British Airways is having a "Go After The Games" flight sale for bookings up to 25 September.
Flights booked in Euro Traveller, World Traveller and World Traveller Plus, Club World and First are available for selected outbound travel dates between 10 September 2012 and 12 July 2013.
The easiest way to locate cheap fares is to use the cheapest fare tool which can be found here.
Economy wise, nothing overly exicting. There is LA from just over £500 and Singapore at £699.
Premium economy is a bit better as the tickets can be upgraded using Avios to Club World (if there is award availability) and here we see Hong Kong from £995, Tokyo from £989 and the Caribbean from around £800.
In Business, the fares are not that well discounted so there are none worthy of a mention.
Showing posts with label Flights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flights. Show all posts
17 August 2012
1 August 2012
Virgin Atlantic 13 hour rule out of Heathrow
Just in case anybody is travelling out of Heathrow on Virgin Atlantic any time soon, I wanted to let you know that Virgin has quite a bizarre rule regarding pre-assigned seating:
I do not know why they do this. I guess it's due to "operational" reasons.
You can find some more details on this rule here.
- If you have pre-assigned a seat online, you must complete online check-in 13 hours prior to departure, otherwise you will lose your seat assignment!
I do not know why they do this. I guess it's due to "operational" reasons.
You can find some more details on this rule here.
27 July 2012
20% off SPG Points - ends 31st August!
A quick heads up that SPG are currently offering a 20% discount on purchasing points - down to $28 / 1k from $35. It's still not a great rate to buy, but given it's the only way to buy points for some FF schemes (for example Asiana), if you need a few extra to top up a balance, now is the time to do it.
https://buy.points.com/PointsPartnerFrames/partners/spg/container.html?language=en&product=BUY&CAMPAIGNCODE=SWSideNav&c=SWSideNav
Generally, with the exception of UA/CO and maybe a couple of others, SPG points transfer at 1:1 into most airline schemes and you also get a 5k bonus for every 20k you transfer, manufacturing a 1.25:1 rate! A complete list is available at: http://www.starwoodhotels.com/preferredguest/account/starpoints/transfer/airline_partner_list.html
https://buy.points.com/PointsPartnerFrames/partners/spg/container.html?language=en&product=BUY&CAMPAIGNCODE=SWSideNav&c=SWSideNav
Generally, with the exception of UA/CO and maybe a couple of others, SPG points transfer at 1:1 into most airline schemes and you also get a 5k bonus for every 20k you transfer, manufacturing a 1.25:1 rate! A complete list is available at: http://www.starwoodhotels.com/preferredguest/account/starpoints/transfer/airline_partner_list.html
21 July 2012
Virgin Atlantic Economy Sale - ends July 27
Autumn flights must be a bit on the slow side as Virgin Atlantic has released some sale fares.
Full listing here but highlights for me are:
London Heathrow to Chicago £449 (21 Aug 12 - 21 Oct 12)
London Heathrow to Miami £449 (21 Aug 12 - 21 Oct 12)
London Gatwick to various Caribbean destinations from £529.
London to New York is actually £489 which is not a great deal, but Chicago for £449 certainly is!
It's a longer flight than New York and I have rarely seen it cheaper than New York (which has many more flights per day).
It also looks like other airlines are matching these fares. For instance, most of the Star Alliance airlines that fly these routes have similar prices for the same dates. So take your pick!
Full listing here but highlights for me are:
London Heathrow to Chicago £449 (21 Aug 12 - 21 Oct 12)
London Heathrow to Miami £449 (21 Aug 12 - 21 Oct 12)
London Gatwick to various Caribbean destinations from £529.
London to New York is actually £489 which is not a great deal, but Chicago for £449 certainly is!
It's a longer flight than New York and I have rarely seen it cheaper than New York (which has many more flights per day).
It also looks like other airlines are matching these fares. For instance, most of the Star Alliance airlines that fly these routes have similar prices for the same dates. So take your pick!
13 July 2012
APD....!
Some of you might have received an open letter from Virgin Atlantic talking about APD (basically tax on flights) - in the UK, this is a horrendous charge that really drives up the price of (especially premium) flights departing out of the UK.
To quote from the letter:
"Air Passenger Duty, or APD for short, is the tax you have to pay every time you fly from a UK airport. Introduced in the 1990s, over the last six years APD rates have gone through the roof for long-haul travel. A family of four flying in Economy to the Caribbean in 2006 paid £80 tax. From April this year they have to pay £324, and if they were to travel in Premium Economy or Upper Class they would have to pay £648."
These are pretty scary numbers (at least to me!) so if you get the chance head to http://www.afairtaxonflying.org/ and enter your details. It probably won't result in anything happening, but at least we will have tried.
To quote from the letter:
"Air Passenger Duty, or APD for short, is the tax you have to pay every time you fly from a UK airport. Introduced in the 1990s, over the last six years APD rates have gone through the roof for long-haul travel. A family of four flying in Economy to the Caribbean in 2006 paid £80 tax. From April this year they have to pay £324, and if they were to travel in Premium Economy or Upper Class they would have to pay £648."
These are pretty scary numbers (at least to me!) so if you get the chance head to http://www.afairtaxonflying.org/ and enter your details. It probably won't result in anything happening, but at least we will have tried.
