Last chance for Business Class sales with Air France, Etihad, South African and Virgin Atlantic

A number of airline Business Class sales are about to expire in the next few days.  We have put them all together in brief in this article – click through to the relevant sale pages for more details, a full list of destinations and to book.  If you haven’t had a chance yet to look at the prices, here is a reminder of the headline deals.

Etihad

Etihad’s sale ends on 11th February.  We haven’t covered this yet on HFP so don’t think you missed the original article.

The listed prices are for travel until 30th September and the return flight must be completed by 15th October.

The lead prices in Business are:

• London – Mumbai from £1,673
• London – Shanghai from £2,134
• London – Sydney from £2,999
• London – Dubai from £1,500

The sale page is here.  You will also find details of sale fares from Edinburgh and Manchester on that page. In addition, if you are not already an Etihad Guest member, you can sign up here and receive 500 bonus miles.

SAA

The South African Airways sale ends on 8th February.

In Business Class, Johannesburg is £2699, Cape Town is £2685 and Durban is £2909.  Remember that a new A330-300 with the new Business Class seat will be flying from London from 25th March – see my article here.

In Economy, for travel up to 23rd June but excluding Easter, Johannesburg is as low as £595 return.  Cape Town is £610.  There are also special fares to other destinations in South Africa (Durban, Port Elizabeth, Kruger Mpumalanga and East London) as well as Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana.

It is worth noting that, looking at the T&C’s of the sale, SAA allows its economy tickets to be changed for a fee of £100 subject to any difference in fare on the new date.  Tickets are not refundable however.

The sale prices can be found on the SAA website here.

Virgin Atlantic

The Virgin Atlantic Winter sale ends on 8th February.

The lead prices in Upper Class departing London are:

• New York from £1,389
• Barbados from £1,495
• Dubai from £1,493

The lead prices in Upper Class departing Manchester are:

• Boston from £1,289
• Atlanta from £1,692

Premium Economy starts at £632 and Economy at £359.

The Virgin Atlantic Winter Sale site is here.

Air France

There is no end date or travel dates indicated for the Air France sale.  These fares look very attractive in places.

Some lead prices in Business (cabin photo above) are:

• Abu Dhabi from £1,372
• Cairo from £923
• Dubai from £1,233
• Johannesburg from £2,024
• Hong Kong from £1,555

The fares are here and the Air France home page is here.

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

Some UK credit cards offer special bonuses when used for buying flights. If you spend a lot on airline tickets, using one of these cards could sharply increase the credit card points you earn.

Booking flights on any airline?

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold earns double points (2 Membership Rewards points per £1) when used to buy flights directly from an airline website.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points. These would convert to 20,000 Avios or various other airline or hotel programmes. The standard earning rate is 1 point per £1.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is increased to 30,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 30,000 Avios. Click here to apply.

You can apply here.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

Buying flights on British Airways?

The British Airways Premium Plus American Express card earns double Avios (3 Avios per £1) when used at ba.com.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 30,000 Avios. The standard earning rate is 1.5 Avios per £1.

You do not earn bonus Avios if you pay for BA flights on the free British Airways American Express card or either of the Barclaycard Avios Mastercards.

You can apply here.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

Buying flights on Virgin Atlantic?

Both the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard and the annual fee Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard earn double Virgin Points when used at fly.virgin.com.

This means 1.5 Virgin Points per £1 on the free card and 3 Virgin Points per £1 on the paid card.

There is a sign-up bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points on the free card and 18,000 Virgin Points on the paid card.

You can apply for either of the cards here.

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review