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Sale time: Etihad business class, Virgin West Coast and a rare SWISS First Class offer

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The rush of Summer sales continues – here are the picks of the last couple of days:

Etihad business class sale from the UK

Etihad has launched a week-long business class sale out of the UK.  I rate Etihad VERY highly indeed and, if pushed, I would say that the Business Class Studio on the A380 is the best business class product on the market.

I reviewed Etihad’s Business Class Studio here and there is a special website on their A380 business class service here.

The list of deals can be found here.  Abu Dhabi is as low as £1,175 return out of Heathrow.  Asian destinations are around £1,600 whilst Australasia is around £2,500ish.

Remember that Etihad also flies from Manchester and Edinburgh.  You must book by 11th July.

Flights from Paris appear to be around 20% cheaper but this may not justify the cost of getting there and back.  You also need to keep an eye on what aircraft you will be using.

Etihad A380

Virgin Trains West Coast sale now on

Virgin Trains is running a short West Coast sale which expires tomorrow, Thursday.

You need to travel between 23rd July and 4th September.  Tickets are available in both classes, with lead-in fares of £10 between Manchester and London and £14 between Glasgow and London.

Full details are available here.  Remember that you can also earn Virgin Flying Club miles or Nectar points with your booking if you use the official website.

SWISS First

Impressive £1,900 SWISS First Class sale to Seattle / Chicago

Courtesy of Flyertalk I noticed this interesting SWISS First Class fare.

SWISS First is a very good product.  This is my review of SWISS First – the food, I think, remains the best I have had in First Class.

You can’t even redeem for SWISS First these days.  Availability is only made available to Miles & More elite status members and even then it is on a request basis.  I won’t be flying it again in the near future, that’s for sure.

For around £1,900 you can fly from London City to Seattle. You will be changing in San Francisco to United.  Flights to Chicago, which do not require a United connection, are £2,000. This is an exceptional deal for such a high quality experience.

You need to book by 11th July and travel outbound before 31st August or over Thanksgiving (22nd – 29th November) or next Easter (19th March to 3rd April).

It is bookable on the Swiss website.  Be 100% certain that you book a SWISS flight code.  Do NOT book a United codeshare for the long-haul because SWISS will refuse to give you access to their First Class lounge in Zurich.  This is one of the more bizarre rules in the frequent flyer world and one which presumably leads to major disputes at the entrance of the lounge daily.

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How to earn Star Alliance miles from UK credit cards

How to earn Star Alliance miles from UK credit cards (April 2025)

None of the Star Alliance airlines currently have a UK credit card.

There is, however, still a way to earn Star Alliance miles from a UK credit card. 

The route is via Marriott Bonvoy. Marriott Bonvoy hotel loyalty points convert to over 40 airlines at the rate of 3:1.

The best way to earn Marriott Bonvoy points is via the official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card. It comes with 20,000 points for signing up and 2 points for every £1 you spend. At 2 Bonvoy points per £1, you are earning (at 3:1) 0.66 airline miles per £1 spent on the card.

There is a preferential conversion rate to United Airlines – which is a Star Alliance member – of 2 : 1 if you convert 60,000 Bonvoy points at once.

The Star Alliance members which are Marriott Bonvoy transfer partners are: Aegean, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Avianca, Copa Airlines, Singapore Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines and United Airlines.

You can apply here.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

20,000 points for signing up and 15 elite night credits each year Read our full review

Category

Etihad and Etihad Guest, Lufthansa and Miles & More

Comments (16)

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

  • Talay says:
    6 Jul6 July 05:50

    I also rate Etihad and use them for most of my SE Asia routes but booking yesterday, Singapore Airlines was less than 2/3rds of Etihad’s price and with over £2000 difference (2 x pax) then it was a no brainer for the A380 13 hour flight.

    To add capacity, Etihad has dusted off some of their “retired” A340s and has some (presumably) ex Jet Air rubbish in the mix as well.

    No chauffeurs is a miss though.

  • Talay says:
    6 Jul6 July 05:54

    OT

    I am going to be cancelling 2 seats in Club World via Amex Avios 2 for 1 on the following flights which will presumably see them relisted as available for redemption. If anyone wants one and wishes to try to bag it seconds after I release it then let me know (if allowed to discuss this here ?).

    LHR-BKK 19/07/16
    BKK-LHR 05/09/16

    • Genghis says:
      6 Jul6 July 08:04

      That’s one long holiday! Jealous

      • Talay says:
        6 Jul6 July 10:40

        Summer break for wife and child – they have flown out today for an even longer one !

  • James says:
    6 Jul6 July 09:24

    I don’ think I will be recommending Etihad to anyone soon following my experience yesterday. They managed to lose/misappropriate my luggage along with 5000 others ( according to the agent I spoke to) in Abu Dhabi.
    No clue as to where it is or if I will ever see it again. Gold member on a First class ticket has little bearing. I can only hope.
    Internet research suggests it can be quite a recurring theme with Etihad.
    Seat might be a bit nicer on the plane, but not worth the subsequent hassle.

    • Talay says:
      6 Jul6 July 10:41

      Etihad has few if any seats left right now judging by their pricing, which I follow carefully.

      It is also a religious time in the ME so all and sundry travelling.

  • Rob says:
    6 Jul6 July 09:54

    OT

    I saw flights to Hong Kong from Birmingham for £250 with Qatar over on secret flying. There are dates going into March 2017. I wondered if anybody could shed light on whether these should be booked ASAP or will the prices hold for at least a month or 2?

    Thanks

    • Rob says:
      6 Jul6 July 10:23

      You’re joking – you can’t even get to the Middle East for less than £300 most of the time. If they are offering you £250 – which hardly even covers the taxes – you need to jump on it immediately.

      • John says:
        6 Jul6 July 11:44

        This must be in Y, so the taxes are UK APD of £73 and HK departure tax of £12 plus whatever BHX and DOH charge for ‘security’, so hardly “hardly”

      • Rob says:
        6 Jul6 July 12:28

        Thank you. Sorry I’m quite inexperienced at this. I’ve seen similar priced offers from gatwick via turkey but understandably not too keen to jump on that. Wasn’t sure whether to wait if I could or book now. This answers it though.

        • Mr Dee says:
          6 Jul6 July 21:52

          This Momondo looks very useful to find some cheap flights

    • AndyGWP says:
      6 Jul6 July 15:10

      Ah – didn’t realise this was a publically known issue as such – I picked up flights from BHX out to SIN and back from KUL earlier for £370, when yesterday they were £500+ and all other oneworld airlines were coming in at £600+

      • AndyGWP says:
        6 Jul6 July 19:28

        What I meant to say was that I didn’t realise these prices weren’t the norm (as such). Never really gone East beyond Europe so wasn’t sure what I should be paying, and whether it was a natural dip.

        Neither did I realise that it was being publicised to far and wide as an error fare (SecretFlying) else I would’ve booked earlier rather than leaving it till lunch time 🙂

        Final point – I booked mine direct from Qatar via. Google Flights

  • Rob says:
    6 Jul6 July 15:15

    It is possible Swiss was matching this when it launched its deal but no-one ever saw the original!

  • harry says:
    6 Jul6 July 21:59

    Raffles – what is Secret Flying then?

    • Rob says:
      7 Jul7 July 00:07

      I know nothing about it beyond what you can learn from their site.

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

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