Posts Tagged ‘flights’

Champions League Flight Options London to Moscow

Thursday, May 8th, 2008

This year’s UEFA Champions League final on May 21st is an all ‘English’ affair. It is expected that 40,000 fans from Chelsea and Manchester United will travel to Moscow.

With direct flights from London to Moscow being limited and around the £1,000 mark for those dates, football fans are scrabbling to book flight and travel itineraries. And flights through central Europe are filling up fast.

Let’s look at a few different options where you can currently get from London to Moscow for under £400. Note you will find cheaper flights leaving Moscow on the 23rd, as everyone seems to want to leave on the 22nd:

Fly with Ryanair up to Riga in Latvia which depending on dates will currently cost from £130 return. You could take the gruelling 18 hour train journey to Moscow which will cost around £100 return. Or get a round-trip with Aeroflot from Riga to Moscow for £219 (departs 20th, returns 23rd) for a total price from £349.

Another alternative is to fly via Istanbul on 2 separate return tickets. You could fly London to Istanbul with Turkish Airlines for £163 (out 19th, back 24th) and book a separate return ticket Istanbul – Moscow on Aeroflot for £204 (out 20th, back 23rd) for a total cost £367.

Fly from London Luton to Budapest for £87 with Wizz Air (out 19th, back 24th) and then get a return with Aeroflot to Moscow for £215 (out 20th, back 23rd), total price £302.

Another route is to fly down to Barcelona (can be done via Girona from £25 on Ryanair) and use Spanish budget Clickair to fly to Moscow for 130 euros which lands at 6am on the 21st. Note budget airlines can have delays so this could be risky! Total one-way cost approximately £130. There is a very reasonable one-way flight back to London from Moscow on SAS (via Stockholm) for £136 on the 23rd. Total price will be around £266.

Alternatively you could hire a private jet from an air charter operator or through a broker. For a listing of top UK companies see UK Charter Guide.

Don’t forget to do your homework concerning visa requirements.

 

London to Los Angeles Business Class Deals

Tuesday, February 12th, 2008

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.

Airfare Outlook for 2008 – Transatlantic Open Skies vs Fuel Surcharges

Tuesday, January 8th, 2008

April 2008 will mark the start of ‘Open Skies‘ which finally deregulates air travel between the EU and the USA. This will mean that any EU or US airline will be able to fly whichever routes they want between the EU and the US – this should result in lower transatlantic fares for the passenger.

Consider London Heathrow where 4 airlines have had a virtual monopoly on flights to the US – British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines and United Airlines. Come April we will see some new routes coming to the market as airlines juggle valuable take-off and landing slots.

Air France-KLM plans to fly from Heathrow to Los Angeles. In addition KLM has given some slots to its US partner Northwest Airlines which will fly from LHR to Detroit, Seattle and Minneapolis.

Fellow SkyTeam carrier Delta Airlines will fly to New York JFK and to its Atlanta hub. Continental Airlines will service New York Newark and Houston.

Meanwhile Star Alliance carrier United will add a route to Denver.

With American Airlines starting a second daily flight from London Stansted to New York from April 2008, plus the all business class airlines EOS and Silverjet (Maxjet having folded recently) there will be plenty of competition which could benefit passengers particularly in business class.

Not to be outdone British Airways is planning its own non-stop flights from mainland Europe to New York. Codenamed ‘Project Lauren’ BA will probably operate flights configured with Club World and premium economy seating from Euro hubs such as Brussels, Amsterdam and Paris. (Note, More info here: Open Skies)

One dark cloud on the horizon for airlines and passengers is the high oil price. Having recently touched $100 per barrel, BA, Virgin and United have all raised their fuel surcharges with others to follow soon. Should oil keep rising (and some analysts are predicting $150-$200 oil) then this will increase airfares worldwide.