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.

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.

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.

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.

There are some reasonable London to Los Angeles business class airfares on the market currently. With the demise of Maxjet who flew the route for under £1,000 and with the prospect of Open Skies bringing more competition let’s take a quick look:

Air France will begin a service from London Heathrow to LAX from April. You can pick up a return ticket for £1,800 in business class (£320 in economy) for travel during April. We also found an Expedia Special Fare with Air France of £1,650.

A few other airlines are pitching their business class products at this £1,800 level. You can presently find deals with British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, United Airlines and Air New Zealand. BA and Virgin have sales bookable until March 4th to a variety of destinations.

All business class airline Silverjet is running its “Very Sivilised Sale”.

Flights from London Luton to both New York Newark and Dubai are available for £879 return, all-inclusive. (Normal prices are £999)

Bookings must be made by January 31st 2008 for travel up to October 31st 2008.

Oasis Hong Kong are currently offering a new year deal on London Gatwick to Hong Kong flights. Returns are available from £336 all-in (economy) and £1196 all-in (business class).

You must book by December 15th and travel between January 6th and March 12th 2008. Checking their site we found it was a little difficult to find the £336 deal (only a few dates are available) but the biz class offer is easily found.

British Airways currently has a Club World Sale with 41 destinations worldwide on offer from London. Here are a few examples of pricing:

New York £1199
Washington Dulles £1299
Boston £1299
Chicago £1499
Los Angeles £1699
Denver £1749

Cairo £999
Abu Dhabi £1159
Delhi £1284
Tokyo £1699
Hong Kong £1714
Singapore £1892

These flights should be booked by November 27th. Travel dates vary for each destination, generally from December to March.

Virgin Atlantic have a similar Upper Class Fare Sale (12 destinations available) also bookable by November 27th for travel in December and January. Prices are similar to BA.

So there are currently plenty of options if you want to travel cheaply from London to the US in business class in the next few months - with the all business class carriers like Maxjet and Silverjet and these sales from BA and Virgin. With Open Skies coming in 2008, the market should continue to hot up.

For those in the UK not on a biz class budget, BA also has an economy fare sale (30% off) to many destinations worldwide with the option to upgrade to World Traveller Plus (premium economy) for an extra fee. Available until November 13th.

Book a London / New York return trip on EOS Airlines (spending a minimum of £1,000 / $1,998) and EOS will give you the option of purchasing an extra flight at £300 / $750 each way (certain dates in November) or £500 / $999 each way (dates in December and early January).

Book the Nov flights by Novemebr 9th, the Dec-Jan flights by November 23rd.