New Qatar Airways Business Class sale – deals from Edinburgh, Birmingham, Manchester, London

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• mark says:

  17 Apr17 April 04:52

  Currently in MNL, catching a flight back today to BHX – i only booked the trip 1 week before i flew – got a great deal (£440 from memory return in Y), sadly it’s only 80 tier points. If you are looking for upgrades to J – lots of availability when i upgraded for the BHX to DOH leg or the otherway around.

  The no1 lounge in BHX (first visit last week) is nice too, a lot better than the lounge in T2 in Manchester, but not been since it’s refurbishment.

• Andrew says:

  17 Apr17 April 06:38

  A word of warning: try to book a connection time of 2 hours in DOH – I flew to Dubai last week and the flight from Birmingham left just 20 minutes late, resulting in being off-loaded from the flight to Dubai (was booked with a 1 hour connection). I was put on a flight 4 hours later, which in the middle of the night was not good. I need to investigate if EU passenger rights kick in for this delay.

  • Danksy says:

    17 Apr17 April 08:04

    I’m worried about my flight to BKK via DOH. We only have 50mins transfer time (although ticketed through).

    • fbrj says:

      17 Apr17 April 13:36

      In the last few days I have done OSL-DOH-BKK return. Our connection out at DOH was 45mins but luckily went from B3 (ie quite close to the central hub); we also had to go through security again. On the way back we had 60mins connection but a gate change to D21 (which is a long walk and a bus gate!). No security screening on that leg.

      A few points:
      No-one met us at the gate for accompanied transfer;
      If you have to go through security again, there is a business class lane but you have to hunt around to find it;
      Make sure you have all your boarding cards issued at your start point (ie you don’t have to spend any time at the transfer desk obtaining new boarding cards);
      Somewhat to our surprise, all our luggage made the connection with us!

  • Danksy says:

    17 Apr17 April 08:08

    Sorry it’s 55mins, but I think that passengers get met and driven straight to the onward flight by QR staff for transfers of short time?

    • mark says:

      17 Apr17 April 09:07

      not always, had a fly from MAN and my connection time was 55min from memory, it departed 5 minutes late and QR refused to let me take the flight to CRK as my bags would not make it???

      For the first time ever, my delayed flight arrived at the gate next to my departure gate, still no joy even though other people were still boarding.

    • Andrew says:

      17 Apr17 April 09:13

      They don’t. You have to run!

    • Leo says:

      17 Apr17 April 15:53

      We had a transfer of 60 mins last month. No one met us off the plane – someone merely pointed in the vague direction of the main area. No security outbound but yes inbound. I was a bit surprised actually that there was no assistance offered whatsoever on the transit. Having said that the flights were all on time and there was not really a mad rush to transit with 60 minutes.

  • Talay says:

    17 Apr17 April 10:07

    @ Andrew re EU flight delay compensation:

    Ultimate delay > 3 hours so in theory possible but delay must be on leg starting from EU as non EU airline flying to non EU airport.

    I had an Etihad issue the other month with the leg from AUH to BKK being delayed but as that was non EU all round, no compensation. I understood, after some research, that had the delay been on the LHR-AUH leg, the “departing EU airport” part would have covered me.

  • James says:

    17 Apr17 April 10:12

    Yes you should get ec261 compo as the regs clearly state it is the whole journey that counts. Depends on the reason for the delay initially at first, however with it being 20 minutes at first it’s seriously unlikely to be ‘extraordinary circumstances’.

    Be prepared to go to court to get your cash though.

    • Andrew says:

      17 Apr17 April 21:15

      Thanks James and Talay. I will try and persue it – the journey was thru-ticketed EU destination to non-EU destination so the legislation is hazy. And yes, not extraordinary circumstances – just an off-load pax bag. I got a letter from QR at the airport confirming the delay and the reason for it. Worth a shot anyway – €600 each.

    • Talay says:

      18 Apr18 April 00:43

      Whole journey yes but there is a legal distinction between a non EU plane stopping off at a non EU airport en route to a non EU destination against a change of plane at a non EU hub on a non EU carrier, even if the first leg originated in an EU country.

      Moot point as this is the original ex EU airport being late rather than the 2nd leg.

• jon says:

  17 Apr17 April 09:08

  Remember also the FLYFIVE discount code, which gets you 5% off

  Remember you can get 2% topcshback as well which gets you a further 2% off

• Will says:

  17 Apr17 April 09:12

  Agree that the equipment choice is crucial particularly the differention between solo, business and leisure.