9 July 2012
Virgin Atlantic PE Reward Seat Sale
Just received a mail from VS promoting discounted redemption rates for Premium Economy seats. I travelled to Dubai recently in VS PE and it's pretty good - the extra legroom and improved service make quite a big difference from Economy.
If you have Virgin miles sat around and don't think you'll ever get to 100k for an Upper class redemption, this is potentially a decent use - 35k + £415 to Chicago stands out as you can easily (and cheaply) get to anywhere else in the USA from there. As always in the UK though, the tax and surcharges are painful.
Bookings must be made by 16th July so don't hang about if this interests you! (Also I expect availability might disappear quickly)
TO/FROM UK MILES Taxes (from)
JFK/NEWARK 35,000 £415
CHICAGO 35,000 £415
WASHINGTON 38,500 £415
LONDON-ORLANDO 45,000 £392
MANCHESTER-ORLANDO 45,000 £394
GLASGOW-ORLANDO 45,000 £391
LONDON-LAS VEGAS 47,500 £418
BARBADOS 47,500 £427
DUBAI 40,000 £412
ACCRA 38,500 £462
DELHI 47,500 £477
SHANGHAI 50,000 £482
TOKYO 50,000 £493
MUMBAI 47,500 £441
Full details at http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/frequentflyer/spendmiles/rewardflights/flightsformiles.jsp
If you have Virgin miles sat around and don't think you'll ever get to 100k for an Upper class redemption, this is potentially a decent use - 35k + £415 to Chicago stands out as you can easily (and cheaply) get to anywhere else in the USA from there. As always in the UK though, the tax and surcharges are painful.
Bookings must be made by 16th July so don't hang about if this interests you! (Also I expect availability might disappear quickly)
TO/FROM UK MILES Taxes (from)
JFK/NEWARK 35,000 £415
CHICAGO 35,000 £415
WASHINGTON 38,500 £415
LONDON-ORLANDO 45,000 £392
MANCHESTER-ORLANDO 45,000 £394
GLASGOW-ORLANDO 45,000 £391
LONDON-LAS VEGAS 47,500 £418
BARBADOS 47,500 £427
DUBAI 40,000 £412
ACCRA 38,500 £462
DELHI 47,500 £477
SHANGHAI 50,000 £482
TOKYO 50,000 £493
MUMBAI 47,500 £441
Full details at http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/frequentflyer/spendmiles/rewardflights/flightsformiles.jsp
Singapore Airlines accidentally releases lots of award space...
...and look what happens - you get 568 posts and counting on Flyertalk:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-mileageplus-consolidated/1364187-quick-heads-up-sq-releasing-almost-all-f-award-o.html
The loophole now seems to be closed, but while it was open for about a day it meant that Star Alliance partners had access to Singapore Airlines business and first award space which is normally only available to Singapore Airlines own members (Krisflyer).
This meant, for example, that people with decent United Mileage Plus balances could book into pretty much any route on Singapore Airlines using their miles.
Needless to say there were a lot of very happy people on Flyertalk.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-mileageplus-consolidated/1364187-quick-heads-up-sq-releasing-almost-all-f-award-o.html
The loophole now seems to be closed, but while it was open for about a day it meant that Star Alliance partners had access to Singapore Airlines business and first award space which is normally only available to Singapore Airlines own members (Krisflyer).
This meant, for example, that people with decent United Mileage Plus balances could book into pretty much any route on Singapore Airlines using their miles.
Needless to say there were a lot of very happy people on Flyertalk.
3 July 2012
BA Sale - Ends 10 July
Just a quick post to say that there's a BA sale going on at the moment for flights out of Heathrow and Gatwick.
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/low-price-finder/public/en_gb
The sale ends on the 10th of July, so there's not too long left.
While not amazing prices, there are some good World Traveller (economy) and World Traveller Plus (premium economy) tickets availabile.
Jumping out are flights to Chicago in December for for £439 and to Los Angeles in March for £514. Both World Traveller class.
In World Traveller Plus £993 to Tokyo looks reasonable seeing as this can be an expensive route, and there are dates available each month from July until March next year. Also Boston from £757 including Autumn dates, which is a great time to visit.
It's also worth noting that if you're a member of BA Executive Club, you will earn 100% Avios even on these discounted sale fares (plus even more for World Traveller Plus flights).
I'll do a post in the future about the BA Executive Club and Avios, as for flyers out of the UK this can be a decent frequent flyer program since there are so many ways to earn Avios through flights, credit cards, hotels and shopping.
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/low-price-finder/public/en_gb
The sale ends on the 10th of July, so there's not too long left.
While not amazing prices, there are some good World Traveller (economy) and World Traveller Plus (premium economy) tickets availabile.
Jumping out are flights to Chicago in December for for £439 and to Los Angeles in March for £514. Both World Traveller class.
In World Traveller Plus £993 to Tokyo looks reasonable seeing as this can be an expensive route, and there are dates available each month from July until March next year. Also Boston from £757 including Autumn dates, which is a great time to visit.
It's also worth noting that if you're a member of BA Executive Club, you will earn 100% Avios even on these discounted sale fares (plus even more for World Traveller Plus flights).
I'll do a post in the future about the BA Executive Club and Avios, as for flyers out of the UK this can be a decent frequent flyer program since there are so many ways to earn Avios through flights, credit cards, hotels and shopping.
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