pillows would have been particularly useful - if i'd known.

despite a few hour gap between flights at OSL, one of our bags went missing.  if i'd thought about it, i would have asked the very nice and speedy check-in lady at LYR to short check the bags to OSL and we would have collected them.  lesson for next time !

we were very lucky with the weather in LYR - we had one amazing full day of sunshine and hardly any wind, and the following day wasn't bad either (just not very sunny).  i think a few days is enough to get a feel for Svalbard - without completely bankrupting yourself.  we spent about 200 NOK/GBP per person per day on each of our two days of trips (you can't leave town without a gun), and we used the first day to make our bookings, and have a look around the settlement.

it's worth noting that despite the photos of polar bears in all the Svalbard tourism / arctic trip adverts - you really can't get anywhere near them.  we got to see from a boat, and it was small even through binoculars.  if you're used to african safari walks, it will be a bit of a shock just how far away they are.

despite that, i would still like to go back in March to see it covered in snow (and maybe Northern Lights) !

Avios redemptions on EI / BE

I wrote previously about the extortionate taxes/fees charged by Avios redemptions on Aer Lingus flights ... which included 41 gbp from Dublin to London Heathrow.

Since then, some prices have come down:

LHR - DUB  39 gbp  on EI

DUB - LHR  16 gbp  on EI

some have stayed more or less the same:

LGW - DUB  53 gbp  on EI

DUB - LGW  44 gbp  on EI

and some have gone up:

LGW - NOC  63 gbp  on EI

NOC - LGW  40 gbp  on EI  (plus airport 10 eur "development" fee)

Avios redemptions on Flybe mostly seem more reasonable - and the same price is available on both the BA website and Avios.com

SOU - DUB  25 gbp  on BE
DUB - SOU 12 gbp  on BE

EXE - DUB  35 gbp  on BE
DUB - EXE  12 gbp  on BE

CWL - DUB  34 gbp  on BE
DUB - CWL  12 gbp  on BE

DSA - DUB  27 gbp  on BE
DUB - DSA  12 gbp  on BE



BHX - NOC  26 gbp  on BE
NOC - BHX  15 gbp  on BE  (plus airport 10 eur "development" fee)

MAN - NOC  31 gbp  on BE
NOC - MAN  15 gbp  on BE  (plus airport 10 eur "development" fee)

EDI - NOC  30 gbp  on BE
NOC - EDI  15 gbp  on BE  (plus airport 10 eur "development" fee)

EI avios redemptions available online

You can now search for availability and book Aer Lingus flights using Avios on the Avios.com website ... although you probably won't want to actually book them there !

I've written previously about the high "carrier surcharges" that BA impose on european EI flights - and booking through Avios.com - they are even slightly higher !

Here's a few examples:

LHR - DUB  76 gbp

DUB - LHR  41 gbp

return 117 gbp

For context - if you chose a BA flight and had flown or earned miles in the last year (so were eligible for their lower fees reward flight) a single ex LHR would be 17.5 gbp and a single ex DUB would be 10.3 gbp (book through BA no Avios.com who charge everything at 17.5 gbp)

LGW - NOC  57 gbp

NOC - LGW  36 gbp (plus airport 10 eur "development" fee)

ex NOC return 94 gbp

ex LGW return 92 gbp

when I phoned up BA in June 2015 the NOC - LGW fee was 27 gbp

when I phoned up BA in August 2015 the LGW - NOC fee was 54 gbp

The longhaul prices are a bit more reasonable - but you still shouldn't book them through Avios.com

In the 13,000 avios category (for an off-peak economy single)

DUB - Hartford  100gbp

DUB - Boston  100 gbp

DUB - Chicago  109 gbp

DUB - JFK  100 gbp

In the 16,250 avios category (for an off-peak economy single)

DUB - Orlando  109 gbp

DUB - LAX  117 gbp

For a return flight the taxes and fees come to around 180 gbp - but a commenter over on HeadForPoints rang up BA and for the same flights the taxes and fees are 90 gbp

So ring up BA before booking EI flights on Avios.com

Dublin to Ischgl for a few days skiing

Ischgl isn't the easiest of places to get to from Dublin ... there aren't (m)any direct flights from Dublin to Innsbruck (the nearest) airport to Ischgl ... so the journey is a bit longer ...

