Excellent 2-4-1 First and Business Class flights deals from the UK with Lufthansa and SWISS

SWISS and Lufthansa have launched some EXCELLENT First Class and Business Class ‘2-4-1’ deals.  Unlike some fare deals we write about, these are for departures from the UK so you don’t need to position yourself somewhere in Europe first.

Availability is very good and you can travel until the end of March 2020 – although this misses the Easter weekend as Good Friday 2020 is 10th April.

Even better for those who live outside London, you can also book these deals from UK regional airports.

This offer ran last year and was hugely popular with HfP readers.  You won’t earn Avios or BA tier points but you WILL get a very classy travel experience at a fantastic price.  You will also earn a pile of Miles & More or other Star Alliance miles which can be a handy alternative to Avios.

If you have Avios tickets booked to any of these destinations, you should do the maths on whether you should cancel (£35 per person fee, all Avios and cash returned) and book one of these deals instead.

Business Class deals

Here are the Business Class deals.  These are return prices per person from London BUT based on two people travelling.

Some deals are even cheaper than £999 but these are not always operated on long-haul aircraft.

With Lufthansa, you can depart from London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow or Manchester with a transfer in Germany.  You can book these deals here.

Remember that you need to search for TWO people to see these fares.

• Abuja £999
• Addis Ababa £999
• Almaty £999
• Amman £499
• Astana £999
• Baku £749
• Beijing £1,499 (£1,349 from Manchester)
• Beirut £499
• Bengaluru £999
• Bogota £1,250
• Buenos Aires £1,499
• Chennai £999
• Delhi £999
• Dubai £999
• Hong Kong £999
• Jeddah £999
• Johannesburg £1,499
• Kuwait £999
• Lagos £999
• Mumbai £999
• Nanjing £1,349
• Port Harcourt £999
• Rio de Janeiro £1,250
• Riyadh £999
• Sao Paulo £1,500
• Seoul £1,250
• Shanghai £1,350
• Tehran £749

Lufthansa is 100% fully flat in long-haul business class, although not everyone is a fan of the current seat layout which means that both of you are sharing a footrest, albeit with a divider.  The A350 cabin is pictured above.  SWISS is better in this regard as the seats are not angled towards your neighbour.

That said …. as these are 2-4-1 deals it is highly likely that your neighbour will be your companion.

Here are your options flying in SWISS Business Class, photo above.  You can see an availability calendar here from London on the SWISS website and availability is very good.  All flights require a transfer in Zurich or Geneva.

• Bangkok £1,250
• Beijing £1,500
• Buenos Aires £1,500
• Dar es Salaam £999
• Delhi £999
• Dubai £999
• Hong Kong £999
• Johannesburg £1,499
• Mumbai £999
• Nairobi £999
• Sao Paulo £1,499
• Shanghai £1,350

First Class deals

Lufthansa’s First Class seat may not look so special, but it is a genuinely special experience, especially for lovers of premium lounges, chauffeur driven plane transfers and caviar.

These are the Lufthansa First Class deals per person, based on two travelling – you can check availability online here:

• Beijing £1,999 (£1,750 from Manchester)
• Bogota £2,499
• Buenos Aires £2,499
• Bengalaru £1,499
• Delhi £1,499
• Dubai £1,499
• Hong Kong £2,499
• Johannesburg £2,499
• Nanjing £1,749
• Sao Paulo £2,500
• Shanghai £1,749

Here are the SWISS First Class deals – see London departures on the SWISS website here:

• Bangkok £2,999
• Beijing £1,999
• Buenos Aires £2,499
• Dar es Salaam £1,499
• Delhi £1,499
• Dubai £1,499
• Hong Kong £2,499
• Johannesburg £2,499
• Mumbai £1,499
• Nairobi £1,499
• Sao Paulo £2,499
• Shanghai £1,749

Here are the rules:

• Book by 19th May via the special links
• Two people must travel together
• Travel at ANY point – subject to availability – from 1st June 2019 until 30th March 2020 (until 14th February 2020 for China)
• Must stay for six days, including a Saturday night, and the maximum stay is three months

Lufthansa is, perhaps, the most civilised First Class experience there is.   Here is the review of my Lufthansa First Class flight from 2017.  And, of course, the First Class Terminal – yes, a whole terminal – in Frankfurt where you get driven to the steps of your plane is something everyone should try once.

SWISS offers an excellent First Class and Business Class service.   We are NOT talking Emirates or Etihad style private suites, by any means, but you get a good quality seat, good food and drink and a very attentive crew.  It is a very civilised experience.

I flew SWISS First Class again last year, although I didn’t review it for the site, and it was as impressive as usual, albeit I put it a notch below Lufthansa First Class as the food is not as outstanding.  I also flew in SWISS Business Class to Dubai last October with my family and it was similarly good, although the seats are showing their age a bit.  Here is an older review of SWISS First Class I did.

SWISS and Lufthansa are both part of Lufthansa’s Miles & More loyalty scheme, although you can of course credit your flight to any other Star Alliance programme.

How to book

For SWISS, you can book here.

For Lufthansa:

all of the Business Class deals for London, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Glasgow and Manchester can be found here

and all of the First Class deals are here

If you are looking for the best credit card to pay with, American Express Preferred Rewards Gold offers double points on airline spend.  This means that you would earn 2 Membership Rewards points per £1 spent.  Our review of Amex Gold is here.

There are some genuinely excellent deals here especially if you live outside London and especially because of the long travel period.  Take a serious look.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.