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Cheap business class deals to Australia and New Zealand from Sweden

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I’ve no idea what happened to the Qatar Airways mega-sale this year.  The airline hasn’t had a sale at all, yet alone a very aggressive one.  I have no excuse for not knowing as I shared a lift with the Qatar Airways CEO last Friday!

Other airlines aren’t standing still, so if you are looking to lock in a deal for 2019 you may be able to find something.  You won’t always be able to earn Avios or BA tier points however.

Price war from Sweden to Australasia

For no logical reason, since I doubt it was ever a major driver of traffic, a price war has broken out from Sweden to Australia and New Zealand.

There are various combinations of starting point (Stockholm or Gothenburg) and destination so you’ll need to have a play around.  There doesn’t seem to anything valid over Christmas and New Year but you can find offers into early December.

I would start on the Singapore Airlines website as they have some interesting deals, routing partly via partners, from Stockholm to key Australian cities.  You will be paying around £2,100 – £2,200.

Try Cathay Pacific too.  I found a deal at SEK 23,656 (£1,995) return from Stockholm to Melbourne in late November.  This flight WILL earn Avios and British Airways tier points, and is partly on BA.  Cathay also has good prices to Auckland.

The best deals are, oddly, on Etihad from Gothenburg.  I found Sydney as low as £1,828 in May.  That Etihad flight has a complex routing, however, so you will be earning your saving.

The best thing to do is play around on the Etihad, Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines websites, and also try consolidators such as Expedia who might have private deals.

It is also vital that you check exactly which aircraft types you will be on so you know you are getting a good seat.  You will get a lot of miles and tier points for a trip like this too, so factor that in when comparing pricing.

If you don’t have a credit card with 0% foreign exchange fees, your best option for paying is American Express Preferred Rewards Gold which offers triple points – 3 per £1 – when you book flight tickets in a foreign currency.  This is because the transaction triggers the ‘double points for airline spend’ and the ‘double points for foreign spend’ bonuses.

Egyptair mega-deals from Amsterdam

Are you willing to fly Egyptair via Cairo to get a good deal?  The airline is part of Star Alliance so you will earn a decent chunk of miles if you do, and the prices are very keen.

Here are some interesting business class return fares currently bookable.  You need to book by the end of February and start your trip before 9th April.  You can’t fly back between 15th April and 5th May.

Sample prices include (I have priced in £ as that is how Expedia throws them out):

  • Amsterdam to Nairobi – £857
  • Amsterdam to Dubai – £902
  • Amsterdam to Bangkok – £846
  • Amsterdam to Hong Kong – £984

Note that Egyptair business class seating is ‘angled lie-flat’ and has a 2 x 2 x 2 configuration so it is not exactly cutting edge, but the prices certainly are.

I priced it up on Expedia.  If you still have a ‘£200 off £600 spend’ American Express Travel cashback deal showing on one of your Amex cards, I would try them first.  The £200 cashback would take the price into silly territory.

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

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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.

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

Category

Cathay Pacific and Asia Miles, Etihad and Etihad Guest

Comments (43)

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

  • Polly says:
    6 Feb6 February 05:40

    AMS to HKG for £ 784 in J, even if not totally flatbed.. def silly money. We used to be on Egypt air when going back and forth to the to uk many many years ago from the ME. Always the cheapest routing then. One of us would get a travel allowance in cash to cover a full price Y seat to the UK, but cashed it in to get x 2 Y on Egypt air.
    Cairo really interesting city, if you can swing a 23hr layover…or pay for a stopover.

    • John says:
      6 Feb6 February 08:03

      MS CAI-HKG stops in BKK so a 12 hour direct flight (from LHR) becomes a 24+ hour slog when you need to connect in AMS too.

