This summer, our family pulled together a fairly last-minute trip to Ireland and Scotland — my husband and our recent college grad wanted to play golf, and our rising senior wanted to look at colleges. With just a quick stop planned in each country, we skipped the classic countryside itineraries entirely and set our expectations accordingly. This was never going to be the full postcard experience, and we knew that going in.
Last-minute planning also meant flying economy on the way over. I wanted a nonstop, which narrowed our options, so we booked Aer Lingus from Washington Dulles to Dublin — thankfully, one of the shorter transatlantic hops at about six and a half hours. The price: 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards and about $125 in taxes and fees for all five of us.
On paper, that’s a decent redemption for a last minute summer trip. Using our Cost per Point Calculator, that’s 3.38 cents per point. In the air, the flight itself was kind of rough.
The Flight
I did pay cash for upgrading to the front of the plane and I am sort of glad I did. It makes it feel less claustrophobic to me to not see rows and rows of economy seats ahead of me. The plane was newer and clean, but the seats were so uncomfortable. They would have been fine on an hour or two daytime flight. But an overnight flight – pretty miserable.
The food was genuinely bad — not “airplane food, ha ha” bad, but the kind where you eat the bread roll and quietly close the tray. Drinks weren’t much better. The included option was a small can of white wine that I would describe charitably as “wine-adjacent.” Even the flight attendant suggested putting it over ice to make it taste better. If you wanted anything nicer, you paid for it: prosecco was an extra $6 and I think that is the first time I’ve had to pay for a glass of wine on a transatlantic flight.
The wifi connected, dropped, reconnected, and I eventually gave up. I only mention it because working is how I usually make a flight go faster. Plan B was sleep, and that failed too: the cabin lights were dim, but those up-front seats put us right next to the flight attendants, who chatted the night away at full volume.
Here’s the thing, though: our out-of-pocket cost for this flight was $125. Total. For five people. I paid about the same for our Ubers to and from the airport, so I really cannot complain. Some flights feel like part of the vacation and some feel like basic transportation. This one was definitely the latter.
Dublin: I Wanted to Love You
Now for the part I can’t believe I am saying: Dublin didn’t really do it for us.
I know. Everyone loves Dublin. But after a few days there, we kept waiting for the city to reveal some personality, and it just… didn’t quite. It’s pleasant. It’s walkable. It’s fine. If we planned this trip again, we’d land, stretch our legs, and head straight for the countryside to give that a try.
That said, three things genuinely earned their spot on the itinerary.
Howth was the runaway winner. The little fishing village and the cliff walk northeast of the city were so good that I’d almost argue they justified the Dublin stop by themselves. If you only have one free day in Dublin, spend it in Howth. I mean that. It is adorable and perfect.
The Guinness Storehouse was the other highlight. Yes, it’s the most obvious tourist attraction in the city, and yes, it’s still worth it — the tour is well done and the pint at the top with the 360-degree view over Dublin is really fantastic.
Temple Bar is exactly as touristy as everyone warns you, and we enjoyed it anyway. The live music was great, the atmosphere was fun, and sometimes the touristy thing is popular because it’s actually good. We’ve made peace with that on our travels.
We stayed at the Aloft Dublin City, and the location was excellent — clean rooms, easy walking distance to everything we wanted. The stay itself was bumpier: an early check-in runaround, some strange service moments at the bar, and the rooftop lounge — the thing my sons were most excited about — closed for private events half the nights of our stay, with the music keeping us up anyway. There’s enough there for a full review, so I’m giving the Aloft its own post.
Would We Do It Again?
The redemption? In a heartbeat. 100,000 points and $125 to move five people across an ocean is exactly the kind of math this blog exists for, and Aer Lingus remains one of the most underrated Chase transfer partners out there. I would just set expectations and have dinner before I get on the plane.
Dublin? We’ll be back to Ireland for sure, but I would probably only need one night in Dublin to recover from the flight.
That’s the real lesson from this leg of the trip: points can get you almost anywhere for almost nothing. They just can’t guarantee you’ll want to stay.
