AirTravelGenius Blog

Viva Macau have a sale fare from Sydney to Macau advertised as “AU$99″ one way not including taxes and charges. The cheapest return fare is actually AU$498 all-in. This is bookable until the 20th August for travel between 1st September until the end of the year. The sale fare is limited so you will have to be flexible on your travel dates in order to find the lowest fare.

Air Asia X has a one-way sale fare from Gold Coast (OOL) to Kuala Lumpur LCC terminal for AU$199 all-in. From here you can connect onto Air Asia’s extensive budget network around South-East Asia. Again this fare is in limited supply…book by 24th August for travel between 1st September and 13th November. And remember that Air Asia X does charge for extras like checked luggage and meals…although it has denied that it will be weighing passengers after some exaggerated reports in the media.

If you wish to try out the new Airbus A380 as a passenger you have the following options:

Singapore Airlines - the first airline to fly the A380 commercially, from Singapore to Sydney, Australia. They currently have 4 A380 aircraft in service deployed on various routes:

Singapore to Sydney - Flight SQ 221

Sydney - Singapore Flight SQ 222

London Heathrow to Singapore Flights SQ 317 / SQ 321

Singapore to London Heathrow Flights SQ 318 / SQ 322

Singapore to Tokyo Flight SQ 638

Tokyo to Singapore Flight SQ 637

This week (2nd to 8th Aug) one of the A380s has been flying on the Singapore - Beijing route ahead of the Olympic Games.

Emirates - On 1st August Emirates flew its inaugural A380 service from Dubai DXB to New York JFK. From 8th August they will fly the route as follows:

DXB to JFK Flight EK 201 (Sun / Wed / Fri)

JFK to DXB Flight EK 202 (Sun / Wed / Fri)

Emirates plans to fly the A380 on the Dubai to London Heathrow route from December 2008 and Dubai - Sydney - Auckland from February 2009.

Qantas - Are awaiting delivery of their first A380. They begin service on October 20th 2008 with flight QF 93 from Melbourne to Los Angeles. On October 24th, flight QF 11 will fly from Sydney to Los Angeles. These flights can be booked on Qantas’ website.

Qantas will deploy the A380 on its Sydney to London backbone route in 2009.

If you are based in Sydney you will be spoilt for choice on A380 options.

Next year will also see A380 deliveries to Air France and Lufthansa.

A few readers have asked which airlines are accepting Paypal as a form of payment for buying air tickets. In Europe there is currently only one airline: Monarch Airlines which flies scheduled and charter services around the Med. They are quite well regarded in the industry.

In the US Paypal is more widely used and the following airlines accept it:

Northwest, Southwest, Midwest, Air Tran, US Airways, Delta and Jet Blue.

For Europeans you can buy KLM flights on partner Northwest using Paypal.

In Australia, Air Asia X accepts payment by Paypal - it flies from Gold Coast and Perth to Kuala Lumpur. It will fly from KL to London Stansted from 2009.

Also note that there are occasional “cashback” offers available through Paypal which might get you a small discount off your flight purchase.

You can also invest in the Ultimate Airfares & Upgrades Guide using Paypal.

Tomorrow sees the inaugral flight of “OpenSkies“, British Airways’ European based project and a result of the open skies agreement between the EU and US. OpenSkies will fly daily from Paris Orly to New York JFK using a 3-class Boeing 757.

OpenSkies has linked up with all-biz L’Avion (code-sharing agreement) in order to go head-to-head against Air France at its home base. Business Class airfares on OpenSkies are available from €2,300 whilst economy fares can be found under €600.

However the real business class airfare action is happening on London - New York route. Checking prices for returns in July we see some fantastic deals available.

Air France-KLM / Delta seem to have the lowest fares (some direct flights, others via Paris) and are priced at under £1,000 / $2,000 which is excellent value (the lowest was actually £917 direct operated by Delta)

But we also found flights from Continental, British Airways, American Airlines and KLM for under £1,100 and Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic for under £1,200.

So despite record high oil prices these business class airfares are very competitive.

European budget airline Ryanair currently has a free flights winter sale for travel between October 2008 and January 2009. The sale runs until midnight Thursday 19th June (and has actually been running for 2 weeks having been extended 3 times already…)

The “free flights” are actually free, meaning no taxes/charges are payable. The trick to keeping your flight cost low on Ryanair is not to check-in any luggage…you will then only have to pay a credit card fee (£3.20 per person) or debit card fee (£1.20 per person) for your payment. If you have a Visa Electron card then payment is free.

Note, the cabin baggage allowance is 10kg with maximum dimensions of 55cm x 40cm x 20cm. Also check with your airport for restrictions on carrying liquids on flights departing the EU/EEA.

Ryanair also allows you to purchase an extra seat for comfort (must be booked with the name Mr Extra Seat) but no more baggage allowance is gained.

Ryanair’s fees are as follows per segment:

Airport Check-in £4 (online check-in free for pax with no luggage)

Priority Boarding Fee £4

Infant (under 2) Fee £16

Checked bag up to 15kg £8

Checking in 2 bags up to 15kg £24

Checking in 3 bags up to 15kg £40

Excess baggage fee £12 per kilo

So by checking in one piece of luggage on a return flight would cost an additional £24.

Note, the sale is available for selected flight routes all over Europe, not just from the UK and Ireland.

It’s been a bad few months for small independent airlines, particularly those in the all-business class segment. With oil prices well over $130 per barrel and predicted to rise further, as well as the tightening credit conditions, airlines are struggling to turn a profit.