      Cairo is interesting but if you’re going you should really spend longer and do the pyramids etc

      CAI airport is awful (at least QR has a nice lounge in DOH) and for those who care, MS doesn’t serve alcohol

  • Polly says:
    6 Feb6 February 05:44

    FWIW, QR had the ARN SIN J fare there recently. With amex deal 200 off a 600 spend, brought the tkt down to 1150, which was great for 2 x q suites out of 4 sectors. And peak Asia time too in Nov. Decent fare.
    That could change of course, the way QR move planes around Europe.

    • Talay says:
      6 Feb6 February 08:44

      Last month I deliberately went at less preferable times to experience 4 x QSuites and I simply would not bother again as they are essentially just the A380 business class (Etihad/Qatar) seats with a flimsy door.

      Bigger TVs screen for sure but the food was below Etihad’s recent efforts.

      Lounge of course ridiculously large but I go with short connections so what does it matter for an hour or two ?

  • Jimmy says:
    6 Feb6 February 05:46

    EgyptAir: best pilots and planes out there. 🤣

  • Benylin says:
    6 Feb6 February 06:07

    OT: Any good CDP/discount codes for Avis or Hertz going around? Apart from Amex Platinum ones or XEXEC

    • Rob says:
      6 Feb6 February 08:37

      You cannot beat Hertz Amex Plat 211762? booked via the Australia site. Just got a week in Scotland for £90.

      • Boi says:
        6 Feb6 February 09:24

        Do you mean Amex Australia? Looking for a week in Cyprus. I always just book thru Skyscanner and now it appears I am missing out.
        Also, anyway of combining these deals with Amex travel offer?

        • Louie says:
          6 Feb6 February 12:00

          Hertz Australia, not Amex Australia (AFAIK). Try also Hertz Brazil or Argentina.

      • Alan says:
        6 Feb6 February 09:46

        Yep I find the Aussie site almost always has good deals on SUVs too, sometimes cheaper than lower classes!

      • David says:
        6 Feb6 February 10:44

        Interestingly, not for 7 seats in Florida in October. 600AUD with Hertz vs £220 from AvisBA.

  • Ana says:
    6 Feb6 February 06:40

    Slightly OT – If you have have the AMEX offer of £200 of £600 spend, can that be triggered twice in one account, one by the main cardholder and by the supplementary one or is it limited by account?

    • Alan says:
      6 Feb6 February 06:48

      No you can get for main and supp if you have it as an offer (& activate it) on both.

    • Andrew S says:
      6 Feb6 February 06:49

      Limited by the card it is saved to. So if the supplementary card holder has the offer on their online account saved, they can use their card to trigger the offer on their card.
      If the main card holder has the offer saved to their main card, they can also use the main card to trigger the offer.
      Amex offers are card specific.

      • Stu_N says:
        6 Feb6 February 07:12

        I had the offer on main and supp cards. Using it for a multi-city J itinerary so
        just over £600 each before discount. We had to book our tickets separately – one from my online account for me and one from partner’s online account for her.

        Took about four days for the charges to come through and about same again for the credits to appear so wouldn’t run up to 28 Feb on this one just in case you have problems.

  • Halo says:
    6 Feb6 February 07:40

    A friend booked an economy return to Cochin, India (KOC), on Qatar, a couple of days ago for £355. So there are bargains – just not in J it would appear.

    • John says:
      6 Feb6 February 08:11

      It would have to be £250 to be a bargain, when the usual price is around £450.

      OTOH you can go 4 times in Y for the same price as once in J.

  • Jovanna says:
    6 Feb6 February 08:07

    Egyptair is a dry airline.

    Where best to credit Etihad? I looked at wheretocredit. I was hoping for Turkish or A3 but they were not on the list. I do t think I’d use them anywhere else, maybe AA but then I’d credit to BA rather than AA on anything else, so couldn’t really build a decent balance with AA.

  • Londoner says:
    6 Feb6 February 08:23

    QR have had both Australia and New Zealand at under £ 2.000 for quite some time this year already, but mostly originating in CPH. ARN and OSL have been more expensive. CPH-AKL was wide open at £ 1.890, SYD at around £ 1.930.

    The ARN-SIN fare was alright at around £ 1.250 as well.

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