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Bits: Qatar and Etihad UK sales, Starwood New York sale, Ibiza lounge access

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News in brief:

Qatar Airways and Etihad launch UK sales

Both Etihad and Qatar Airways have launched sales from the UK in both economy and business class.

Neither of these sales are exceptional but if you have been looking to lock something in for the short term then you might want to commit rather than gamble on better deals coming along.

Headline Etihad deals include, in Business Class:

  • Abu Dhabi £1,846
  • Mumbai £1,914
  • Bangkok £1,919
  • Manila £2,148
  • Perth £2,770

Here is my review of the Etihad A380 Business Studio which is, I think, the best business class product in the air at the moment.  You can see all of the Etihad pricing here.

The Qatar Airways deals include:

  • Dubai £1,509
  • Singapore £1,919
  • Perth £2,499
  • Hong Kong £1,919
  • Bali £2,109

You can find more Qatar Airways UK offers on this page.

My review of Qatar’s A380 Business Class is here, Qatar’s 787 Business Class here and Qatar’s 777 Business Class here.

15% off Starwood hotels in New York

Flight searches for travel to the USA have taken a well publicised dip since the election and this is starting to filter through into hotel promotions.

Starwood has launched a new promotion offering discounts on its New York hotels.  1-night stays are reduced by up to 10% with 2+ night stays reduced by up to 15%.

Participating brands include Sheraton, Westin, W, Element, St Regis, Four Points, Aloft and Le Meridien amongst others.

You need to book by 30th June via this link for stays before 31st August.

sala lounge cap des falco aena vip ibiza airport lounge seats

Ibiza lounge joins Priority Pass

You may remember Anika’s review of the Cap des Falco lounge in Ibiza last month, photo above, in particular their desperate attempts not to let her in despite having a valid ticket.

The good news is that, as of 10th February, the lounge has joined Priority Pass (for American Express Platinum cardholders, or buy one outright) and Lounge Club (for American Express Gold cardholders).  This is particularly good news for British Airways passengers as BA, unlike Iberia, does not have a deal with the lounge to allow premium passengers to get in.

Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (April 2024)

Here are the four options to get FREE airport lounge access via a UK credit card.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with two free Priority Pass cards, one for you and one for a supplementary cardholder. Each card admits two so a family of four gets in free. You get access to all 1,300 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here.

You also get access to Eurostar, Lufthansa and Delta Air Lines lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum instead.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for the first year. It comes with a Priority Pass card loaded with four free visits to any Priority Pass lounge – see the list here.

Additional lounge visits are charged at £24.  You get four more free visits for every year you keep the card.  

There is no annual fee for Amex Gold in Year 1 and you get a 20,000 points sign-up bonus.  Full details are in our American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review here.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free Priority Pass card, allowing you access to the Priority Pass network.  Guests are charged at £24 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £195 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer.  Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard

A huge bonus, but only available to HSBC Premier clients Read our full review

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.

Category

Etihad and Etihad Guest, Marriott Bonvoy, Qatar Airways and Privilege Club

Comments (42)

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

  • Genghis says:
    16 Mar16 March 05:42

    “as BA, unlike Ibiza”… Iberia perhaps?

  • Maciek says:
    16 Mar16 March 06:41

    Very off-topic – Tesco travel money. Has anyone tried paying with non-Tesco credit card? Does ot go through as purchase or money advance? T&C say Tesco cards treat it as purchase, but other cards may attract cash advance fee.

    • Anna says:
      16 Mar16 March 08:22

      I wouldn’t risk it unless the terms are very clear. Normal practice is for the cc company to treat it as a cash withdrawal and charge interest from the start until you pay the balance off.

    • Gulz says:
      16 Mar16 March 10:07

      Anika wrote an article on shoppers points a while ago regarding this. Pretty sure she and other commentators confirmed that its treated as purchase and not cash.

      • Gulz says:
        16 Mar16 March 10:08

        I mean tesco credit cards are treated as purchase

        • Maciek says:
          16 Mar16 March 10:16

          That i know. I am explocitly asking about non-Tesco cards.

          • guesswho2000 says:
            16 Mar16 March 10:27

            Cash advance, I used a non Tesco CC once when I needed USD urgently (the shame, a cash advance fee and no miles!) – this was back in 2012 though.

  • Polly says:
    16 Mar16 March 08:37

    Think we all got our QR tickets by now on those previous sales ex eu! These are not great prices…

    • fbrj says:
      16 Mar16 March 09:41

      Yes, you can say that again!
      We got 2 to Bali for less than £1500 each (now £2200) in the Jan sale.

