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Exclusive HfP competition: Win two flights to New York – and YOU pick the airline

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We are running a competition on Head for Points this week to win two economy class flights between London and New York.

This is, however, a competition with a twist.

YOU get to decide which airline you fly with if you are the lucky winner!

The winner will receive two economy tickets between London Heathrow or London Gatwick to either New York JFK or Newark Liberty.  The prize can be taken at any point up to 30th June 2018, subject to availability.  If you win you must be one of the two travellers.

What is going on here?

Let me explain.

We are working with a major airline on a piece of research.  It wants to know what airline you would select for a flight if price was not an issue and airline miles or elite status benefits were not an issue.

We want to know your genuine preference.  The best way to achieve this is to not make it a hypothetical question, but a real question, with real consequences!

On the entry form, you will be asked to select between American Airlines, British Airways, Delta Air Lines, Norwegian, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic or someone else as your preferred carrier for an economy flight to New York.

You and a friend can be flying to New York in economy on the carrier you select.

Please note that:

  • You will not earn any airline miles on your tickets
  • You will not receive any status benefits
  • You will not receive lounge access even if you have status with that airline

Do not consider any airline status you have or any miles you currently collect when selecting your airline.  Your flights will not qualify for status, mileage or lounge benefits because the tickets will be issued using restrictive travel trade policies.

If you fly Norwegian, your prize will include pre-paid food and luggage so the prize is equivalent to a standard economy ticket on one of the full service airlines listed.  If you select ‘other’ you will be randomly booked onto one of the six named airlines.

Interesting, yes?  All you need to do is pick an airline and tick the main factor that influenced your decision from a list of:

  • Brand reputation
  • Crew and service
  • Food & Beverage
  • In-flight entertainment
  • On-board wifi
  • Previous experience
  • Seat comfort

How to enter

We are running this competition slightly differently because of the information we need from you.  We are using Google Forms.  Click the button below (or click here) and you will be taken to the form you need to complete.

It is only two questions long (and multiple choice), so don’t worry!  It will take less than 30 seconds to complete.

The competition will run for a week, closing at midnight on Wednesday 10th January.  The winner must travel if they win – you cannot gift the prize to anyone else.

Good luck!  Please feel free to share on social media using the buttons under the article.

Here are the rules:  You must be over 18 years, a UK resident and not an employee of any of the airlines listed on the entry form to enter. Strictly one entry per person. The winner MUST be one of the travellers. The competition will close at midnight on Wednesday 10th January. One entrant will be selected at random and will have 48 hours to confirm their details. If they do not respond, another winner will be drawn.

The prize is economy return flights for two people from a London airport to New York Newark or JFK on the airline you chose on the entry form. Flights are subject to availability and all travel must be completed by 30th June 2018. The competition is promoted by Head for Points, contact details on request. The name of the winner will be made available on request.

Your email address remains confidential and will not be passed to the sponsoring airline or used by Head for Points for any other purposes.  Your airline preference, and the reason for your decision, will be aggregated with other respondents and given to the competition sponsor.

Comments (153)

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

  • Adrian says:

    I chose AA, as for me they are better than BA, but having read about no status (MCE) no lounge access etc. and being 6’3″ and rather portly I’ll give it a miss, hfp has truly spoiled me with business class experiences that i can afford, i really don’t think I’d enjoy the experience. Please re-draw in the really unlikely event that i win, sorry i should have read all the bumpf first.

    • Ian says:

      I haven’t entered the competition as I wouldn’t be interested in the prize – for the same reasons as Adrian states.

      • Cate says:

        +1 (but it is a good prize so thanks Rob).

        • the real harry1 says:

          got a feeling the real prize will be better than basic Economy…

          think about it – you’re the airline donating the prize – what is the incremental cost to you in terms of even just going up to giving as prize 2x Premium Economy + lounge access?

          peanuts – and you’d (the airline) have a decent chance of getting favourable comments posted about you, I know if that happened to me I’d be pleasantly surprised, impressed, absolutely thrilled and dropping complimentary comments everywhere

          you’d want to avoid giving away basic Economy then having the prizewinners moaning about awful seats & cramped space etc, ‘wish I hadn’t won them, they were so bad’

        • Alan says:

          Brilliant. More chance for me!

        • Peter Taysum says:

          +1 Not interested; I’d rather buy a flight and keep my status benefits from all three alliances.

    • Richmond says:

      As Adrian, I would choose AA for MCE in economy but not interested in prize without any status benefit on any airline.

  • Stu N says:

    Entered, I’d rather have a free trip to NYC in economy than no trip to NYC in business!

