Archive for the ‘Business Class’ Category

Long-haul Business Class Sale Fares from UK under £2,000

Thursday, January 17th, 2013

It’s mid-January and the depths of winter in the northern hemisphere with sub-zero temperatures, snow and ice and regular travel chaos. It’s at this time of year when most airlines offer fare sales to tempt people to seek warmer shores.

Let’s take a quick review of what is available long-haul in business class from London for under £2,000 return. Why £2,000? It provides a rough benchmark level of reasonable value for business class. Obviously the value quotient varies depending on airline and aircraft, the length of flight and whether a stopover needs to be made.

1. British Airways is running an ex-UK “The World is on Sale” which is bookable until 22 January 13. Prices have been lower in previous years and there are only a few standout fares.

Club World flight returns under the £2k mark are Orlando and Tampa (£1,701), Antigua (£1,894), Bermuda (£1,898), Bridgetown (£1,598), Cancun (£1,594), Grenada (£1,594), Kingston (£998), Port of Spain (£1,799), Punta Cana (£1,893), San Juan (£1,599), St Kitts (£1,897), St Lucia (1,598) and Tobago (£1,895). These are all leisure flights operating from London Gatwick – the standout fare is £998 to Kingston, Jamaica – note availability is showing for Sep-Nov 2013 with a £1,098 fare open for Apr-Jun 2013.

Other sub-£2k fares elsewhere are Abu Dhabi (£1,699), Bahrain (£1,799), Doha (£1,799), Dubai (£1,699), Jeddah (£1,499), Muscat (£1,699), Riyadh (£1,499), Almaty (£1,726), Bengaluru (£1,858), Chennai (£1,759), Hyderabad (£1,659), Mumbai (£1,799), New Delhi (£1,889). For the Far-East there is Bangkok (£1,999) and the relatively new Seoul route (£1,818). Note that in Nov 2012 BA had an introductory Club World offer of £777  return to Seoul!

2. Virgin Atlantic has similar fares to BA on any overlapping routes. These can also be booked by 22 January.

3. Etihad has a Pearl Business Class sale fare to Hong Kong for £1,979, ex London Heathrow – bookable before 18 February 13. Flights are via Abu Dhabi.

4. Gulf heavyweight Emirates is offering a number of sub £2k fares from London Gatwick including in Africa: Addis Ababa (£1,924), Dar Es Salaam (£1,970), Entebbe (£1,944), Harare (£1,971), Jo’burg (£1,980), Khartoum (£1,913), Lagos (£1,952), Luanda (£1,960) and Nairobi (£1,965). Flights to Asia are Ahmedabad (£1,799), Bangkok (£1,943), Beijing (£1,987), Bengaluru (£1,805), Chennai (£1,794), Cochin (£1,794), Delhi (£1,838), Dhaka (£1,823), Guangzhou (£1,987), Ho Chi Minh Cith (£1,939), Hong Kong (£1,988), Hyderabad (£1,815), Islamabad (£1,825), Jakarta (£1,950), Karachi (£1,943), Kolkata (£1,794), Kuala Lumpur (£1,963), Lahore (£1,825), Manila (£1,950), Mumbai (£1,802), Osaka (£1,997), Peshawar (£1,825), Phuket (£1,943), Seoul (£1,995), Shanghai (£1,987),  Singapore (£1,968), Trivandrum (£1,800) and Tokyo (£1,996). Flights are via Dubai, note business class seats can vary over Emirates’ regional fleet. Book by 28 February 13.

5. Star Alliance’s Lufthansa has the folowing business class offers with flights via Frankfurt or Munich: Abuja (£1,949), Addis Ababa (£1,469), Asmara (£1,879), Lagos (£1,949), Almaty (£1,829), Astana (£1,829), Baku (£1,259), Singapore (£1,969),  Beijing/Nanjing/Shanghai (£1,909), Bengaluru (£1,899), Chennai (£1,879), New Delhi (£1,549), Mumbai (£1,529), Pune (£1,729), Abu Dhabi (£1,839), Amman (£1,389), Bahrain (£1,689), Dammam (£1,579),  Doha (£1,879), Dubai (£1,739), Jeddah (£1,879), Khartoum (£1,729), Kuwait (£1,779), Muscat (£1,679), Riyadh (£1,879) and Tehran (£1,489).

lufthansa a340

6. Finnair usually has some sharp deals to Asia. Its business class sale ends today (17 January 13) and you can find Delhi (£1,399), Chongqing (£1,529), Hanoi (£1,575) and Bangkok (£1,599). A change of aircraft in Helsinki is required.

7. EVA Air is offering a London-Bangkok in business class for £1,804, book by 31 January 13.

8. Qatar Airways has the following business class fares, bookable by 14 February 13: Mumbai (£1,735), Bangkok (£1,880), Kuala Lumpur (£1,900), Singapore (£1,905) and Beijing/Hong Kong (£1,930).

The above published fares are bookable at each airline’s website.

Using an online agent you may find some cheaper fares on more exotic and obscure airlines but do watch transit times. For example, cheaper London-Hong Kong business class fares can be found from Royal Brunei Airlines (around £1,630) and Aeroflot (£1,750). Note Royal Brunei is a dry airline and the flight has a fuel stop in Dubai and then an almost 24 hour wait in Brunei; the Aeroflot flight has a 14 hour wait outbound in Moscow.