      • Polly says:
        16 Mar16 March 15:17

        Yes we got HKT from HEL for around £900 pp so well pleased. Used the 241 for KUL F booking early 2018, so all good.

    • James says:
      16 Mar16 March 17:51

      I didnt! I was in HKT after a month long Asia trip, £3k down and not quite in the position to pop £2k on a LHR to PER. Now However I’m waiting anxiously and Im starting to get impatient!
      Id hardly call this a sale either… Watching fares generally I dont see much difference at all to normal prices.. maybe about £100 difference.

      • Polly says:
        16 Mar16 March 19:01

        We are actually watching too for a Jan Feb deal in an Autumn sale! If we get a decent ex Eu from Scandinavia or Italy or Bucharest, we will cancel our F 241 as we did for Nov 17..

  • Lynx says:
    16 Mar16 March 08:58

    O/T – I have 46k of SAA Voyager miles and about half of them are due to expire at the end of this month. I have to confess I struggle to understand their web site, in terms of what I can do with these miles. If anyone has any suggestions on the best way to use them I would be most grateful.

  • mark2 says:
    16 Mar16 March 10:06

    Are the Clinton supporters still rioting in New York then?
    Or is it the rise in the value of the dollar which is making holidays in USA more expensive?
    I am glad that I have booked our rooms in Seattle using points, but Washington is also a Democrat stronghold.

    • Rob says:
      16 Mar16 March 10:37

      People seem to believe that a Trump-led US is not a US they want to visit …..

      • mark2 says:
        16 Mar16 March 11:17

        I’m sure some people do believe that, like we would never go to Asia or Africa.

      • Brian says:
        16 Mar16 March 14:23

        Which is fine – each to his or her own – if those same people never go to the Middle East or China, to name just two destinations that seem quite popular…

  • Paul says:
    16 Mar16 March 10:35

    Qatar super cheap Business fares (r class) do not show using ITA Matrix sometimes as they are not programmed as ‘business class’.

    You need to input the following
    QR+/f bc=r and select cheapest cabin available

    there is a whole thread on flyertalk about how to use ITA Matrix to find these fares

    Very useful for their next sale

  • James123 says:
    16 Mar16 March 12:29

    £1850 to Abu Dhabi in Business!?

    • Rob says:
      16 Mar16 March 13:06

      You expect that to be a bad price for Etihad though – in the same way Qatar doesn’t offer decent deals to Doha.

      • JohnW says:
        16 Mar16 March 21:56

        Why is that? I’ve always wondered what the reason for that is.

        • TGLoyalty says:
          16 Mar16 March 23:22

          Transfers always get better deals than direct

          Airlines must believe people will a the premium to get to a destination direct rather than via 2/3 stops, which to be fair is true in most cases.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      16 Mar16 March 21:15

      £895 from UK to Dubai on Qatar last year seems like a bargain now

  • Buster says:
    16 Mar16 March 17:09

    OT. what’s the best way To buy fuel at Tesco?use Tesco credit card as club card and pay with BA Amex or pay with Tesco debit card?

    • Peter K says:
      16 Mar16 March 17:20

      There’s a whole article on this i’m sure. Try the search function 🙂

      • Buster says:
        16 Mar16 March 17:31

        It was written before the change in Tesco current account points…

        • Polly says:
          16 Mar16 March 18:05

          Buster, still better to pay withe Amex, but scan Tesco Credit card, as you still get one clubcard Pt per £ plus your mr/£. Don’t think that has changed.
          Kinkell, that’s a great current earn ATM too….

          • Buster says:
            16 Mar16 March 19:18

            Thanks Polly. Really helpful.

          • Alan says:
            16 Mar16 March 20:54

            Yep – can also swipe the Tesco Bank debit card (both at the pump or with staff inside) for 1 CC/£ – increased in-store earnings should be coming next month!

    • Kinkell says:
      16 Mar16 March 17:29

      I Use Tesco CC for points then pay with BAPP for all my Tesco shopping.
      At the moment have downloaded payqwik, linked to club card to get the 50 pts per transaction for first 10 ‘shops’ . tend to buy the papers and pay, so small transactions here ! Extra points until beginning of May.

      • Genghis says:
        16 Mar16 March 18:39

        I’ve been using Payqwik on both mine and wife’s accounts. Easy 1k cc points. And we’ve had the old 500cc bonus.

        • Alan says:
          16 Mar16 March 20:52

          Interesting – did you register new cards? Am thinking I might just use my Tesco debit card Clubcard number to increase the chances of receiving more points!

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