    • Cate says:

      It’s each to their own Stu N. I don’t go into these comps because I, like some have mentioned don’t want to fly long haul economy. It’s each to their own which works out quite well on HfP and gives those people who want to fly economy a better chance of winning.

      • Stu N says:

        Normally I’d be looking at ways to not fly economy too – and this is something I have managed for the last few years rather successfully.

        Still free is free and NYC is somewhere I’d go back to time after time so why not give it a go?

        • Lady London says:

          Plus NYC is only a 5 hour flight. Quite a few large businesses mandate their employees to fly Economy for so few hours.

        • Mr(s) Entitled says:

          It’s not a 5hr flight on any current civilian aircraft.

        • the real harry1 says:

          heh heh! thought that when I saw it

          I think LL meant 6

  • Alex W says:

    There must be very few people that have actually flown each of the 6 airlines in LH economy, so it’s very difficult not to be biased. I’ve flown 4 I think, but not for many years on one of them. For me the main factors are convenience (departure location) and status benefits/earnings. Neither of which is in scope of the question! Excluding these factors, I don’t know enough about each product to make an informed decision. On that basis you’d have to question the validity of the results of this survey.

    • Lumma says:

      Isn’t that the whole point of this? To gauge perceptions of airlines? I do think the results will be different using the opinions of readers of this site than asking random members of public. My dad for example rates BA really highly based on a few flights he took to Japan with them back in the 1990s.

      • Cate says:

        That’s sweet. My grandfather until a few years ago still thought constellations were still flying.

    • Rob says:

      That makes no sense at all. Every day you make purchasing decisions based on not having used a product before. When you go into Boots and there are 15 types of male deo on pick from, is your choice somehow invalid because you haven’t actually tried all 15 of them?

      • Alex W says:

        Well of the 7 possible “influencing factors” I reckon around 4 of them require some form of previous experience of flying with them before! I can’t make sense of it either… good job I don’t work in sales or marketing!

        Fair point though, I’ll probably buy the deodorant I’ve used before and liked… although if I got extra Boots advantage points I might choose a different one. And if money was no object, perhaps a different one still. And if it was rubbish, I wouldn’t buy it again. I wonder if the competition winner be contacted after the flight to see if they regretted their choice of airline?!

  • CV3V says:

    Flying in economy to states I would want a decent entertainment system followed by Wi-Fi to distract from the boredom and cramped seat.

    However, if I was in a premium cabin I would be against Wi-Fi, no one should have it and we should all enjoy some time without it! #moralhighgroundwhenitsuitsme

    • Delbert says:

      I had my first WiFi experience on both legs in long haul business last November. I have to say that I was very impressed.

      No fellow passengers were inconvenienced, injured, distracted or troubled by my twenty-four hour WiFi experience. I’m going for it again in April.

      • Lady London says:

        Were any animals harmed by your twenty-four hour WiFi experience, Delbert? you .seem to have missed that one off
        🙂

  • Mike says:

    I liked United when I last flew them to EWR in Y.
    I liked the 757 and the early arrival into EWR.

  • Anna says:

    I think it’s a great competition – my family, friends and colleagues (who don’t get the whole points deal) would be unbelievably excited by 2 free flights to New York. I’m not entering though, because I wouldn’t get the time off at such short notice ????.

    • Barry cutters says:

      if you won you would have 25 weeks to use the tickets.
      how much notice do you need to give at your work?!?

      • the real harry1 says:

        istr Anna’s a bit of a T-355 booking person (like me!)

        I guess I could make a long weekend of New York, though

  • Tilly says:

    Entered. Free is free so fingers crossed. Although I never win anything.

    Only got experience of 4 of the airlines flying stateside. Another but only short haul. The 6th never flown on.

    Being a little shy of 5’2″ Y will be ok for me.

  • Gavin says:

    Entered, I would opt for Virgin all things being equal as I think they hand out choc ices, and it would be good to try out a different British airline

    • the real harry1 says:

      quite hard to think of them as British any more, somewhat harder than BA/ IAG whose ownership/ headquartering a lot of people mock

      so Virgin Atlantic isn’t listed, Branson’s going to end up with 20% I think & the rest is foreign-owned

      & Branson isn’t UK resident? https://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/oct/13/richard-branson-tax-exile-virgin

      his UK companies pay a lot of corporation tax & employ thousands of UK people who pay NI & income tax etc, so we’ll not go down the blame game route

      but would you agree Virgin Atlantic is/ will be much less British than IAG/ BA after the Delta/ AF + KLM deal goes through? (I think he still has over 50% for now, which is why he wanted to knee Willie Walsh in the groin)

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

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