The first all-biz airline to stop operations was actually OzJet in 2006, an Australian start-up which served the business market between Sydney and Melbourne. Unable to grab a good share of the market it shut its doors after a few months. The airline was sold and resurfaced as a charter outfit.

Maxjet was a budget all-business class airline based at London Stansted and served New York, Washington DC, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Fares were cheap (premium economy levels) and the airline managed to survive just over 2 years. On Christmas Eve 2007 the airline shut down. The name was sold on and will now become a charter service for US college athletes.

EOS Airlines, a first class operation using 48 seat 757s to serve Stansted and NYC survived for 2 1/2 years before closing in April 2008 unable to attain additional funding. EOS prices had been dropping but with fuel costs rising and only 48 potential revenue seats on board, market conditions caught up with the carrier.

Silverjet, the British all-business class airline based at Luton which flew to Newark and Dubai went under last month after operating for less than 18 months. Flying 25 year old fuel inefficient 767s meant it was running at a loss and investors pulled the plug on finance.

This year has also seen the demise of Oasis Hong Kong Airlines, the budget operator which flew from Hong Kong to London Gatwick and Vancouver. Oasis operated both an economy class and a business class service on its 747s. Whether the budget long-haul model is sustainable only time will tell - Air Asia X and the likes of Zoom Airlines are still in business.

The only all-business class airline currently operating transatlantic is L’Avion, from Paris to Newark. It has signed a marketing agreement with British Airways who will soon operate their own 3 class ‘OpenSkies‘ service from Paris to New York.

Privatair operates various all-business class flights on behalf of Lufthansa, Swiss and KLM.

It seems only those services backed by major airlines can survive the current market conditions. We are likely to see a lot more consolidation in the general aviation industry especially if oil continues towards $200 per barrel.

This year’s UEFA Champions League final on May 21st is an all ‘English’ affair. It is expected that 40,000 fans from Chelsea and Manchester United will travel to Moscow.

With direct flights from London to Moscow being limited and around the £1,000 mark for those dates, football fans are scrabbling to book flight and travel itineraries. And flights through central Europe are filling up fast.

Let’s look at a few different options where you can currently get from London to Moscow for under £400. Note you will find cheaper flights leaving Moscow on the 23rd, as everyone seems to want to leave on the 22nd:

Fly with Ryanair up to Riga in Latvia which depending on dates will currently cost from £130 return. You could take the gruelling 18 hour train journey to Moscow which will cost around £100 return. Or get a round-trip with Aeroflot from Riga to Moscow for £219 (departs 20^th, returns 23^rd) for a total price from £349.

Another alternative is to fly via Istanbul on 2 separate return tickets. You could fly London to Istanbul with Turkish Airlines for £163 (out 19^th, back 24^th) and book a separate return ticket Istanbul – Moscow on Aeroflot for £204 (out 20^th, back 23^rd) for a total cost £367.

Fly from London Luton to Budapest for £87 with Wizz Air (out 19^th, back 24^th) and then get a return with Aeroflot to Moscow for £215 (out 20^th, back 23^rd), total price £302.

Another route is to fly down to Barcelona (can be done via Girona from £25 on Ryanair) and use Spanish budget Clickair to fly to Moscow for 130 euros which lands at 6am on the 21^st. Note budget airlines can have delays so this could be risky! Total one-way cost approximately £130. There is a very reasonable one-way flight back to London from Moscow on SAS (via Stockholm) for £136 on the 23^rd. Total price will be around £266.

Alternatively you could hire a private jet from an air charter operator or through a broker. For a listing of top UK companies see UK Charter Guide.

Don’t forget to do your homework concerning visa requirements.

With the recent demise of all-business Maxjet and EOS Airlines, let’s take a quick look at what deals you can get for June 2008 in business class on flights between London and New York.

Silverjet offers its twice daily service from Luton to Newark. Prices are currently quoted from £1,299 return on Silverjet’s website (£999 has been frequently available, but it looks like they have put the price up with EOS and Maxjet out of the way - however watch for special offers). Also check the major online agents like Travelocity as you may find slightly cheaper deals - we found a price of £1,200.

If you are a Skyteam member, then Delta Airlines have return business class flights from LHR to NYC available from £1,250.

Icelandair have flights in their ‘Saga Class’ (business class) priced from £1,097 return all-in. Note you have to make a stop in Reykjavik, but their booking engine makes it very easy to find the cheapest fare.

On a more ‘offbeat’ note, Kuwait Airways have non-stop flights from London Heathrow to New York JFK using Boeing 777s. You can find business class flights priced from just £860 or fly in first class from around £1,200.

Air India also flies non-stop between LHR and JFK on Boeing 777s. Return tickets in ‘Executive’ (business class) can be found for just over £1,100, with first class at £1,750.

Oasis Hong Kong Airlines has gone into liquidation and has ceased flying from today. The budget carrier had started flying between London and Hong Kong in October 2006 and later added a service from Hong Kong to Vancouver.

Read more here: Oasis Suspends Flights

EOS Airlines, the all-business carrier will start flying daily from London Stansted to New York Newark from May 5th. The airline has served JFK airport to Stansted for over 2 years.

To mark this event EOS is offering a 10% discount on flights to/from Newark up to September 7th. Use the promo code ‘EWR10′ and book by April 11th.

EOS also has a mileage offer where they will give you 30,000 Club 48 points if you book a round-trip by April 11th.