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Hainan Airlines to launch non-stop China flights to Ireland and Scotland

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Later this year Hainan Airlines is going to connect Beijing to Ireland and Scotland with their first ever direct flights on this route.

Hainan Airlines will offer a four times weekly service Beijing-Dublin-Edinburgh-Beijing on Thursdays and Sundays and Beijing-Edinburgh-Dublin-Beijing on Tuesdays and Saturdays.  Before you ask, it does not seem possible to book Dublin-Edinburgh on its own.

The airline will launch the first flight on 12th June operating an Airbus 330-300.

Dublin Airport’s Managing Director Vincent Harrison said:

“Hainan’s new Dublin-Beijing route links not just our two capital cities, but also our two countries. It is great news for tourism and trade and this improved connectivity will create new jobs throughout Ireland”.

In addition Hainan Airlines is launching thrice-weekly flights from London Heathrow to Changsha later this month with recent prices as low as £1,190 for a return flight in business.

Everyone who books a flight via the Hainan Airlines website by December this year will automatically get Silver Status in their loyalty scheme – though this will only be useful on Hainan Airlines flights as they are not part of a major airline alliance.

Category

General

Comments (57)

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

  • mark e says:
    21 Mar21 March 03:26

    Great article thanks , I cant recall seeing points this cheap to obtain before.

    I think that there is a slight calculation error in the article -10,000 point PointBreaks night would be nearer to £36 by my calculations .

  • Michael says:
    21 Mar21 March 03:51

    O/T: Does anyone know if you cancel the Amex PRGC are the two loungeclub passes still valid?

  • John says:
    21 Mar21 March 06:04

    Does buying points count towards spire elite?

    Do accelerate points count towards spire elite?

    If i remember correctly are there bonus points for hitting spire elite?

    • Genghis says:
      21 Mar21 March 06:07

      No. No. Yes – 25k.

    • Matt says:
      21 Mar21 March 06:13

      Hi John to answer your questions:
      – purchased points do not count towards status
      – accelerate bonus points do not count towards status
      – yes there is the option of taking 25,000 points or you can gift platinum status to a person upon achieving spire

      Off the top of my head only these count towards status:
      – base points earned via stays
      – bonus point packages
      – credit card spend
      – virgin points transfers

      Hope this helps!

    • Matt says:
      21 Mar21 March 06:13

      Hi John to answer your questions:
      – purchased points do not count towards status
      – accelerate bonus points do not count towards status
      – yes there is the option of taking 25,000 points or you can gift platinum status to a person upon achieving spire

      Off the top of my head only these count towards status:
      – base points earned via stays
      – bonus point packages
      – credit card spend
      – virgin points transfers

      • Andrew says:
        21 Mar21 March 07:19

        Matt is correct about the bonus point packages – it can be a cheap and easy way to add points and status: I’ve been offered multiples of 1000 points for £5 at HIX when booking which is cheap for the points anyway and on top of that, status points for the 1000s too.

    • Rob says:
      21 Mar21 March 08:07

      Credit card spend (not sign up bonus), Virgin transfers and hotels offering bonus points packages are the only way to get Spire credit. Last year I did it on card spend (tax bill), year before was Virgin transfer. This year may well be another Virgin transfer.

      • Alex W says:
        21 Mar21 March 08:35

        Or just renew ambassador and retain Spire that way…

        • Down the Back says:
          21 Mar21 March 09:35

          Hi Alex,

          I already have Spire and last year I bought ambassador, if I renew the ambassador this year are you saying I will retain Spire even if I haven’t stayed 75 nights ? If the answer is yes, is this how it is supposed to work or is it a bug ?

          Thanks

          DtB

        • Matt says:
          21 Mar21 March 09:37

          ^ I would like to know the answer to this too!

        • Genghis says:
          21 Mar21 March 09:38

          It’s a bug I think. Spire year is calendar year. AMB year is 1 year from when you bought it. So assuming your AMB renews in November 18, you can renew AMB and you’ll retain Spire until November 19 without the 75 nights / 75k points.

        • Down the Back says:
          21 Mar21 March 12:31

          It would be good if somebody could confirm the next time they renew Ambassador if the Spire status is changed for a year as well. I will not be able to confirm until Nov 18 as Genghis the psychic correctly predicted above 🙂

          Regards
          DtB

        • David says:
          21 Mar21 March 12:57

          Where does it say when Spire runs out as I can’t find it anymore just Ambassador expiry?

        • Mikee says:
          22 Mar22 March 08:39

          I renewed Ambassador last month by paying $150. My account is showing both Spire Ambassador and Spire Elite “virtual” cards under Membership Materials and my account shows me as “You are Spire Ambassador”.

          My account also shows:

          IHG Rewards Club Spire Elite Benefits
          As a valued Spire Elite member, we want to thank you for your loyalty with selected benefits from IHG Rewards Club and our Partners.

          So, my Ambassador renewal also renewed Spire Elite. Interesting, the Spire Elite card has no expiry date but Ambassador shows Feb 2019.