The other complication is that Swiss (the airline) seem to have gone back to the dark ages with their pricing ... single flights are exorbitant ... so if there isn't a flight in one of the directions on one of the days that you want - you're screwed !

Aiming to fly out of Dublin on Tuesday 2nd February ...

Dep Dublin 16:15
Arr Zurich 19:25
price 79 eur plug baggage (EI)

Dep Zurich Flughafen 20:18
Arr Landeck Zams bahnhof 23:42
price approx 60 eur

Taxi to Ischgl
price ?

Another option is to fly to Innsbruck on a connecting flight ... with plenty of time to check in again in LGW

Dep Dublin 07:35
Arr LGW 09:10
price 23.40 eur plus baggage (FR)

Dep LGW 11:30
Arr INN 14:30
price 68 eur plug baggage (EZY)

Bus F from the Flughafen terminal to the Hauptbahnhof takes less than 20 mins and departs every 15 mins
price 2.7 eur

Dep Innsbruck Hbf	15:57	17:01
Arr Landeck-Zams	16:58	17:57
Dep Landeck-Zams	17:05	18:05
Arr Ischgl	17:58	18:58

Price 16.1 eur for the train (postbus not bookable online - fare approx 10 eur)

A further option is to fly to Salzburg - one advantage of this routing is sold as a connecting flight by BA (although DUB-LGW is operated by EI) - so if you miss the connection in LGW, it's up to BA to find you a new one !

Dep Dublin 07:00
Arr LGW 08:25
Dep LGW 10:05
Arr Salzburg 13:05
price 157 eur including baggage

Dep Salzburg Flughafen	14:25	15:25
Arr Salzburg Hbf	14:47	15:47
Dep Salzburg Hbf	15:00	15:56
Arr Landeck-Zams	17:39	18:30
Dep Landeck-Zams	18:05	19:05
Arr Ischgl	18:58	19:58

Price 53.6 eur


Accommodation

Ischgl has a reasonable amount of accommodation bookable through the town's website - with B&Bs in the town (rather than in Mathon which is 5km away) from about 55 eur per person per night sharing.  Ganahl is showing availability on the website - others may be available offline by email the tourist office.


Return flight

Need to get back into Dublin around lunchtime on Sunday 7th February ... so looking at options that give a full day skiing on Saturday 6th ...

None of the airports have late flights on Saturday to Dublin - so starting off looking at late flights to London (so could fly to Dublin on Sunday morning) ...

Innsbruck
The last (sensibly priced) flight out on Saturday evening departs at 17:15 - so that's not much good

Salzburg
There's a 19:45 flight on Saturday evening from to London for just 37 eur - but you'd have to leave Ischgl by 2pm in order to make it

Zurich
The 20:50 departure to LHR is 148 eur - that would mean leaving around 3pm

Munich
The last flight from to London on Saturday night is soon after 7pm - so that's not much use


Looking at travelling to direct to Dublin on Sunday morning - so spending Saturday night near the airport ...

Munich
dep Ischgl 17:58 (or 15:58) and arr Munich 22:21 (or 21:15) for 39 eur (no price showing for earlier timings)
dep Munich Sunday at 11:05 and arr Dublin 12:45 for 106 eur plus baggage (EI)
or Sunday evening departure at 20:10 (arr Dub 21:50) for 100 eur plus baggage (EI)

Zurich
EI direct flight departing at 8pm (arr Dub at 21:25) for 102 eur
or connecting BA flight departing at 7am (arr Dub at 12:20) for 150 eur

