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Exclusive HfP competition: Win two flights to New York – on the airline YOU love the most

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It’s competition time again!  We are launching a new competition on Head for Points today, running for the next week, to win two economy class flights between London and New York.

However, we are adding a romantic twist to the competition. This Valentine’s Day we want to know which is your most loved airline.

And YOU get to decide which airline you fly with if you are the lucky winner.

The winner will receive two economy tickets between London Heathrow or London Gatwick to either New York JFK or Newark Liberty. The prize can be taken at any point up to 30th September 2019, subject to availability. If you win you must be one of the two travellers.

Long-term readers will know that we also ran this competition last year. It was a big success and we are happy to run it again thanks to our secret sponsor.

What is going on here?

Let me explain.

We are working with a major airline on a piece of research. It wants to know what airline you would select for a flight if price was not an issue and airline miles or elite status benefits were not an issue.

We want to know your genuine preference. The best way to achieve this is to not make it a hypothetical question, but a real question, with real consequences.

On the entry form, you will be asked to select between American Airlines, British Airways, Delta Air Lines, Norwegian, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic or someone else as your preferred carrier for an economy flight to New York.

You and a friend can be flying to New York in economy on the carrier you select.

Please note that:

  • You will not earn any airline miles on your tickets
  • You will not receive any status benefits
  • You will not receive lounge access even if you have status with that airline

Do not consider any airline status you have or any miles you currently collect when selecting your airline. Your flights will not qualify for status, mileage or lounge benefits because the tickets will be issued using restrictive travel trade policies.

If you fly Norwegian, your prize will include pre-paid food and luggage so the prize is equivalent to a standard economy ticket on one of the full service airlines listed. If you select ‘other’ you will be randomly booked onto one of the six named airlines.

Interesting, yes? All you need to do is pick an airline and tick the main factor that influenced your decision from a list of:

  • Brand reputation
  • Crew and service
  • Food & Beverage
  • In-flight entertainment
  • On-board wifi
  • Previous experience
  • Seat comfort

How to enter

We are running this competition slightly differently because of the information we need from you. We are using Google Forms. Click the button below (or click here) and you will be taken to the form you need to complete.

It is only three questions long (and multiple choice) so don’t worry! It will take less than 30 seconds to complete.

The competition will run for a week, closing at midnight on Wednesday 20th February. The winner must travel if they win – you cannot gift the prize to anyone else.

Good luck.  Please feel free to share on social media.

Here are the rules: You must be over 18 years, a UK resident and not an employee of any of the airlines listed on the entry form to enter. Strictly one entry per person. The winner MUST be one of the travellers. The competition will close at midnight on Wednesday 20th February. One entrant will be selected at random and will have 48 hours to confirm their details. If they do not respond, another winner will be drawn.

The prize is economy return flights for two people from a London airport to New York Newark or JFK on the airline you chose on the entry form. Flights are subject to availability and all travel must be completed by 30th September 2019. The competition is promoted by Head for Points, contact details on request. The name of the winner will be made available on request.

Your email address remains confidential and will not be passed to the sponsoring airline or used by Head for Points for any other purposes. Your airline preference, and the reason for your decision, will be aggregated with other respondents and given to the competition sponsor.

Category

General

Comments (152)

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

  • Morgan says:
    14 Feb14 February 06:07

    Do readers of this site actually elect to fly long haul in economy?! I’d have thought there was a strong bias towards premium travel. I won’t enter simply because in the unlikely event I won I wouldn’t subject myself to any airlines economy experience!

    • John says:
      14 Feb14 February 06:27

      London to New York is not long haul. Medium haul perhaps

      I won’t enter as not interested in economy for flights over 5 hours as well. But if I was I would be tempted to say Cathay if they were an option and get a stopover in HKG 🙂

    • Corrine says:
      14 Feb14 February 06:30

      Yes as a family we do! Collecting points is our way of making family holidays far more affordable 🙂 flying economy means we can use points towards hotels etc.. fingers crossed !

