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

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).

Tags: cathay pacific, etihad, qantas, singapore airlines, sydney
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Suberb Summer Business Class Offers from London and UK

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.

Tags: british airways, london, new york, singapore airlines
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Air Asia X “Free” Flights Offer

May 12th, 2009

Malaysian low-cost airline Air Asia and its long-haul subsidiary Air Asia X are offering “free” flights for travel in 2010. You do have to pay taxes and charges but there are some good deals to be had.

For Aussie flyers, Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur (KUL) is available from AU$120 all in return. Perth to KUL is priced from AU$115 return and Gold Coast to KUL can be found for AU$104 return, which is a very reasonable price. Don’t forget though, extra fees apply for checking in luggage, seat assignments and meals.

This ‘taxes only’ offer is available on many of Air Asia’s route network around south-east Asia. Under this deal we found return flights from Perth to Bali for just AU$87 all in – this is operated by Indonesia Air Asia.

The booking period is limited to 13th May to 15th May, so hurry up if you want to book. Travel between 5th Jan and 30th April 2010.

London – Kuala Lumpur is not included on the ‘taxes only’ deal, but there is a promo fare of £283 return all in. Air Asia X’s new service from Kuala Lumpur to Taipei can be found for MYR389 return all in (around US$110). Same booking and travel dates apply.

Tips for booking flights with Air Asia X:

1. Get on their “Red A!ert” email newsletter list.

2. Monitor prices – only book the very best promo fares (not the usual promo fares). It probably is worth the extra charge to bag the exit row, especially on the long haul flights.

3. Compare fares with Malaysian Airlines who can be very competitive and are a full service airline – sign up for their Grab-A-Deal promotions. If flying to a resort check through-fares to that destination as they can be similar to fares to KL.

4. Compare prices with other full service carriers. For example, Qantas has some very competitive fares out of London currently to Hong Kong – prices are as low as £250 return this June if you know where to look.

5. For Australia-Asia routes also check prices with Jetstar.

6. If you do book with Air Asia be wary of any flight time schedule changes, as this does happens on occasion. And allow plenty of time for connections.

kuala-lumpur

Tags: air asia x
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How Far Can You Fly From London For Less Than £400?

April 19th, 2009

Challenge: How far can you fly from London and back for less than £400? Let’s take a look at some of the special offers in the airfare market currently available.

For £400 or less we can easily get anywhere in Europe. So what about the Middle East?

Well Skyteam airline Alitalia is advertising some excellent return fares (via Milan and Rome) from London on its website:

£160 Damascus
£161 Tel Aviv
£176 Beirut
£187 Tehran

Qatar Airways has the following London deals bookable by 6 May, travel by June 30:

£202 Abu Dhabi
£217 Muscat

What about Africa?

Well you could fly to Marrakesh in Morocco with Ryanair and Easyjet for between £100 and £200.

Virgin Atlantic has a promo this weekend (book by April 22) for return economy flights to Nairobi from London Heathrow for £299. Travel until May 24 – this is a decent fare to east Africa.

Egyptair (Star Alliance) has an offer to Khartoum for £328, travel by June 30, book by April 30.

Qatar Airways has a fare to Johannesburg for £303 return via Doha. Cape Town is offered for £358 – same dates as mentioned above.

India?

Virgin can get you non-stop to Mumbai for £305 (book, travel by May 2) and Delhi for £334 (book by May 9, travel to June 30). [Note, they also have a very good premium economy deal to Delhi for £494 for travel in May]

Gulf Air have some good offers to India (via Bahrain):

£290 Mumbai
£310 Delhi
£326 Chennai

Star Alliance Swiss will get you to Delhi for £341 (book by April 30).

For £400 we can also easily get to North America. American will fly you to Las Vegas for £340 (book by April 30, travel up to 30 Jun). Air New Zealand flies non-stop to Los Angeles for £351 (travel by June 20, book by May 6), whilst US Airways has a special fares in May from £313. Air Transat will get you to Vancouver on May 14th from £333, returning a week later.

Air France has a fare to Mexico City for £374. Iberia has return flights to Panama City for £389.

At time of writing there are no airfares to Hawaii nor south America for less than £400.

What about airfares to Asia?

Qatar Airways has an excellent fare to Hong Kong of £304 (book by May 6, travel to June 30). Air New Zealand have fares at £357 (book by April 21, travel by June 21) and Virgin £364 (book by May 5, travel to June 16).

Etihad can get you to Bangkok for £391 for various dates in May. (Check your country’s travel advisory and whether your travel insurance is valid for Thailand)

We checked “low cost” Air Asia X for flights to Kuala Lumpur in May and June – no promo fares were available, nothing under £400! Promo fares (£363, plus charges for seat assignment, baggage, meals) were available in September.

Air France has flights to Beijing £386 and Singapore £395, book by April 21, fly by June 17.

singapore-flights

Emirates can get you to Jakarta for £393 (book by April 30, fly by July 10). Fares with Malaysian Airlines to the Indonesian capital can be found on some agents for £373.

You can even fly to Tokyo for under the £400 – Air China has fare of £381 (found on travelocity for various dates in May).

Nothing is available to Australia for less than £400 – the best we found was a £430 fare to Perth. However in February you could have purchased airfares to Australia and New Zealand for under £400 using some special airfare ‘tricks’.

Now is a good time to take advantage of these long-haul airfares with oil prices at lower levels. The airlines are struggling with a significant drop in premium travellers, their biggest source of revenue – if this continues then economy prices will have to increase in the near future.

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