Posts Tagged ‘london’

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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Is It Possible To Avoid UK Air Passenger Duty (APD)?

Thursday, March 29th, 2012

From April 1st 2012/2013, flight departure taxes in the UK are set to rise yet again. Air Passenger Duty (APD) is charged for each passenger departing a UK airport – this cost is included in the ticket price. The UK currently has the highest aviation departure taxes in the world.

Despite aviation being seen as vital to worldwide trade and tourism, one of the UK’s solutions to a £126 billion budget deficit and £1.1 trillion national debt is to squeeze airline passengers further. The airlines themselves are heavily opposed to the tax as are the governments of Australia, New Zealand and various Caribbean countries who are losing significant tourist numbers from UK.

There are 4 APD bands based on flight distance, which bizarrely is calculated as the distance between London and the capital city of the destination country. There are tariffs for economy passengers (known as the “reduced rate”) and for premium economy / business class / first class passengers (known as the “standard rate”). APD will increase again in April 2013.

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Tags: air passenger duty, amsterdam, london
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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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