      • Shoestring says:
        14 Feb14 February 06:36

        Next step up is 2 in the front, 2 in the back

      • Alan says:
        14 Feb14 February 08:13

        Yes, us too. It has given us a cheap-ish break in NY and I have direct flights booked for Orlando this summer during the school holidays – 3 seats economy out PE back for less than £1000 total.

    • Nick says:
      14 Feb14 February 06:49

      OK, it sounds like a moan over a “free” prize, but it’s still a very valid point IMHO, and I’m guessing the tickets aren’t upgradeable.

      • Crafty says:
        14 Feb14 February 07:03

        So don’t enter!

      • Paul says:
        14 Feb14 February 07:03

        If you don’t want to enter a free competition then don’t – also we don’t need or want to no your reason why!

        • Spurs Debs says:
          14 Feb14 February 08:53

          Is that the royal “ we” ? don’t presume to speak for everyone. It’s a valid point this site promotes collecting points for enhancing your flights, in fact it tells you the worst value is using points on economy flights so it does seem a little weird a competion for economy flights.
          I don’t mind reading people’s reasons why they don’t think it’s suitable for them, just as I don’t mind reading why they think it is , if you don’t like it don’t read them it’s quite simple.

        • Callum says:
          14 Feb14 February 09:19

          How on Earth is it weird to have a competition for free economy flights while saying it’s generally bad value to redeem points for them? You’re not redeeming points, making that advice completely redundant.

      • Morgan says:
        14 Feb14 February 07:07

        My comment isn’t intended as a moan – although I can see why it comes over that way – rather I’m bemused about a premium travel blog being used for economy travel research 🙂

        • John says:
          14 Feb14 February 07:40

          Given the amount of interest last time (and the same comments re premium or not) I think there is a wide enough range of readers to cover all market segments. Just look at the Maldives article and the one about cooking in Polynesia…

    • Mike says:
      14 Feb14 February 07:10

      +1

    • MD says:
      14 Feb14 February 07:20

      +1

    • Marcw says:
      14 Feb14 February 07:56

      I think the majority of readers fly economy.

      • Shoestring says:
        14 Feb14 February 08:43

        I think when we start up LH again (roll on 2023!) we’ll cut our cloth quite carefully, eg TATL to East coast would probs be Economy as not really worth it to pay the extra for Business on a 6.5hr flight – but proper LH will be PE/ Business. Eking out that money when out to grass lol

    • Philip says:
      14 Feb14 February 07:58

      Agreed.

    • Callum says:
      14 Feb14 February 09:17

      Obviously… It’s staggering how many people are so far out of touch with reality around here!

    • CombatJohnny says:
      14 Feb14 February 12:42

      yes i fly economy most of the time

      • Jill (Kinkell) says:
        14 Feb14 February 14:21

        I’ve just travelled WT+. On a 12 hour+ flight LHR -SIN and was pleasantly surprised at catering ,
        Seat comfort and ability to sleep! I was dreading the trip, but it has put another option for LH travel( we usually use avios/241 in F or J). And, as a silver member, went to the B gate lounge….so much better, quieter and pleasant than Galleries in the Terminal .

  • Ant says:
    14 Feb14 February 07:17

    That definition makes London to Cairo long haul by about 10km. Which I admit was great compensation wise for our family of 4 when there was a delay on our recent flights 🙂

  • Mr(s) Entitled says:
    14 Feb14 February 07:27

    I’d be interested to hear the experience of the last winner.

    • Shoestring says:
      14 Feb14 February 07:38

      Didn’t they get upgraded?

    • Mr(s) Entitled says:
      14 Feb14 February 07:44

      Given that this identifies a customer who “loves” your brand above all other considerations one would hope the airline would seek to build on that goodwill.

      • TripRep says:
        14 Feb14 February 07:49

        +1. Especially if they have miles to burn. 😀

      • TripRep says:
        14 Feb14 February 07:59

        Better still if the takeover of FlyBE will mean it allows a domestic connection to be tagged on to this competition…

      • Callum says:
        14 Feb14 February 09:21

        Only if you choose to fly on the sponsor – any other airline wouldn’t have a clue who bought your ticket and why.

