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 Star Alliance miles from UK credit cards (October 2024)

None of the Star Alliance airlines currently have a UK credit card.

There is, however, still a way to earn Star Alliance miles from a UK credit card. 

The route is via Marriott Bonvoy. Marriott Bonvoy hotel loyalty points convert to over 40 airlines at the rate of 3:1.

The best way to earn Marriott Bonvoy points is via the official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card. It comes with 20,000 points for signing up and 2 points for every £1 you spend. At 2 Bonvoy points per £1, you are earning (at 3:1) 0.66 airline miles per £1 spent on the card.

There is a preferential conversion rate to United Airlines – which is a Star Alliance member – of 2 : 1 if you convert 60,000 Bonvoy points at once.

The Star Alliance members which are Marriott Bonvoy transfer partners are: Aegean, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Avianca, Copa Airlines, Singapore Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines and United Airlines.

You can apply here.