Innsbruck
No direct flights
connecting FR/EZY flights departing at 10:45 (arr Dub 15:35) for 150 eur with 2:35 in Luton to transfer / check in

Salzburg
No direct flights
connecting FR flights departing at 10:30 (arr Dub 15:05) for 99 eur with 2:05 in Stansted to transfer / check in


Looking at travelling to London on Sunday evening

Munich
8pm departure for 86 eur plus bag (EZY) or 9.15pm departure for 100 eur - but doesn't work with connections
to make the 8pm departure - would need to leave Ischgl around 2pm

Zurich
9.25pm departure for 171 eur plus bag (EZY)
departing Ischgl soon after 3pm would get you to the airport by 7.45pm

Innsbruck
sadly the last flight to london is at 5.40pm (for a crazy 473 eur) and the 3.10pm flight (for a still hefty 219 eur) isn't very helpful

Salzburg
the last flight to london is at 5.05pm for 157 eur with BA
departing Ischgl soon after 10am would get you to the airport for 2.30pm - trains only every 2 hours

When not to redeem Avios on EI flights

I previously wrote about the (vaguely reasonable) cost of redeeming Avios on EI flights from NOC - LGW ... and I recently contacted BA about the cost of a couple of other routes.

Whilst there is usually good BA reward availability from DUB - LHR, sometimes the reverse is not available, so I asked about the fees/taxes on an EI reward flight from LHR - DUB ... and was staggered to hear that it would set me back 67 gbp !

I also asked about LGW - NOC on an EI flight ... and it was a not very pleasant 54 gbp for fees / taxes.

redeeming BA points on EI flights

Whilst Aer Lingus isn't a member of OneWorld you can redeem your British Airways Executive Club frequent flyer points on Aer Lingus flights ... by phoning up BAEC - they don't show up online.

However, if you have a United frequent flyer account, the EI reward flights do show up ... so whilst availability for BA will probably be different on some dates, it may be a helpful starting point.

I recently phoned up BA to ask about flights from Knock to London Gatwick ... and was pleasantly surprised to be told that if they have availability, the taxes/charges would be 27.30 gbp in addition to the 4,500 BAEC points (although NOC charge all passengers a 10 euro exit fee in addition).  Considering the price of some reward flights, I didn't think this was too bad.

Sadly they didn't have availability for almost a week after I wanted to fly, so I didn't book.

dublin to garmisch

Looking to spend time in Garmisch over the new year ...

Aer Lingus have direct flights to Munich with a departure at 16:00 arriving at 19:25 on Wed 28th Dec for 176 eur (plus baggage charges). Ryanair have flights 4 flights a week with a 09:30 departure time - the flight on Wed 28th Dec is currently 105 eur (plus baggage and toilet charges).

German Rail have a departure from Munich at 20:31 arriving into Garmisch at 22:58 (with well timed change in Munich Hauptbahnhof) for 21 eur (including free toilet use).

Accommodation in Garmisch is available from about 30 eur per night - the town's website has a good accommodation search function, and includes places like Gästehaus Alpenkranz which is close to the station.

The return flight choice is more complicated with lots of options (prices updated 10th Dec):

Depart Munich at 11:20 on Aer Lingus arriving into Dublin at 12:50 for 147 eur (now 188 eur), requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 07:28 (24.80 eur)

Depart 

Memmingen Allgäu

 at 13:10 on Ryanair arriving into Dublin at 14:25 for 87 eur (now 92 eur), requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 08:04 (32 eur with a short taxi fare from the town to the airport)

Depart Hahn airport at 21:45 on Ryanair arriving into Dublin at 22:45 for 55 eur, requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 12:06 to Koblenz (97 eur) and then a bus to the airport (9.80 eur)

Depart Zurich at 20:45 on Aer Lingus arriving into Dublin at 22:05 for 155 eur (now 211 eur), requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 13:08 (86 eur)