    • KT says:
      14 Feb14 February 08:02

      I’m more interested in people moaning about a free competition in a thinly disguised attempt to display wealth and perceived sophistication.
      Haven’t been on many planes when I couldn’t fall asleep before take off.
      🙂

      • Alan says:
        14 Feb14 February 08:10

        There seems to be a lot of that sort of thing on this site and this type of article tends to bring them all out. Fortunately, you can usually ignore it to get at the genuine gems and assistance offered by some

        • Rob says:
          14 Feb14 February 08:22

          We did 12,000 entries last year when we ran this so some people liked the idea ….

        • Genghis says:
          14 Feb14 February 09:07

          I’ve not flown outside Europe in Economy for years but I’d take two freebie flights to NY in Economy.

      • Trevor says:
        14 Feb14 February 08:33

        Agreed

      • Leo says:
        14 Feb14 February 09:11

        I’d happily fly economy if I could fit my legs into the seat! Nothing to do with sophistication….I’m always jealous of my petite colleague who says she happily curls up and sleeps all the way to Oz in economy!

      • Luckyjim says:
        14 Feb14 February 12:23

        While I wouldn’t fly economy myself, I’m sure my butler would welcome two free tickets.

  • John says:
    14 Feb14 February 07:35

    Well I personally define medium haul as ~4.5 to ~8.5 hours based on the amount of comfort I need. HKG to Australia lies on the boundary and I can cope with PE but HKG to Europe I need a flat bed. Which is why I’m not interested in the J deals to the middle East for £900

  • Yuff says:
    14 Feb14 February 07:59

    I think long haul is any flight where the business class seat isn’t the same as the economy seat….in general terms, so normally up to 4 hours…imo

    • Marcw says:
      14 Feb14 February 08:19

      Lol! So between LHR and MAD there are short haul and long haul flights.

      • Rob says:
        14 Feb14 February 08:20

        BA believes long haul is a route where you earn over 40 tier points in Business!

        Unless you are on a partner airline, where it believes long haul is 2000 miles exactly for TP reasons.

        For EU261 it is, as noted, 3500 km IIRC.

      • Yuff says:
        14 Feb14 February 08:54

        Obviously there is the odd exception but good point ….

      • Andrew says:
        14 Feb14 February 12:21

        40 Tier Points in Business? That’ll be a domestic run in Business then.

        If you’re Avios Rich, but Tier Short, isn’t that best way to retain status?

        Quick weekend trip to Scotland. £229 Business return less, £140 for 25,000 Avios = £89 for 80 Tier points.

    • Shoestring says:
      14 Feb14 February 08:50

      >4hrs was always the point at which we could get the company to pay for Business, anything shorter being Economy.

  • Alan says:
    14 Feb14 February 08:08

    We fly economy and recently flew VS economy to JFK. I found it a very enjoyable experience but then, I’m not used to flying Upper/Club/First.
    Would love to enter but have booked pretty much all my holiday for this year so good luck to those that enter (although, obviously, you can’t all have good luck in the competition)

  • Rob says:
    14 Feb14 February 08:17

    Quick note people – I know some of you know who funds these competitions because I have mentioned it in the comments before, but any reference to it will be deleted to avoid corrupting the results!

    • Marcw says:
      14 Feb14 February 08:21

      I *think* there’s only one airline willing to promote something like this… So you can make an educated guess regardless…

      • Rob says:
        14 Feb14 February 08:24

        It doesn’t actually matter either, since they will genuinely pay for another airline. The prize comes out of their marketing budget at retail price as far as the team is concerned so they don’t care 🙂

  • Ian says:
    14 Feb14 February 08:27

    I have been using hfp as a reference for a few years and find it very useful.
    I do not fly for my job and therefore do not earn thousands of free miles and hotel rewards.
    I do use the credit cards, churning etc with the OH doing the same.
    I do this so that we can upgrade for a special trip every couple of years.
    I do get frustrated reading comments from those who get so snobby about travelling economy.
    This site isn’t only for you that feel so superior to the rest of us just because your job puts you in a position to travel business all the time. At some point you may lose those perks and have to enter the normal world of travel, like the majority of us.

