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Cobalt Air to launch Heathrow to Larnaca flights with a new business class seat

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Cobalt Air has announced daily flights between London Heathrow and Larnaca, Cyprus from 27th March 2018.

This adds a further daily flight to Cobalt’s current flights from London Gatwick and Stansted.

The outbound flight will leave London Heathrow’s Terminal 3 at 17:20 arriving in Larnaca at 23:50 and the inbound flight will leave Larnaca at 12:45 arriving in Heathrow at 15:45.

Cobalt Air Business Seat

The Terminal 3 departure means that there are two good lounges for economy passengers if they have the right card – No 1 Lounge, reviewed here, and the new Club Aspire, reviewed here.  Cobalt will almost certainly do a deal with one of these for its business class passengers.

Flights will be operated by an A320 with 12 business class seats and 144 economy seats featuring Cobalt’s new business product as shown in the picture below.

Larnaca is one of the longest BA short-haul routes and there are occasional rumours, increasing recently, of it switching to a long-haul aircraft.  The Club Europe seat on a Boeing 767 really is not acceptable for a flight of 4 hours and 40 minutes.

I think this looks like an impressive alternative to BA on this route.  You can find out more on the Cobalt website here.


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How to maximise your miles when paying for flights (December 2024)

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Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

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Comments (132)

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

  • AndyF says:

    Off Topic: The Heathrow Rewards 50% conversion bonus to Avios.
    In the back of mind wasn’t it 100% bonus last year? (Not taking into account this new tier) I signed up for the deal where I got the 3k points for hitting the spending target, so I am now tempted to move it over before the end of Jan but I just wanted to check others opinions?

    • Genghis says:

      I converted mine to avios at 50% bonus last time but I wish I had kept the points to use at for LHR vouchers at 100%. Effectively buying avios (in hindsight) at 1.33p! Ouch.

      • JamesB says:

        A timely reminder to us all not to be swayed by headlines and think twice, and that the host scheme in the main is the best place to keep miles and points.

  • Nick M says:

    Well done Nick G – enjoy your flights!

    Looking forward to more competitions of a similar ilk in the future!

  • Artem says:

    O/T: Comparing HSBC Premier Elite (£195 fee) vs the free card. Am I right that the Elite card has a break-even point of £39,000 of yearly spend? I am confused by Rob saying it must be six digit figures spend in his review.

    • Rob says:

      If you value an Avios at 1p then yes. However a) I am not a buyer at 1p and b) you are investing £195 up front. I am a buy of Avios at 0.4p to 0.5p which is where my £100k figure comes from.

      • New Card says:

        I think I must be being dim but I can’t understand the maths here.

        The fee paying HSBC card gives 2 points = 1 Avios per £1 spent in the UK. So to recoup the £195 fee in Avios, I think one needs to spend £19.5k on the card?

        That’s also not including the value of the initial 40,000 (20,000 Avios) sign up bonus and the second 40,000 (20,000 Avios) sign up bonus which some people have managed to get HSBC to pay out (in accordance with their Terms) in year one. Plus the family travel insurance & Lounge Key …

        • New Card says:

          Sorry – think I have worked this out. Opportunity cost is £19.5k of spend on the free HSBC card at half the earnings rate. Got it now!

      • Artem says:

        Thanks Rob. Makes sense now.
        With the Curve debit bombshell – is IHG Premium a no-brainer for high spenders then?

  • Nick M says:

    I’m in the same position – upgraded around June but haven’t got around to cancelling it yet… made use of the new referral bonuses, but don’t think there is anyone else to refer at the moment. And last weekend away before the Gold anniversary is this weekend – so will be planning to transfer points out and cancel next week most likely!

  • Grimz says:

    OT, if you get declined for a Gold Card and your not sure why that would happen (first amex application) how long would you leave it before applying again?

    Thanks in advance.

    • JamesB says:

      The simplest explanation is too many other cards and/or too much credit relative to your income. If you suspect this to be the reason then reduce some debt and/or close some cards. Leave 2-3 months for this to be reflected on your credit file then apply again. However, if you can see no reason for rejection you could try challenging the decusion in writing, there are mixed reports on success of doing so.

    • Rob says:

      3 months.

      • JamesB says:

        Is this a judgement call or a rule Rob? After getting rejected for the SPG card last November during the period of reported system errors I was wondering whether to try applying again now or leaving it a few months. If I leave it I run the risk of getting caught up in new churn rules.

        • Rob says:

          Judgement call, but based on the fact that I believe Amex does have a rule – according to a reader who mentioned it on here a while back after he asked – and it was 2-3 months I’m sure.

        • George says:

          Amex seem to have a three month rule. I reapplied inside this once and got a letter to let me know they considered it a duplicate and cancelled the application before the hard score. This was at ~2months

        • JamesB says:

          Thanks Rob & George, I guess I better give it a miss then. Must be a card-specific rule though as I successfully applied for PRG less than one month after getting rejected for SPG.

        • George says:

          I have always found the current balance to be a big factor in my acceptance – if I spend a few weeks clearing balances before statements then I’m accepted nearly all the time. Let my usual spending run and clear at due as I would normally do and I find myself getting referred a lot more.

      • Sundar says:

        Believe Amex have a 90-day logic when their internal systems seem to reject same-card applications if done within 90 days.

        • JamesB says:

          Thanks, comments seem to be supporting this. Not good news but understandable and useful for us all to be aware of it.

      • Tom Cook says:

        3 months is right – when I got knocked back in error for the SPG card I rang and asked why this had happened, albeit 2 months later. They retrieved the application as they said that technically i wouldn’t be able to reapply until late Jan so they reopened and approved the initial application.

        • JamesB says:

          Were you referred Tom, and if so, was the referral hnoured? I let Rob refer me for the application that was rejected, I could do the same as you or risk waiting a few weeks and starting again after three months have elapsed.

        • Tom Cook says:

          Rob referred me – when they said that they would approve the original I asked about the referrer and they said that they would go back to the original reference and honour that. Wonder if Rob can confirm if he has an SPG bump more than he expected!

          • Rob says:

            Impossible to track because about 25% of those I refer get rejected or do not apply in the end so you cannot match them up.

  • Lady London says:

    Could this be an upside to Brexit then ? We won’t be in the EU after that…

  • wally1976 says:

    Are there any similar rumours of BA using long haul aircraft on the LGW-PFO route (very nearly as long)? I’m booked into CE late August so would be nice 🙂

  • MIM says:

    Does anyone have any feedback on Cobalt?
    My mother-in-law is flying MAN-LCA with them this summer – to join the rest of us going MAN-LHR-LCA on an Avios redemption.

    • Ben says:

      I flew them LCA-BRU a few months ago. It’s a long flight in a pretty small plane but no complaints. Probably the most lax LCC on hand luggage I’ve ever seen – many people took 3 hand luggage items each on board. Fine for a half full flight like mine was but in peak summer it wouldn’t work!
      I’d fly them again.

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

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