Depart Frankfurt at 20:40 on Aer Lingus arriving into Dublin at 21:50 for 106 eur (now 181 eur), requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 14:04 (89 eur)
Depart Frankfurt at 22:25 on Lufthansa arriving into Dublin at 23:30 for 170 eur, requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 16:04 (89 eur)

So the total price for flights, trains and accommodation (but excluding ski hire and ski pass) would be around 515 eur.

dublin to south africa ...

with the Lions tour in South Africa in June and July ... i was looking for flights from Dublin to South Africa ...

trailfinders assert that their best price to DURban is eur 650 with Etihad, and eur 519 to JohaNnesBurg with Swiss - but since you can't book online, i have no idea of their availability ...

Etihad's own website doesn't allow bookings to DUR [presumably trailfinders use another airline for the final leg] - but their flights to JNB don't look cheap - mostly around eur 715.

Emirates claims to have flights from DUB to JNB for eur 608 [using EI flights to LGW], but they aren't bookable online ...

AirFrance has a good selection of dates from DUB to JNB for eur 570 - such as o/bound 17th june, and i/bound 1st july.

Swiss has flights from DUB to JNB for eur 511 with good availability on the outbound legs, but the only return dates are 12th and 13th july ...

netflights is better at searching by fare - selecting their Latest Offers menu, and then clicking on any of the flight options, you can access their full list of fares, and then play around with dates to look for availability at the lowest rate. they only offer fares from the UK.

they have flights on Etihad from MANchester to JNB for an amazing gbp 254 - the o/bound leg is reaonably flexible, but the i/bound has little availability - the latest return date is 23rd june. with a 9.30am departure time, and an arrival back into MAN at 7.30am - the first flights of the day arrive into MAN at 7.30am from DUB, with a lunchtime return flight ... using a departure date of 17th june - the price is approx eur 20 with FR or eur 52 with EI ! and to go over the previous night before the o/bound flight would be a similar price.

netflights also have Etihad flights from LHR to JNB for a similarly amazing 262 gbp - again the o/bound leg has reasonable availability, but the latest i/bound date is 23rd june. the LHR departure is at 9.10am, arriving back into LHR at 7.20am - the first arrival into LHR from DUB is at 8.05am - too tight for an intercontinental flight. using a departure from DUB on 16th june - the last flight into LHR, and an early morning flight back on 24th june [overnight from JNB], the price would be about eur 70.

the usually reliable websites expedia, ebookers, opodo & travelocity aren't so good for very flexible travel ... but they have the same Etihad deal [travelocity also has a departure on 24th] ... but when DUBlin is selected as the departure point - the prices double, and AF becomes the cheapest option ...

dublin to seefeld ...

looking to depart 27th december, and return 1st january ...


best departure is 07:00 with EI to MUNich, arriving at 10:45 for approx 125 eur ... with the train leaving the airport at 11:42 taking 3 hours, with 1 change required - costing 31 eur ... or a shared transfer using http://www.a-t-s.net/ for 45 eur taking just 2 hours !

there is also an EI flight departing at 12:30 to Zurich, arriving at 15:35 for 315 eur ...

or an EI flight departing at 15:30 to MUNich, arriving at 19:00 for 250 eur ...

an indirect option would depart at 12:50 via MANchester, arriving into Salzburg at 19:10 for 180 eur ...

there is a 15:45 EI flight to VIEnna, arriving at 19:30 for 150 eur ... but the train connection would be overnight - even the daytime train takes 7 hours.
there is also a cheap flight to Friedrichshafen departing 06:10, arriving 09:30 costing 55 eur, but the train connection is approx 5 hours !


best return flight is a 21:30 FR departure from Salzburg, arriving into Dublin at 23:00 for 80 eur ... the train connection leaves Seefeld at 15:46 arriving into the airport at 20:32 ... however, if we had a car, it is only about 2 hours drive ...

Dublin - Tenerife

Aer Lingus (EI) flies to Tenerife South (TFS) ... whilst Ryanair (FR) flies to Tenerife North (TFN) ...