      • Andrew says:
        21 Mar21 March 15:40

        Not forgetting you can also achieve Spire by actually staying at hotels for 75 nights, like I do.

  • Andrew M says:
    21 Mar21 March 07:24

    It’s sad that we need to rely on foreign airlines to link our capital city to the rest of the world.

    • Rob says:
      21 Mar21 March 08:04

      Competition is healthy!

    • Doug M says:
      21 Mar21 March 08:10

      As opposed to which British airlines?

    • Arnold says:
      21 Mar21 March 09:06

      A local airline for local people

    • Rob says:
      21 Mar21 March 10:52

      Anika wrote an article about a month ago, and it has just been sitting there because something more interesting has always come along to push it back. There is one on the Mandarin Oriental scheme which has suffered the same fate.

      If they ever both appear on the same day you should assume I am ill!

    • CV3V says:
      21 Mar21 March 15:22

      Its probably for the best that its not BA, we would just complaint about them.

    • Scottex says:
      31 Mar31 March 07:46

      Loganair are absolutely fine for short flights, but for longer flights you will leave with tinnitus with the constant drone from the propellers.

  • Crafty says:
    21 Mar21 March 07:41

    Points to get 100% bonus must be targeted – I can have the bonus for buying only 5,000 or more

    • Geoff says:
      21 Mar21 March 07:57

      Ah – about to say that I don’t get the bit about ‘although it makes more sense to buy 5,000 and get the bonus than buy 1,000 for no bonus’ whereas further up it says no bonus for purchases below 20k. Maybe that’s something to do with it?

  • Maciek says:
    21 Mar21 March 08:09

    The lowest I can see the flights to Changsha is 1400-ish…

    • Rob says:
      21 Mar21 March 08:21

      I think the £1100 was a promo, we only mentioned it to flag up that they are willing to be aggressive and people may want to keep an eye on the route.

  • Kathy says:
    21 Mar21 March 08:25

    That’s an interesting points price for some of the mid-range hotels in expensive cities, even – 120 k points would get you 3 nights in the HIX New York midtown, which can get up to £200 a night at peak times.

    Though I am never sure if it actually goes for that much when I see it priced like that for September at this time of year. Is that just to catch the people who absolutely must have a room booked now traveling on business? Will it actually drop nearer the time?

    Is the key to reasonably-priced New York hotel rooms booking early or late?

    • Rob says:
      21 Mar21 March 08:50

      September is the peak business travel month as everyone kicks off in earnest post summer. Don’t expect deals.

      • Andrew says:
        21 Mar21 March 10:49

        Not just business travel.

        There’s all the Grandparents who have been spending the summer child-minding and are in desperate need of a break. Then there’s everyone who doesn’t have kids who are off as soon as the school holidays are over.

        • Kathy says:
          21 Mar21 March 12:28

          Yes, only looking at Sept right now because it’s off-peak for BA – got a LLoyds upgrade voucher and c. 65k avios, so enough for an off-peak Club to New York but not for peak. I’ll have a free night from the IHG mastercard but it won’t post until my card year anniversary, which is June sometime I think but I’m not sure when it’ll actually turn up in my account, and peak BA dates kick in after the first week in July. And of course you can’t book too last minute for reward nights or you run into availability issues.

          But if I drop £400-odd on IHG points now then I’m locking myself in to the chain and a redemption when I might be better off using that cash to pay for hotel nights directly – especially if there’s a good promo on.

          Hmmmm.

    • FlyingChris says:
      21 Mar21 March 10:11

      Also interested in knowing this. We’re got a 5 night trip planned for NY next April and thinking of using IHG as will have a free night voucher and 70k-ish of points to use already. Presumably in a city like New York will be hard to be out of pocket if purchased the max 120k for essentially an all in cost of £210 a night Vs cash prices (+taxes) for either a Kimpton or IC? What’s a realistic price for New York? Presumably reward nights you don’t pay the tax?

      • Kathy says:
        21 Mar21 March 12:36

        The ICs in New York are 70k points are night and so are most of the Kimptons – I think one of them shows up at 65k. So you’d still be short some points – though you could use points and cash.
        There doesn’t seem to be all that much availability for the Kimptons.

        • FlyingChris says:
          21 Mar21 March 13:12

          Reading on FT seems to be possibly an IT glitch not showing Kimpton availability at the moment – but clicking through they show availability on points. Still a year away so time to collect more IHG points to plug the gap – but in theory £210/night for buying (almost) 2 nights of points seems a good deal at these properties? Certainly don’t expect them to be any cheaper on a flex rate in April near Easter?

  • Graham Walsh says:
    21 Mar21 March 10:14

    Just looking at Dubai for example with IHG points offer, IC hotels, they are only 45k a night or £158 peak season, so not great value buying saying 45k plus 45k bonus as you are looking at £183 with the points. Really need a 50-60k property to make it work I guess.

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