  So from a leisure point of you, if you are a couple please try to pick the 777 – it really is still the best despite what the reviews say. IFE only bettered by the a380, best service and by far the most spacious experience.

  Please also note that while the screens on the a380 and 787 are amazing, the film choice, for reasons totally unknown to me, is far more limited on 787. A380 excellent. But also remember that the a380 is a beast and service less impressive.

• tony says:

  17 Apr17 April 09:41

  Just to flag up a VS/DL sale ex-MAN that’s running for another 2 days.

  £1158/£1198 depending where you’re headed. Choice of destinations is rather mixed with a focus on tier 2 cities – SAN, SEA, AUS, TPA and the like.

  Valid for travel through end of booking season, so up to mid-March.

  • James says:

    17 Apr17 April 10:16

    There is an AA sale from the regions too, which can be open jawed to produce DUB – USA / USA – MAN/BHX/EDI where the last leg must be on a route flown directly by AA (eg PHL – MAN). £1030.

  • James says:

    17 Apr17 April 10:34

    Also the VS/DL sale has been matched by star alliance, and can be had to Tampa in peak summer period (economy to the land of the mouse = £800) for £1158… Great deal.

    • tony says:

      17 Apr17 April 19:44

      Good spot. I see UA are – on the fares I’ve looked at – matched out of BHX as well. Just over an hour from Euston!

• Noggins says:

  17 Apr17 April 09:44

  Just goes to prove what a cracking deal the Etihad flights were a few days ago. £5k from LHR to Syd vs £2,8k with Etihad – albeit necessitating £50 and some avios to get to Istanbul to start with! Is there a way of ‘grading’ how special the special offers are?!

  • jon says:

    17 Apr17 April 10:21

    So for two people to SYD it would be ~£3000 with some avios and the worry of misconnect in IST on Ethihad, or £4200 (with 5% discount) direct from LHR. Remember the LHR ticket will be including about £300 purely in tax (APD for 2 people) that will account for some of the difference.

    It is down to what you want – if you have the time to tag a weekend break in IST on, then the fare difference will basically pay for quite a good weekend there.

• John W says:

  17 Apr17 April 11:19

  O/T – I’m trying to use some Emirates miles to book some flights in business from Birmingham. I’ve read on here that it’s better to book 2 x 1 ways in order to avoid UK APD – because the return flight is usually a nominal £10 in tax or something? However, I’ve tried to do this with Emirates and the return is still still £266 in tax? Also, it will only let me use miles for a more expensive flex ticket when trying to do a one way? Does anyone have any experience of this?

  • John says:

    17 Apr17 April 11:29

    UK APD is only charged on flights which depart the UK (but the destination is the final destination even if you stop over somewhere for less than 24 hours)

    Don’t know where you are going, but the £266 is not tax, it is airport charges and a random charge made by Emirates which you pay when redeeming.

    It is better to book as one-ways when:
    – the return trip is departing HKG
    – the trip involves Japan
    – you are using BA reward flight saver
    – there is a chance that you want to cancel one of the trips

    • John W says:

      17 Apr17 April 11:34

      Oh right. Understand…thanks.

      Yes, was just trying to book a return form Birmingham to Dubai & thought it would be cheaper to do 2 x 1 ways but it doesn’t seems to make any difference.

      So it’s only certain airports/countries where doing 2 x 1 ways ‘works’ then?

  • Rob says:

    17 Apr17 April 12:57

    You do not avoid APD as it is only charged on the outbound. And, as you say, one ways cannot be booked as cheap Saver redemptions. Book a return.

• Charlie says:

  17 Apr17 April 12:22

  You can get 8% cash back on top if you pay with a Santander debit card too! (I just received £44 from a Hilton stay in another of their offers).

  T&Cs below…
  Earn 8% Cash Back on your next booking with Qatar Airways. Fly to over 150 destinations worldwide, for exclusive fares book now at http://www.qatarairways.com. Join the Privilege Club to earn Qmiles and begin a journey to a world of exclusive privileges. Offer expires 22/04/2016 and is valid one time only. Maximum reward £60.

  • Charlie says:

    17 Apr17 April 22:39

    I’m unsure. They’re just what appears in the ‘My Offers’ section after logging in to Santander internet banking.

    • Brian W says:

      17 Apr17 April 23:28

      Thanks both.

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