AirTravelGenius Blog � openskies

OpenSkies (British Airways) Deal Amsterdam – New York

AirTravelGenius — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:51:28 +0000

OpenSkies, British Airways’ Euro project is offering a very good deal on flights from Amsterdam to New York JFK. You can fly in premium economy for €750 all-in return whilst business class is available for €1,999 all in return. The flights are operated by a Boeing 757 configured to just 64 seats – 20 in business class (known as “BIZ”) with 73″ pitch and 44 in premium economy (called “PREM+”) which have a generous 52″ pitch and reclines to 140º.

The PREM+ offer looks excellent value – this is a superior product to BA’s long-haul World Traveller Plus which has 38″ pitch. (It would not be surprising if BA upgraded their WT+ cabins to something more like PREM+…)

If flying NY to Amsterdam the PREM+ fare is $1,000 return.

The PREM+ fares earn 125% miles with BA Executive Club. In comparison you could fly Amsterdam-New York on KLM economy class (31″ pitch) for €498 and earn a ‘whopping’ 25% Flying Blue miles.

Loads on OpenSkies have been poor – so you are almost guaranteed a quiet cabin – and BA has cancelled any expansion of the service for the time being. Having only 1 daily flight from Amsterdam to JFK is limiting to some business passengers. But at this price it must be worth a shot…

Book the PREM+ fare by Feb 28 2009 for outbound travel by May 31 2009.

The BIZ fare is bookable to Feb 09 2009 for return travel by Apr 30 2009.

TransAtlantic Airfare Deals ex-London and ex-Amsterdam

AirTravelGenius — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:09:06 +0000

British Airways’ OpenSkies had its inaugural Amsterdam to New York flight yesterday which should hopefully bring some lower transatlantic prices to Schiphol flyers.
OpenSkies is offering return flights all-in for €799 in prem+ (highly rated Premium Economy) and €2,313 in biz (full business class). The prem+ deal looks good value. Don’t forget you can earn BA Executive Club miles.

OpenSkies also flies from Paris to New York.

Amsterdam – New York business class prices at around the €2,250 level can also be found with Northwest Airlines, Air France (via Paris), British Airways (via London, with its excellent lounges) and Iberia (via Madrid).

With the credit crunch having hit Iceland severely, Icelandair is still offering competitive London to New York business class fares (via Reykjavik) from around £1,170.

Air India flies direct from London to Newark with fares available from £1,250 in business class and £1,900 in first.

Even cheaper, Kuwait Airways business class London Heathrow to New York JFK can be had for £985. First class from £1,370.

BA vs Air France…TransAtlantic Business Class Deals

AirTravelGenius — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:39:02 +0000

Tomorrow sees the inaugral flight of “OpenSkies“, British Airways’ European based project and a result of the open skies agreement between the EU and US. OpenSkies will fly daily from Paris Orly to New York JFK using a 3-class Boeing 757.

OpenSkies has linked up with all-biz L’Avion (code-sharing agreement) in order to go head-to-head against Air France at its home base. Business Class airfares on OpenSkies are available from €2,300 whilst economy fares can be found under €600.

However the real business class airfare action is happening on London – New York route. Checking prices for returns in July we see some fantastic deals available.

Air France-KLM / Delta seem to have the lowest fares (some direct flights, others via Paris) and are priced at under £1,000 / $2,000 which is excellent value (the lowest was actually £917 direct operated by Delta)

But we also found flights from Continental, British Airways, American Airlines and KLM for under £1,100 and Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic for under £1,200.

So despite record high oil prices these business class airfares are very competitive.