AirTravelGenius Blog

All business class airline Maxjet will begin a 4-times-weekly service from London Stansted STN to Los Angeles LAX from August 30th 2007. Flights will operate Sunday, Monday, Thursday and Friday.

Special offer introductory prices are £349 plus tax each way ex-UK and $699 plus tax each way ex-US. This amounts to £773 and $1548 all-in for a return journey - pretty good value.

Since low-cost Oasis Hong Kong Airlines started flying on the popular London to Hong Kong route we have seen some excellent airfares on the market from competing carriers.

Air New Zealand are advertising flights from London to Hong Kong on their website priced from £356 all in. The fare is available until 14th June and also in September and November.

However you can find Air NZ fares as low as £297 with some of the major online agents if you fly in May and June - this is outstanding value, especially considering their generous economy class seat pitch of 34″.

Similarly, Qantas have flights from £320 all in (May and June, also bookable from major online agents).

British Airways currently have a worldwide sale to many destinations. London - Hong Kong return for £329 all in is probably their best offering (thanks in part to Oasis.) Travel must be between 1st May and 27th June. Similar fares can be found with the online agents.

We found some all-in return fares in May on Virgin Atlantic from £345.

Cathay Pacific will charge you from £389 all in for their special offer London to HK flights via their website. Like Air NZ, travel until June 14th, September or November. Note, the outbound leg must be taken on a Monday or Tuesday.

Note, Qantas and BA have seat pitch of 31″, less than Cathay’s and Oasis Airlines’ 32″.

And of course you can find return prices on Oasis on some available dates for under £300.

But that Air NZ fare looks pretty good. So this really is a great time to get over to Hong Kong…

Virgin Atlantic is offering some good upper class deals if you book before 9th May. Flights must depart in July or August. Return airfares all in are:

Dubai £1199
Barbados £1399
New York, Washington DC, Boston £1399
Chicago £1599
Miami £1699
Los Angeles, San Francisco £1799

Flight must include a Saturday night stay and these fares do not include the use of a chauffeur driven car transfer.

If you need a good deal between London and New York (book by tonight), then have a look at EOS Airlines - they are still offering a free companion ticket on fares “J1CMA” ($6250/£3200) and “J2CMA” ($4759/£2400) - if you enter promo code “APRCMP”.

With the announcement by Fly Asian Xpress to purchase 10 Airbus A330s (plus a ‘call’ option for another 5) indicates a new chapter in the budget long-haul sector. Essentially this means Air Asia will start ultra-cheap long haul services out of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Flight destinations are expected to be UK, Australia, India, China and Japan.

For more details see our article Fly Asian Xpress / Air Asia X

With Oasis Hong Kong Airlines operating cut-price flights from Hong Kong to London (soon to add a Hong Kong to Vancouver, Canada service) and even Ryanair stating their intention to set up a low-cost Trans-Atlantic service, the sector is certainly hotting up.

Zoom Airlines has just announced it is starting a London Gatwick LGW to New York JFK low-cost service priced from £129 one-way including all taxes and charges. This price will be available all year round for those who book in advance.

Zoom has been flying cut price routes from the UK (and Paris) to various Canadian cities for 3 years. It now wants a piece of the lucrative London-New York market dominated by the major carriers like BA, Virgin and American.

Seating will be an acceptable 31″ pitch. However, extra legroom (36″ pitch) at the emergency exits are available for an extra £30 each way. For £99 each way you can upgrade to premium economy (35″/36″ pitch) with some extra level of service included. Note, hot meals are provided to all passengers.

Service will commence on June 21st 2007, as will another new Zoom route from London to Bermuda. These fares go on sale April 13th.

All business class airline Maxjet have a limited time deal:

London Stansted STN to Washington Dulles IAD from £299 each way (all in) for travel between 24 May and 28 October 2007. Ex-US flights priced from $499 plus tax.

STN to New York JFK from £359 each way for flights between 16 April and 15 September 2007. Ex-US flights priced from $599 plus tax.

You need to book a round-trip, deal is available until April 17th.

Oasis Hong Kong Airlines have a very good business class deal available until March 25th 2007 for their flights from London Gatwick to Hong Kong.