    • Trevor says:
      14 Feb14 February 08:34

      +1

    • KT says:
      14 Feb14 February 09:33

      +100

    • Nick_C says:
      14 Feb14 February 09:34

      I have been using HfP as a reference for a few years and find it very useful.

      I do not fly for my job. In fact I don’t have a job; I’m a pensioner with a modest income.

      I do earn thousands of free miles using the knowledge I have gleaned from this site. 240k last year, none of them from flying.

      I do this so that I can avoid flying Economy. I find flying Economy truly unpleasant. My last Economy flight was in 2013. Never again. If I can’t fly in PE or better, then I would rather not fly at all.

      I would rather have one holiday a year flying Business than three a year flying Economy.

      People using this site don’t have unlimited resources. We come on here to find the best way to use our resources, whether they be cash or points. I don’t think it is at all “snobby” to not want the discomfort of flying Economy, and I don’t think it’s helpful to use a pejorative term to describe those of us who choose not to fly Economy.

      I don’t consider myself superior to people who fly Economy. It’s just a question of choice. My dear brother thinks I’m mad to pay £666 (plus Avios) to fly to NY in J when I could have done it for £400 less in Y. I think he’s mad flying on charter flights from Gatwick at stupid o’clock in the morning. But he has 8 holidays booked this year, I have one. You pays your money and you takes your choice. It would be a dull world if we all thought the same way.

      • Genghis says:
        14 Feb14 February 09:39

        Nice post.

      • mike says:
        14 Feb14 February 10:19

        one of the best posts I have seen in the comments for a long while. cheers nick

      • KT says:
        14 Feb14 February 10:25

        I agree Nick, it’s all about choice. If I was old, very tall or had a bad back I wouldn’t fly Y.

        However, at the moment I’d rather splash out on top end excursions, meals and hotels rather than flights at the moment.

        It’s the people assuming everyone on this site is minted in terms of cash or points. If I was, I wouldn’t be wasting time churning credit cards !

      • Mark2 says:
        14 Feb14 February 12:22

        same with us

      • Brian says:
        14 Feb14 February 13:41

        Well said

      • TripRep says:
        14 Feb14 February 13:43

        Nick_C. Agree with pretty much all of that. Great post.

        Other reasons to attempt to avoid long haul economy is

        1) You have another flight before/after

        2) you have pain/discomfort from a long term injury

        3) DVT prevention.

        The notion that I want to appear sosphisicated or wealthy couldn’t be further from reality for me.

      • Ian says:
        14 Feb14 February 15:06

        Nick, my comment was not aimed specifically at you as I am sure there are many here that prefer not to fly economy given the choice. Using what is learnt via this site gives that choice.
        I guess my comment came from the fact the the first post on this page was implying that the likes of you and I did not use this site.
        Maybe I should have had my morning coffee before typing my post 😀
        That comment in my opinion was not needed apart from the poster telling us all that he never has to or wants to fly economy, lucky him.
        This is not the only time this, in my opinion, ‘snobby’ and pointless type of comment is posted.
        If an individual does not want to enter, great as it increases the odds of me winning 👍
        But there is no need to comment about it.

      • Callum says:
        14 Feb14 February 16:01

        Nick – While I do agree with your points, no-one has called you a snob… It’s like when the racists moan about how you supposedly can’t sing baa baa black sheep any more, or that the council has banned Christmas because of the Muslims (definitely not equating you with their views though – my mind just went blank on a better example!).

        • Mr(s) Entitled says:
          14 Feb14 February 17:48

          I think you might need to step away from the Daily Mail

        • Callum says:
          14 Feb14 February 18:50

          It’s nothing to do with the Daily Mail – a paper I already avoid at all costs and moan about everytime it’s mentioned on here (probably to the annoyance of certain people!). That’s pretty much mainstream public opinion at this point.

      • Alan says:
        17 Feb17 February 23:19

        Well said. Presumably all the City folk that get the HfP emails won’t be entering either, although I suspect the competition site folks will be entering in droves!

    • Brighton Belle says:
      14 Feb14 February 12:37

      In the not too distant future you will find £40 charged per ton of CO2 emissions added to your ticket in economy and probably double if you fly up the front. Economy will be the new business class.

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