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Business Class Airfare Offers from London

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

British Airways have today started their ex-UK Club and First Class sale for destinations worldwide along with their extended economy sale which has been running for some time. Bookings must be made by Feb 9th 2010.

Fare levels are not as low as some previous sale offers, but here’s a look at some standout fares. You might also check with Virgin Atlantic who normally match BA sale fares on overlapping routes.

BA Club World Offers – note, various travel dates apply.

Montego Bay £1,099
Doha £1,199
Muscat £1,199
Male £1,299
Bangalore £1,299
Delhi £1,299
Mumbai £1,399
Tampa £1,349
Orlando £1,349
Antigua £1,399
Barbados £1,399
Tobago £1,399
St Lucia £1,399
Montreal £1,549
Sydney £2,799

british-airways-syd

For completeness let’s take a quick look at current business class offers from various airlines for ex-London long-haul flights.

Lufthansa offers a business class trip deal to Johannesburg (via Frankfurt) for £1,419 for early April. If you are up for a trip to Cairo then fellow Star Alliance member EgyptAir will get you to Jo’burg for £1,215 in business  – fare bookable on Netflights.

Oneworld’s Finnair can get you to Beijing and Shanghai in business class from London via Helsinki for £1,685. Hong Kong is also available, at £1,689.

Etihad has a few decent Pearl Business Class offers from London Heathrow via Abu Dhabi – bookable by Feb 1st:

Delhi £1,199
Bangkok £1,329 (£1,281 on Netflights)
Jakarta £1,679
Sydney £2,899

Emirates has the following companion fare business class deals available (2 people must book together) via Dubai – available until Feb 1st:

Johannesburg  £1,648
Mauritius £1,649
Seychelles £1,653
Christchurch £2,739

You can fly with China Airlines business class via Taipei to Sydney from London from £1,713 via Netflights. China Airlines use Airbus A340 and A330s for this route.

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Economy Airfare Deals from London for 2010

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

As we have just entered 2010 (and happy new year to readers) lets take a look at the airfare market from London to see if there are any decent economy class offers available. Looking back 2009 had some spectacular deals – however, as airlines have cut schedules this winter and with business class revenue remaining under pressure, it is likely that economy prices will be firmer during 2010.

So what’s on offer currently? Unfortunately nothing really outstanding – but lets summarise the market…

As always British Airways is holding its January sale to destinations worldwide – this runs until 26 January. Standout fares are:

Rome £49 one-way
Moscow £109 one-way
Cairo £269
Hyderabad £346
Mumbai £349
Nairobi £399
Montego Bay £399

Travel dates vary, check on BA’s site. Note, bmi currently has a “sale” fare to Moscow for £214 return.

Predictably Virgin Atlantic is also holding a sale with similar fares on routes that overlap. They also have a reasonable £669 economy fare to Sydney for travel between 16 April and 20 June. Premium economy is available at £1,148 for the same dates.

Emirates has a £592 fare to Perth, Australia from London Heathrow for travel between 20 April and 30 June. Book by 1 February. You can also fly to Sydney for £678 or Melbourne for £667.

Malaysian Airlines has sale fares to Sydney, Perth and Auckland for £639 – book until 18 January for travel between 15 April and 31 May.

The cheapest fare Down Under: Netflights has a £563 fare from London to Perth with Royal Brunei and £577 to Brisbane during April. An acquaintance recently flew with them to Oz and reported service was pretty good – just watch the layover connection time in Brunei as some of the cheaper fares can leave you waiting overnight at the airport. (There is also a refuelling stop in Dubai).

royal-brunei

Air New Zealand has flights to Hong Kong for £417, book by 27 January and travel between 21 January and 31 March. Qantas can get you to HKG for £422 on similar dates. They also have a £613 fare to Perth, £659 to Melbourne and £668 to Sydney between 16 April and 20 June.

Swiss has some very limited availability fares from London: Mumbai £337, Hong Kong £396 and Shanghai £410.

KLM can get you to Kuala Lumpur for £465 and Singapore for £479, book by 1 February. Check dates on klm.com.

Air Transat-Thomas Cook have one-way flights from London Gatwick to Toronto (£129) and Vancouver (£149) – limited dates available. Note Air Transat uses an Airbus A310 whereas Thomas Cook operates A330 equipment.

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How Far Can You Fly from London for Under £400?

