Posts Tagged ‘british airways’

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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British Airways Worldwide Flight Sale from London

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

British Airways has started its late summer flight sale today which runs until 20th September. Prices are not as cheap as previous sales – nevertheless lets take a look at the airfares on offer. Travel dates vary but apply mainly to autumn/early winter period.

Economy (World Traveller) / premium economy (World Traveller Plus with 38″ seats) / business class (Club World) selected return fares from London are as follow:

Boston £360 / £638 / £1,740
Abu Dhabi £378 / £608 / £1,540
Miami £378 / £816 / £1,940
New York £396 / £674 / £1,752
Los Angeles £458 / £896 / £2,319
Barbados £499 / £814 / £1,629
Tokyo £547 / £959 / £2,400
Hong Kong £617 / £1,029 / £2,449
Singapore £669 / £1,091 / £2,697
Bangkok £685 / £1,097 / £2,650
Buenos Aires £738 / £1,087 / £2,899
Perth £899 / £1,418 / £3,261
Sydney £979 / £1,494 / £3,261
Melbourne £979 / £1,494 / £3,267

Some of the premium economy fares are reasonable (especially east coast US) and upgrading with miles to Club World – subject to availability – would be a good deal. However, the Club fares are not particularly outstanding.

british airways sale

As always, Virgin Atlantic are immediately matching most of BA’s sale fares on routes which they both serve.

Qantas has its own sale (also ends 20th September) – and has matched BA’s economy and business class prices to Asia and Australia. Its premium economy fares are higher than BA’s (example Hong Kong £1,399, Sydney £2,311) highlighting its superior product, which is more of a “business lite”.

Note that Etihad currently has sub-£3k Pearl business class return fares to Australia. London to Sydney (£2,996) and Melbourne (£2,998). We found some availability on Expedia in November for £2,917. Other good Etihad biz deals are Bangkok (£1,420), Kuala Lumpur (£1,590) and Manila (£1,709).

Air New Zealand also has sale fares available. Fly in their excellent premium economy or business cabins to Hong Kong for £1,011 / £2,330 or Los Angeles £1,082 / £2,199. Book by Sep 20th (business) or Sep 29th (premium).

Remember that NZ also has the “SkyCouch” option in economy to Los Angeles where you can book a row of 3 economy seats which fold into a sort of couch bed.

Tags: british airways, london
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London to Amsterdam Flight Route Analysis

Wednesday, July 13th, 2011

London-Amsterdam is an important short-haul business and tourist route. Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS) airport is served by 6 of London’s main airports – Heathrow (LHR), Gatwick (LGW), City (LCY), Luton (LTN), Southend (SEN) and Stansted (STN).

Amsterdam, the capital of Netherlands is a fairly short hop from London. The 230 mile flight will often take around 45 minutes flying time although schedules are normally for 1 hour 10 minutes.

amsterdam flights

Airlines serving London-Amsterdam:

British Airways – The Oneworld carrier has up to 18x daily flights during the week from London to Amsterdam – 8x from LHR, 6x from LCY and 4x from LGW. The Heathrow flights are operated using Airbus A319/A320s. The Gatwick flights use Boeing 737s whilst the City flights use BA Cityflyer’s Embraer E170/E190s. Note, there are less Amsterdam services from City airport running at weekends.

Standard economy (Euro Traveller) fares start at around £100 return – with the Gatwick flights generally being the cheapest. Business class (Club Europe) fares start at about £260 return though special offers can be a bit cheaper. BA lounges are available at LHR, LGW and AMS.

For those with BA/Iberia Avios points to burn, London-Amsterdam return can be done as a Reward Flight Saver (RFS) for 9,000 Avios plus £30 or €35. To qualify for the RFS you must have earned at least 1 Avios point in the previous 12 months.

Flights depart from Terminal 5 at Heathrow, North Terminal at Gatwick and the D gates (non-Schengen) at Schiphol.

british airways airbus a320

KLM/KLM Cityhopper – The Skyteam airline operates 10x daily (7x Saturday, 8x Sunday) from London Heathrow to Schiphol using Boeing 737s and Fokker 70s. Economy fares are similar to BA’s and start from £100 return. Business class fares are more expensive – expect to pay a hefty from £375 return. KLM also penalise passengers for booking one-way flights (£300 in economy) so stick to return bookings.

Lounge access for business and elite passengers is at KLM’s Crown Lounge at Amsterdam and the Skyteam lounge at Heathrow Terminal 4 (gate 10).

CityJet – This Air France subsidiary uses Avro RJ85 Avroliners to serve Amsterdam Schiphol from London City airport. There are 8x daily flights during the week, 1x daily on Saturday and 3x daily on Sunday. Economy returns are also priced from the £130 level, whilst a flexible City Premium fare (lounge access offered at Schiphol) is offered for £510 return.

cityjet flight

Note that Star Alliance no longer have any non-stop flights between London and Amsterdam. bmi (British Midland) pulled out of the route in 2010 and that airline has since been absorbed into British Airways.

Easyjet – The “no frills” airline flies from Gatwick (5x daily), Luton (4x daily), Southend (2x daily) and Stansted (3x daily). If booking in advance, base fares start at around £55 return – but if you need to add 20kg checked luggage, want an assigned seat and pay by credit card the total will be around £90 return.

One positive aspect to Easyjet is they will allow you (subject to availability) to get on an earlier flight on the day for free – try doing that with BA or KLM and they will probably charge you for a new fully flexible ticket.

Easyjet flights at Amsterdam arrive and depart from the low-cost H pier. The Gatwick flights operate from the North Terminal.

Train Alternative: High speed international rail to Amsterdam is an option with a combination of the Eurostar which goes from London St Pancras station to Brussels Zuid/Midi and then taking either a Thalys or FYRA train on to Amsterdam. This journey takes about 4 1/2 hours – you do need to go through security and border controls when departing with the Eurostar.

Journey times will be reduced when direct London-Amsterdam train services start in 2015.

Please also see our related articles:

Amsterdam Schiphol – Airport Guide
Amsterdam Schiphol – Lounges
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport Hotels

Article UPDATED as of January 2013.

Tags: amsterdam, british airways, klm, london
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