Tags: british airways, emirates, london, lufthansa
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British Airways Business Class Deals from London

Thursday, June 7th, 2012

British Airways is offering some very cheap Club World deals from London for dates in July, August and September 2012.

We are seeing some of the lowest ex-UK business class prices to North America for some time. The fares are non-refundable and are bookable to 14th June with travel between 21st July and 2nd September 2012. A Saturday night stay is required.

London-New York is priced at £1,200 return – travel is also possible on the BA A318 service from London City which makes an outbound stop in Shannon. Prices on the London-New York route have so far been matched in business class by American and Delta. Expect others to do so.british airways 747

Some even cheaper Club fares on offer are Miami (£955), Montreal/Toronto (£1,019), Philadelphia/Washington DC (£1,070), Atlanta (£1,180), west-coast Vancouver/Calgary (£1,189).

First class return fares are on offer as well with Toronto (£2,017), Philadelphia/Washington DC (£2,068), Miami (£2,098), Atlanta (£2,178), Vancouver (£2,187)  and New York (£2,198).

These sale fares apply worldwide – the other great stand-out Club fares are Chennai (£955) and Bangkok (£1,299).

So for those who are looking at booking a summer break or want to get out of town during the London Olympics (27th July to 12th August), then this is a great opportunity to do so.

 

Tags: british airways, london, new york
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Etihad Business Class Deals Paris to Asia

Thursday, July 28th, 2011

Etihad has a number of reasonable business class fares out of Paris Charles De Gaulle (CDG) to various Asian destinations. The flights are via Etihad’s hub in Abu Dhabi. Return fares all-in:

Mumbai €1,512
Singapore €1,522
Bangkok €1,572
Kuala Lumpur €1,618

Note, departures must be made in August. Book before 31st July.

The Singapore fare is the standout here, though nothing spectacular. We do recall an Etihad Pearl business class fare from Brussels to Sydney for €1,575 in 2009.

Alternative: Air Asia X flies out of Paris Orly to Kuala Lumpur non-stop using an Airbus A340. It sells business class seats from around €1,450 return – although you don’t get the lounge access, premium catering and service etc.

Tags: etihad
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Summer Business Class Offers from London, UK

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

2010 has not been a good year thus far for airfare sales.  The sector, especially in Europe, has been hit from a number of angles -  the continuing economic and sovereign debt crisis, the Icelandic volcano which caused travel chaos in April and frequent strike action.

Trade body IATA recently remarked that Euro airlines would lose a combined $2.8 bn this year making them the world’s worst performers in the airline market.

Today British Airways has announced a premium class sale for flights ex-UK, their first big offer in a few months. Prices are generally higher than previous years – but here are the highlight offers (return prices all-in):

Club Europe (fly Jun 10 – Dec 31)
Bordeaux £209
Rome (Fiumicino) £249

Middle East (fly Jul 8 – Oct 31)
Tel Aviv £879
Cairo £899
Doha £1,199
Muscat £1,199
Abu Dhabi £1,409

India (fly Jul 8 – Oct 31)
Bangalore £1,299
Delhi £1,299
Mumbai £1,399

USA (fly Jul 8 – Aug 31)
New York (Newark) £1,499 (£2497 First)
Orlando £1,599
Los Angeles £1,999

Asia/Australia (fly Jul 8 – Aug 31)
Bangkok £1,999
Singapore £1,999
Sydney £2,799

The ex-UK BA sale runs until July 6th.

BA ex-Europe offers

If you are based in Europe BA is still running its generous offer – book 1 Club World return or 4 Club Europe returns and get instant Silver status. On top of that they are also giving away bonus miles: 5-10k  per Club Europe return and 25-35k for a Club World return, depending on which country you live in. This offer expires Jun 30 – you need to register.

Belgium residents: book a Club World return with BA, get a free upgrade to First on one leg. Book by Jun 30, travel by Sep 5. This cannot be booked online – only via agents or phoning +32(0)2 717 3217.

Other UK Business Class Offers

As an alternative to BA you can always get a quote on Virgin Atlantic – who are already matching BA’s sale fares where their network overlaps.

Emirates has been running biz class companion fare deals (ends today Jun 10) with various far east Asian destinations (including Japan, China, Singapore) at under £2,100.

Air New Zealand has a business fare to Hong Kong for £2,099 – travel between Jul 1 and Sep 3, book by Jun 15.

Qantas has also started a business sale (matching BA) – with Bangkok and Singapore at £1,999 and Sydney at £2,799. Travel between Jul 15 and Aug 31, book by Jul 6.

Net Flights have the following business class offers from London (for June travel):

New York £1,431 with Swiss via Geneva
Bangkok £1,260 – BA to Amsterdam, China Airlines AMS to BKK
Bangkok £1,554 with Thai
Sydney £1,969 with China Airlines via Taipei

Air France will be operating its Airbus A380 between Paris CDG and London Heathrow this summer. You can try out business class on the big bird from £280 return (economy from £80 return). Flights run between Jun 12 and Aug 30 as follows:

Paris to London: AF1980 (departs 10:05)
London to Paris: AF1981 (departs 12:50)

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