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Bits: Virgin’s NY-LON bar, Aer Lingus new short-haul business, Etihad / Kaligo offer

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News in brief:

Virgin Atlantic and Delta’s O2 bar is now open

I wrote back in June about the new bar that Virgin Atlantic and Delta were opening at the O2 Arena in Greenwich.  The facility is now open.  You can reserve booths online.

In theory, there are meant to be special deals for members of Virgin Flying Club.  I haven’t seen anything yet, and I can’t find anything on the Flying Club website, but I will keep my eyes open.

Ny-Lon entrance

Aer Lingus launches short-haul business class

Via Business Traveller, Aer Lingus is launching what looks suspiciously like a short-haul business class product this Autumn.  For reasons I can’t understand, though, it refuses to call it business class.

Let’s take a look at what the new service, to be called Aer Space, will offer:

  • Empty middle seat
  • Priority boarding
  • Priority baggage handling
  • Priority hand baggage acceptance
  • Full ticket flexibility
  • Lounge access
  • Free food on-board

That sounds suspiciously like a business class product to me.  It is virtually identical to the British Airways Club Europe product, although there will not be a curtain dividing the cabin.

Calling it ‘economy class’ may mean that the airline does not have to pay the higher rate of Air Passenger Duty on flights to the UK.  However, the airline will continue to alienate potential long-haul passengers who refuse to book it because they are put in economy for the final short hop.  All very odd.

It does, of course, make the job of British Airways easier when it comes to integrate the Aer Lingus product once the takeover completes.

Etihad 350

Etihad launches with Kaligo.com

Finally, hotel booking site Kaligo.com has launched a partnership with Etihad Guest.

You receive 3,000 bonus Etihad Guest miles with your first booking.   There are an additional 7,000 miles to be had if you spend $1,000 at Kaligo.com between now and the end of September.

You can claim this bonus even if you have already had the bonus from a Kaligo / Avios or Kaligo / Virgin promo, although you may want to use a different email to avoid confusion if you registered for the recent BA deal.

Details of the Etihad offer can be found here.

Comments (25)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Calchas says:

    If it really comes with priority baggage handling it’s better than BA’s Club Europe!

  • Daftboy says:

    I expect part of the positioning of Aer Space as Economy will be for business travellers who have a Y only policy – particularly for travellers originating in Ireland, where it would only have really been the banks which would have paid for business intra-Europe, and they are certainly not doing that now post financial crisis.

    Similar to the bmi model of Economy Plus (or whatever they called it).

    • Alan says:

      Agree corporate travel policies seem the most likely reason!

      • The_Real_A says:

        Agree. Outside of finance its common place for Y only travel – even long haul.

        I have endured this for for a number of years with my current employer. My only way to circumvent is ex-eu where the price is cheaper than the equivlent best price Y direct from LHR.

    • raikje says:

      “Flexible economy” was the bmi name. Which caused a good deal of confusion, becaues you could have an inflexible flexible economy ticket (no changes, but sit at the front), and a flexible non-flexible economy ticket (changes, but sit at the back)…

    • abc says:

      Agree and other airlines have been doing this as well.
      For example, Germanwings/Eurowings have an economy class tariff called BEST that is more business class than most inter-European business class service as it also features increased seat pitch on top of all the other things.

  • Chris Sutter says:

    > For reasons I can’t understand, though, it refuses to call it business class!

    Because Aer Lingus has not (yet) been “enhanced” by BA’s deluded marketing types? 😉

  • Jamsey says:

    Hey

    I got the Hilton Honnors credit card in January, and last month spent the 10k. If I cancel it today, when does my Hilton Honnors gold run out?

  • Nick M says:

    Has anybody been to a “Hilton Grand Vacations” sales talk? – I keep getting the invites and wondered whether it’d be worthwhile for a discounted stay or if they’re a bit too aggressive/not worth the time/hassle?

    • Alan says:

      Went to one a couple of years ago when staying at the W=A. Talk wasn’t too long, sales pitch afterwards was almost longer. Overall not bad value though with the giftcard we received and spent on a rather nice lunch! Had a read about it online and seems they put a stop to 3rd party purchases granting HHonors Gold status (as it used to do) – given the much higher price when buying direct and the major devaluation in HHonors last year (you’re able to swap your timeshare for HHonors points each year) I was glad I didn’t take it forward seriously.

      • Nick M says:

        Thanks.

        Yes I have absolutely no intention of taking out the timeshare… although I guess that is probably the thoughts for most people attending, and the reason behind the promotions!

        • Danksy says:

          We’ve got one in New York to attend in a few weeks at the Hilton on 57th street! I think we get $250 or something!

          • Alan says:

            Yep, that’s the one we went to and IIRC the amount we got too 😀

        • Pid says:

          Just been to one while on holiday in Hawaii. Was given 30,000 Hhonours points to attend a 90 min presentation, although it actually took about 2 hrs. While the offer was not too bad if you want to stay at Hilton timeshare properties for the rest of your life I did not like the fact that they would only give us some of the bonuses if we signed up immediately. Not giving someone a few days to think about an investment is little pushy I think. Anyway not really an issue as never intended to sign up, just wanted the points!

    • mkcol says:

      I’m off to one today at The Metropole in London – needed to be in London anyway this weekend, so it’s tied up perfectly. They were chucking 10K HHonors points at me IIRC.

  • Doreen says:

    On Hyatt points, I organised 5 nights for a friend at a MGM property almost 6 weeks ago – 125,000 points still not deducted from my account. A later 2 night stay by me has not credited to either Hyatt or MLife … anyone have a similar experience ?

  • Nick M says:

    We’ve booked a flight to Dublin with Aer Lingus with our daughter who will be nearly 13 months when we fly… for an extra £2 we booked her a “child” seat rather than “infant” and so should have the middle seat free. The only slight issue is that we will be trying to this with hand luggage only! Definitely worth checking the difference in prices for anyone with children under 2

    We’ve previously used Avios (Economy there, CE back) – having that bit more space made a huge difference, but it didn’t feel like the best use of 25,000 avios!

  • JQ says:

    I’m a bit skeptical that this will keep the APD at Y level, but I can’t be bothered to look up whether the CAA / HMRC have explicity defined what constitues a “class” of travel.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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