Buy a business class return ticket for £1,460 (travel until August 31st) and you get 1 free business class ticket for travel up to October 25th. You can either use the free ticket to travel together with a partner or use the ticket yourself at a later date.

The deal is also available for ex-Hong Kong passengers, priced at HK$19,800.

Maxjet Spring Sale - All business class airline Maxjet has some excellent deals available to book between February 15th and March 5th 2007 for travel up to September 15th 2007.

UK travellers can fly business class from London to New York JFK, Las Vegas or Washington DC for just £599 all in return, an exceptional price. US travellers pay $1146 all in for ex-US flights. These flights can also be priced up on a one way basis where you will pay around half the stated fare.

EOS Airlines are also having a Spring Holiday Sale. Return fares ex-UK start at £1161 while from the US at $2600. Book by March 8th 2007 - however travel is restricted to between March 24th and April 9th 2007.

British Airways have a Club World offer for Spring to 32 destinations worldwide.

Selected return Club Class prices (all in) from London to the following are available:

New York / Boston / Washington DC £1349
Los Angeles / San Francisco / Miami £1649
Hong Kong / Beijing £1699
Mumbai £1359
Dubai £1259

Book by March 8th 2007. Travel dates between March 24th and June 30th. Flights must be booked 21 days in advance of travel.

Virgin Atlantic have their own Upper Class spring sale with flights from London but with more restricted travel dates:

New York / Boston £1349 (depart Apr 1st - 9th)
Mumbai £1349 (dep Mar 24th - 31st)
Shanghai £1687 (dep Mar 27th - Apr 7th)

Book by 8th March.

In light of the doubling of Air Passenger Duty tax on all UK flight departures (from February 2007) - here’s another reason to consider all business class airlines.

Fly London to New York in a premium cabin (first, business or premium economy) on a standard airline and you will now pay £80 duty on your ticket. However because all business class airlines have only one class of seats, they are considered as economy flights for tax purposes and you will pay only £40 for the same trans-Atlantic journey.

Book a round trip on Eos airlines by December 22nd (travel by April 30 2007) and they will throw in 100 Jet Blue TrueBlue points - enough for a return trip anywhere on JetBlue’s network. You need to join JetBlue’s loyalty program.

Silverjet are offering round trip fares from London Luton to New York Newark for £799. For an extra £200 they will throw in 2 nights at the Millenium Hotel UN Plaza in Midtown Manhattan. Flights commence on January 25th 2007.

Flying from the UK will become more expensive from February 1st 2007. The Treasury will be doubling the rate of Air Passenger Duty (APD) as follows…

Short-haul flights:
Economy Class £10 (was £5)
Business Class £20 (was £10)
Long-haul flights:
Economy Class £40 (was £20)
Premium Economy/Business/First Class £80 (was £40)

So passengers flying long haul premium economy will be hit hard in the wallet with an £80 ($150) duty charge.

The extra revenue raised will be going to the general budget and not to any specific environmental projects. Green groups welcome the charge as a way of reducing passenger numbers. Not surprisingly, the airline industry remains strictly opposed to any increases in aviation taxation. Low cost carrier Ryanair states on its website:

“Taxing air transport will not have any effect whatsoever on reducing greenhouse gas emissions but will have substantial adverse effects on European economic growth.”

Flying Green

Virgin Atlantic is this month experimenting with towing its 747-400 aircraft to the runway area to reduce costly fuel consumption whilst taxiing. The trials will take place at London Gatwick and Heathrow with co-operation from the BAA and air traffic control. If successful they hope to carry further testing in the USA next year.

A small minority of travellers choose to donate money to charities such as World Land Trust in order to offset their carbon emissions from flying. You can input your route details on their site and it calculates the average amount of carbon emission involved and how much you should donate to offset the CO2. The money is then invested in environmental projects worldwide such as reforestation programs.
For example, a return flight from London Heathrow to Seattle would emit 1.69 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere which corresponds to a donation of £12.59.

However with the sharp increase in APD, the uptake for voluntary carbon offset is likely to stay low unless the airlines themselves get more involved.

Photo Credit: Frank Arman