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

Let’s take another look at the airfare market ex-London to see where we can fly for £400 or less. The last time we did this in April ‘09 we could get pretty much anywhere except South America and Australaia. This year has seen some incredibly low fares – in early summer Singapore Airlines had sub-£400 fares to Australia and New Zealand.

Qantas and British Airways held a very limited “Ashes Cricket” sale in July with return flights from London to Sydney priced at an amazing £215 – flights sold out within minutes. The Middle East carriers have also had some consistently aggressive prices to Asia and Africa.

As of today what can we book for our £400??

North America

US Airways has some reasonable deals to New York (£283), Las Vegas (£327), Los Angeles (£349) and San Francisco (£354) bookable at Netflights.

Air Transat (operated by a Thomas Cook Airbus A330) can fly you from London Gatwick to Vancouver for just £298 return – out Sep 24th and back Oct 2nd. Air Transat flies to Toronto using an Airbus A310 from £258 around the same dates.

air-transat

Middle East

Qatar Airways has offers to Dubai (£229), Abu Dhabi (£239) and Bahrain (£251). Book by August 15th for travel Aug 15th to Mar 25th 2010 with some blackout dates applying over Xmas / New Year.

Netflights has even cheaper Qatar flights available to Bahrain (£233) and Dubai (£210).

Africa

Swiss and Egyptair have flights to Cairo for £250 return. Qatar has sale offers to Johannesburg (£352) and Cape Town (£382) – whilst the Joburg flight can be purchased on netflights for £327.

Egyptair can get you to Khartoum for £328 whilst Iberia has a deal to Lagos for £394.

India

Some good return deals are available to Mumbai with Qatar (£264), Etihad (£269) and KLM (£272). Qatar also flies to Delhi for £273.

Asia

Etihad will fly you to Kuala Lumpur KUL for £369 via Abu Dhabi. Travelocity UK has Etihad fares to KUL for £364 and Bangkok for £354.

Air Asia X can get you from Stansted to Kuala Lumpur for a base fare as low as £248 for some dates in November. Don’t forget to add on £5 each way for 15kg checked luggage and £12.60 for all meals.

Qatar will take you to Hong Kong for £297 (£280 on netflights, who also have Qatar fares to Singapore for £390). From Hong Kong you could also get on a cheap Air Asia flight to KUL or Bangkok.

Air France can fly you to Shanghai for £384 and KLM to Beijing for £389.

Central/ South America

More difficult to find deals under £400 – however Lufthansa has a special offer from London to Mexico City (£339) and Caracas (£379) – these are £10 cheaper if departing Birmingham. Their London – Sao Paolo fare of £419 is just over budget! Depart Sep 1st to Oct 16th, return between Sep 8th and Jan 16th.

Australaisa

No sub-£400 schedule deals on the market at the moment. The cheapest fare is Royal Brunei’s £469 to Perth and £489 to Auckland. Note, these flights stop in Dubai for re-fuelling and then transit in Brunei.

However it is “theoretically” possible to use Air Asia X to get to Oz for under £400. The cheapest Kuala Lumpur – Perth flights is currently £109 return, added on to the £248 cheapest base London – KUL fare does come to £357. Because separate bookings are needed it is more difficult to co-ordinate the dates to find sale fares that match up. That said, KUL is a good stopover location with great value hotels.

Final tip, if booking with online agents do check the fare restrictions and compare them to buying direct with the airline.

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Business Class Deals to Australia / New Zealand under £2,000

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Following on from our previous article on business class offers from UK let’s now have a look what’s on offer to Australia and New Zealand. You will see there is currently a very good choice of premium carriers to fly Down Under in business for less than £2,000.

Australian carrier Qantas has special offer business class deals to various Aussie / Kiwi cities from London. Travel is up to 13th December, book by 30th June.

Prices are:

Perth £1,990
Melbourne £1,991
Adelaide £1,998
Sydney £1,999
Brisbane £2,001
Christchurch £2,089
Wellington £2,089
Auckland £2,099

It is possible to fly on the QF A380 via Singapore. Some flights are code-shares operated by partner British Airways. The flight is bookable at the Qantas website but we found cheaper fares on Netflights (£1,938 to SYD, £2,041 to AKL). Note, (1) these are non-changeable / non-refundable fares and (2) these don’t seem to be available on ba.com.

sydney-airport

Emirates has an exceptional 2-for-1 business class offer from the UK to Australia / NZ (and other worldwide destinations). Note – you have to fly from Birmingham BHX with a companion. Prices are:

Perth £1,565
Melbourne £1,566
Sydney £1,574
Brisbane £1,575
Christchurch £1,587
Auckland £1,597 (£1,549 on Netflights)

These are excellent prices, some of the lowest business fares Down Under for a while. You must book by 10th June using promo code UKBHX21, outbound travel by 30th November.

