Excellent 2-4-1 First and business class flight deals, from £1100, with SWISS & Lufthansa

Last weekend we covered a new 2-4-1 deal launched by SWISS and Lufthansa.  The fares were bookable, but the sale seemed to be a secret – no promotion, no landing pages, nothing.

The sale is now ‘on’.   I have re-written and expanded this article based on what we now know.  The deals are great, frankly, if you don’t care about Avios or tier points.

Welcome to the SWISS and Lufthansa 2-4-1 luxury sale

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.

Here are the core pages you need:

SWISS First Class and Business Class 241 availability checker

Lufthansa First Class 241 details

Lufthansa Business Class 241 details

We also have the rules now:

Up to 6 adults can travel per booking (minimum 2)

You must travel by 10th December (31st August for China)

You must book by 3rd February, although availability is limited so I wouldn’t delay

You can fly from London, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Newcastle, Bristol or Edinburgh on Lufthansa, or London, Manchester, Birmingham or Edinburgh on SWISS

I can’t find any minimum stay requirements – short trips, without a weekend involved, seem to price OK

Availability is best from May.  In general it is worse than it was when I covered the sale last weekend.  Remember to try booking on both SWISS and Lufthansa if both fly the route.

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.

SWISS Business Class deals

Here are the business class deals.  These are return prices per person from London BUT based on two or more people travelling.

Here are your options flying in SWISS business class, photo above.  You can see an availability calendar here from London on the SWISS website.  Click through, then click your destination name or click ‘More Offers’ under ‘Special Business Class Offers for 2’ to see the full list.

All flights require a transfer in Zurich or Geneva.

• Addis Ababa £1,100
• Bahrain £1,200
• Bangkok £1,200
• Beijing £1,900
• Brisbane £2,500
• Buenos Aires £1,500
• Cairo £530 (short-haul plane)
• Cape Town £1,500
• Colombo £1,100
• Dar es Salaam £1,100
• Delhi £1,100
• Denpasar £1,500
• Dubai £1,100
• Ho Chi Minh City £1,200
• Hong Kong £1,100
• Johannesburg £1,500
• Kuwait £1,100
• Lagos £1,100
• Luanda £1,500
• Mahe / Seychelles £1,300
• Male / Maldives £1,300
• Manila £1,500
• Mauritius £1,300
• Melbourne £2,500
• Mumbai £1,100
• Muscat £1,150
• Nairobi £1,100
• Phuket £1,200
• Rio de Janeiro £1,300
• Riyadh £1,100
• Sao Paulo £1,400
• Shanghai £1,350
• Singapore £1,300
• Tel Aviv £500 (short-haul plane)
• Windhoek £1,300

For clarity … it is a doddle to find days with availability.  Go to this page of the SWISS website and click on your destination or ‘More Offers’ for the full list.  A calendar of bookable days, shown in Yellow, will appear.

This method only works for London departures.  For departures from:

• Birmingham
• Manchester
• Edinburgh

…. you need to go here and click on ‘London’ in the top left in red.  You can then change your airport.

Remember that 2+ people must be booked together.  You won’t see the special price if you are only booking for one person.

Lufthansa Business Class deals

Lufthansa is less fiddly BUT there is no easy way to find days with availability.

Here is the Business Class 2-4-1 booking page.  Here are the prices:

• Abuja £1,100
• Addis Ababa £1,100
• Almaty £1,100
• Amman £500 (short-haul plane)
• Astana £1,100
• Bahrain £1,200
• Bali £1,500
• Bangkok £1,200
• Beijing £1,900
• Beirut £500 (short-haul plane)
• Bengaluru £1,100
• Bogota £1,300
• Brisbane £2,500
• Buenos Aires £1,500
• Cairo £530 (short-haul plane)
• Cape Town £1,500
• Chennai £1,100
• Colombo £1,100
• Dammam £1,100
• Dar es Salaam £1,100
• Delhi £1,100
• Dubai £1,100
• Ho Chi Minh City £1,200
• Hong Kong £1,100
• Johannesburg £1,500
• Krabi £1,200
• Lagos £1,100
• Luanda £1,500
• Mahe / Seychelles £1,300
• Male / Maldives £1,300
• Manila £1,500
• Mauritius £1,300
• Melbourne £2,500
• Mumbai £1,100
• Muscat £1,150
• Nairobi £1,100
• Perth £2,500
• Phuket £1,200
• Rio de Janeiro £1,300
• Riyadh £1,100
• Sao Paulo £1,400
• Seoul £1,300
• Shanghai £1,350
• Singapore £1,300
• Sydney £2,500
• Tehran £1,100
• Tel Aviv £500 (short-haul plane)
• Windhoek £1,300

You can book these deals here.

My last review of Lufthansa Business Class was here.  For a solo traveller it isn’t too impressive since you are effectively sharing the foot rest with a stranger when sleeping, but for a couple it is perfectly fine.  We went down to the Middle East as a family last October and I had no complaints.

SWISS First Class deals

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

It is the same basis as before – click on the city you want or ‘More Offers’ for the full list.  To change departure city, click on ‘London’ and toggle to Birmingham, Manchester or Edinburgh.  It seems VERY buggy however.

Hong Kong, Bangkok and Singapore have very, very little availability.  Other routes have lots, at least from London.  It isn’t clear if this will improve when the sale launches ‘officially’, if it ever does.

• Bangkok £1,800
• Buenos Aires £2,000
• Cape Town £2,300
• Dar es Salaam £1,500
• Delhi £1,500
• Dubai £1,500
• Ho Chi Minh City £1,800
• Hong Kong £2,000
• Johannesburg £2,300
• Manila £2,100
• Mumbai £1,500
• Muscat £1,600
• Nairobi £1,500
• Phuket £1,800
• Rio de Janeiro £2,000
• Sao Paulo £2,000
• Singapore £2,000

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 in 2018, 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 in 2018 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.

Lufthansa First Class deals

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.

Here is the pricing:

• Bali £2,100
• Bangkok £1,800
• Bengaluru £1,500
• Bogota £2,000
• Brisbane £3,500
• Buenos Aires £2,000
• Cape Town £2,300
• Dar es Salaam £1,500
• Delhi £1,500
• Dubai £1,500
• Ho Chi Minh City £1,800
• Hong Kong £2,000
• Johannesburg £2,300
• Krabi £1,800
• Manila £2,100
• Melbourne £3,500
• Mumbai £1,500
• Muscat £1,600
• Nairobi £1,500
• Perth £3,500
• Phuket £1,800
• Rio de Janeiro £2,000
• Sao Paulo £2,000
• Seoul £2,000
• Singapore £2,000
• Sydney £3,500

You can book these deals here.

Where can I credit my flights?

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.

Because Miles & More is revenue based (your earnings are based on the price of your flight), you won’t do very well given how cheap these tickets are.  Think about a different Star Alliance programme, potentially one such as Singapore Airlines Krisflyer which is an American Express Membership Rewards transfer partner, allowing you to easily top up your balance.

This HfP article looks at which is the best Star Alliance frequent flyer programme for you.

One benefit of Miles & More, if you have children, is the 25% discount on Miles & More flight redemptions for children under 12 years old.

How should I pay?

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.

Conclusion

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.

Here are the booking links:

SWISS First Class and Business Class 241 availability checker

Lufthansa First Class 241 details

Lufthansa Business Class 241 details

PS.  In case you missed it, take a look at our recent article on the top 10 reasons to get the UK Miles & More Diners Club and Mastercard credit card.

How to earn Star Alliance miles from UK credit cards (December 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.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

20,000 points for signing up and 15 elite night credits each year Read our full review