EI's departure on sat 23rd dec is showing as full ... leaving their fri 22nd dec as available - for a mere 309 eur single excluding taxes and charges, or mon 18th dec for 80 eur ...

for the return, EI have mon 1st jan for 245 eur excluding taxes and charges, fri 5th jan [dep 12:50 arr 17:10] and sat 6th jan [dep 18:10 arr 22:30], both for 309 eur ...

so a return flight departing on fri 22nd dec and returning on fri 5th jan comes to 662 eur including taxes ...


FR's prices look much better, although their flights depart at a sleep-depriving 06:00 [arr 10:20], they fly on mon, wed, fri and sun ... with mon 18th dec costing 1 cent, wed 20th dec 14.99 eur, and fri 22nd dec 59.99 eur - all excluding taxes and charges ...

for the return [dep 10:45 arr 15:05] mon 1st jan would be 69.99 eur, wed 3rd or fri 5th or sun 7th jan would each be 109.99, whilst mon 8th jan is 69.99 eur, and each flight after that drops to 1 cent - all excluding taxes and charges ...

so a return flight departing on wed 20th dec and returning on wed 3rd jan comes to 161.50 eur including taxes ...

Tenerife / Lanzarote - getting there from DUB / BFS / NOC / LON

charterflights.co.uk is showing a flight from BFS to Tenerife on fri 22nd dec [dep 12:45 arr 17:05 ; dep 07:30 arr11:45] for 299 gbp ... and one from DUB on the same day for 479 gbp

aer lingus flies from DUB to Tenerife on fri 22nd and sat 23rd dec, with retun flights on fri 29th and sat 30th dec [other weeks the flights seem to be on different days of the week] ... with any combination of these return flights costing 350 gbp ... or retuning on mon 1st jan would be 399 gbp for the retun flight ...

the same website shows a departure from BFS to Arrecife, Lanzarote (ACE) on thu 21st dec [dep 13:40 arr 1750 ; dep 08:30 arr 12:40] for 299 gbp ... and one from DUB on sat 23rd dec [dep 13:15 arr 17:20 ; dep 08:00 arr 11:55] for 449 gbp and another on sun 24th dec [dep 06:00 arr 10:05 ; dep 11:05 arr 15:15] for the same price ... and one from NOC on thu 21st dec [dep 15:10 arr 19:15 ; dep 10:00 arr 14:10] for 519 gbp

aer lingus seems to have an erratic schedule to ACE ... their last flight before christmas leaves on wed 20th dec, with a return flight on sat 30th dec ... the return costing 340 gbp ... but by returning on tue 2nd jan, the price drops to 280 gbp ...

loads of departures from london to Tenerife on the fri 22nd dec [none on sat 23rd dec], including a monarch flight at 18:45 for around 230 gbp ...

also loads of departure from london to Arrecife on sat 24th from around 300 gbp ... or thu 21st dec from around 230 gbp [none on fri 22nd or sat 23rd dec] ...

dublin - manchester ... to connect with charter to SID ...

with the charter scheduled to depart MAN at 09:45 [and with service not yet having started for the winter, potentially subject to change] on thu 21st dec ... the first flight out of DUB to connect would be 06:30 with either Aer Lingus (EI) or Ryanair (FR) - getting into MAN around 7:30 ... which is probably cutting it too fine ...

that means travelling over the night before ... the last FR flight is at 18:10 [for just 99 cents plus charges], where as the last EI flight is at 20:30 for a very reasonable 1 euro !

the return flight from SID arrives into MAN at 00:45 on fri 29th dec ... so another overnight stay ... EI have flights dep MAN at 08:00 [29 eur], 13:20 [29 eur], 19:10 [15 eur] and 21:50 [5 eur] ... whilst FR have flights at 07:55 [12.99 eur], 13:40 [12.99 eur], 19:30 [9.99 eur] and 22:35 [5.99 eur] ... all prices are excl charges ...