This companion offer also has fares to Asia and South Africa at around the £900 mark.

You get a complimentary chauffeur as long as both passengers are collected from the same address. Changes are permitted (for a charge) as is a free stopover in Dubai.

You could fly on the EK A380 on some sectors – currently utilised on daily flights Dubai to Sydney/Auckland (EK 412/413). Also EK 372/373 Dubai – Bangkok if you’re heading to BKK.

Cathay Pacific are selling business class flights to both Australia and New Zealand for sub £2k. This seems to be a reaction to the Qantas sale. Prices:

Sydney £1,980
Melbourne £1,972
Adelaide £1,978
Perth £1,970
Brisbane £1,981
Auckland £1,990

Book by June 30th, some changes are allowed for a fee.

If you are considering Qantas or Cathay and are not 100% sure of your travel plans then it would probably make sense to go with the slightly more flexible Cathay fares.

We found lower fares on some agents, for example Netflights / Travelocity had Cathay flights to Sydney for £1,870 – however no changes or refunds are allowed!

Tip: Always understand the terms / conditions of your ticket before booking with an airline and especially an agent.

Finally, Travelocity is selling Singapore Airlines business fares to Sydney in July for as low as £1,926 (Perth £1,947). Travelocity also has Etihad flights to Sydney for £1,938 (via Abu Dhabi).

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Suberb Summer Business Class Offers from London and UK

Friday, May 29th, 2009

There are some tremendous business class deals to be had from the UK this summer. With the airline industry having a tough time there are great offers on the market to entice flyers back to the premium cabins. Let’s take a look..

United Airlines is running a half-price business class sale ex-UK, bookable by 2nd June. Travel is between 11th July to 31st August – peak season when trans-Atlantic flights are normally at a premium.

Lowest prices from London are:

New York £795
Boston £845
Washington DC £845
Philadelphia £845
Atlanta £905
Miami £939
Las Vegas £1,109
Los Angeles £1,109
San Francisco £1,109
Seattle £1,165
Honolulu £1,309

British Airways is running another business class sale at the moment, running up to June 30th.

Club World offers (return) to North America from London:

New York £1,099
Boston £1,199
Miami £1,399
Toronto £1,499
Los Angeles £1,699

Travel 1st July all the way to 13th Dec.

Other offers worldwide available include Caribbean destinations for £1,319 return.

Note, BA are also targetting some members of their Executive Club with £200 off Club World bookings with promo code BAUK-VALUED which means flights to New York can be had for £899.

As usual Virgin Atlantic are matching or slightly undercutting many of BA’s Club fares. Upper Class flights to New York JFK are priced from £1,096.

American Airlines has the following business class offers from London:

New York £1,098
Boston £1,198
Orlando £1,311
Miami £1,398
Los Angeles £1,658

Book by 30th June, travel to 13th December.

Air Canada is also matching the BA/AA sale with the same booking and travel dates. Return prices from London to the US (via Canada) are:

New York £1,047
Boston £1,157
Orlando £1,293
Miami £1,383
San Francisco £1,633

air-canada

Air France has business class fares from London, Manchester or Edinburgh to New York from £1,051. The flights are operated by partner Delta Airlines.

Swiss has some good business class offers worldwide from Birmingham, Manchester and London. Prices from Birmingham:

New York £1,054
Boston £1,204
Johannesburg £1,289
Sao Paolo £1,601

They also have intra-Europe business class deals, the best of which is London-Barcelona at £215.

Air New Zealand has business class flights to Los Angeles from £1,628 – travel to 13th Dec, book by end of June.

Emirates have some value business class fares out of Birmingham:

Cape Town £1,387
Hong Kong £1,376
Singapore £1,378
Christchurch £2,222
Sydney £2,261

Travel up to 9th December. Prices from London are £200-£500 higher.

Perhaps the best deal of the lot – you can currently fly from London to Melbourne or Sydney on Singapore Airlines in business class for under £2,000. This can include some legs outbound on the A380 – we found prices of £1,977 to MEL and £1,986 to SYD.

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