Last day to register for the Paris 2024 Olympics ticket lottery

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

• patrick says:

  31 Jan31 January 06:07

  TK also competitive to DXB at the moment. I have just secured CDG-DXB return, 6 nights, for £1,080.

• Chris W says:

  31 Jan31 January 07:15

  Good lord Dubai is less than a 7 hour flight from the UK. Do people really jump through all those hoops to have a few hours in business class?

  Are you really going to book separate flights to Helsinki (presumably in economy), pay for a nights accomodation in Helsinki, take a crack of dawn Euro business flight to Paris and spend 24 hours total getting to Dubai for what, £1400 round trip and no earn points or status for your effort?

  Versus nonstop flights on BA for as low as £440 in economy or £800 in premium economy return?

  • No Longer Entitled says:

    31 Jan31 January 08:20

    Back of the plane gets there at the same time as the front of the plane. Or a lot quicker if the front of the plane requires three connections (across two tickets) and the back is direct.

    • TS says:

      31 Jan31 January 11:27

      Agreed. Fly economy then have hundreds of quid to spend on massages and hotels if you were really traumatised by the experience.

  • tony says:

    31 Jan31 January 08:37

    +1

  • Rich says:

    31 Jan31 January 09:11

    No, I’d take the UK £1495 option. At 2m tall I value the benefits of a business class seat.

    You have an opinion, that’s fine. Others have a different one. I’ve earned my money and I’ll spend it as I see fit thanks and the good lord has nothing to do with it.

    • tony says:

      31 Jan31 January 10:38

      Don’t think the criticism is of the one stop at £1500 deal. Its the idea of doing a two stop, two ticket (UK-HEL-PAR-DXB or UK-PAR-IST-DXB) to “save” a couple of hundred quid that people are scratching their heads over.

      • meta says:

        31 Jan31 January 11:21

        Some people are chasing Virgin status, so yes maybe they are interested in taking a long route.

        It’s no different than doing a TP run to Hawaii with several stops in US.

        • jjoohhnn says:

          31 Jan31 January 12:22

          Although the article says they are non-earning in Virgin…

        • John says:

          31 Jan31 January 15:20

          Continental US is not a huge detour from the UK to Hawaii great circle route, and you have to anyway (well you could go via Canada). This adds about 20% extra distance/time.

          Quite different to almost backtracking to your origin which doubles the flown distance and triples the time.

          Going from the UK to the northeastern US via HEL is pretty silly too, unless you want the TPs or a similar excuse.

        • Toilet Paper Man says:

          31 Jan31 January 22:07

          Quote – “these tickets book into ‘O’ class which does not earn miles or status points in Virgin Atlantic Flying Club”

          So to answer you, meta, it would be useless to those chasing Virgin status.

  • Blair Waldorf Salad says:

    31 Jan31 January 13:25

    The flights earn miles and TP in Flying Blue. And other Skyteam schemes. Those of us outside the M25 (and indeed many within) are not beholden to BA and VS for schemes

    • meta says:

      31 Jan31 January 17:03

      @John People have done crazier things chasing status. Even if non-earning on Virgin, as @BlairWaldorfSalad said some are chasing Skyteam status.

      Flying Blue is also Amex MR partner so you can top it up for redemption and they regularly run redemption promos unlike BA or Virgin. Having options is always good.

      • David says:

        31 Jan31 January 18:54

        How sad.

    • TJomes says:

      31 Jan31 January 20:56

      Exactly, Blair Waldorf Salad. UK-DXB-UK nets you 78 XP via CDG or AMS, or 108 XP via CDG and AMS. But the thing about Flying Blue is that it’s more lucrative to fly on partner airlines, and not on AF/KLM (since they introduced revenue-based earnings). It’s easy to get ~35000 FB miles + 120 XP on dirt-cheap Saudia flights, for example.

• KP says:

  31 Jan31 January 07:48

  UK to DXB on Finnair has been around £1000 for quite a while. I would rather do that as I can start in UK and earn BA points

  • aseftel says:

    31 Jan31 January 08:47

    Quite the detour though. HEL-DXB is almost as far as LHR-DXB. Unless you get the A350 service to HEL, you’re sitting in something for three hours that’s really quite similar to the economy seat you’d get on a EK or BA nonstop flight.

• SGJNI says:

  31 Jan31 January 08:10

  Agree with KP. Finnair ex LHR for Christmas is about £1200 with 440 TPS.

• Jeff says:

  31 Jan31 January 09:26

  Has anyone tried both B777 & A350 BA flights from LHR to DXB and can suggest booking one vs the other for a better business class experience?

  • Gordon says:

    31 Jan31 January 09:41

    This was the situation last July with the new BA club suite roll out, As both the 777’s & 350’s have them I guess there would be no difference unless a seasoned traveler knows better, Not sure if the DXB route has the new suite yet?
    all A350-1000s (12 currently in the fleet)
    all Boeing 787-10s (2 currently in the fleet, with more ready for delivery)
    most Boeing 777-200s (25 out of 28 complete)
    some Boeing 777-300s (7/16 complete)

    • Rob says:

      31 Jan31 January 09:43

      A350 is a better aircraft overall but as long as it’s a 777 Club Suite there is zero reason not to take the one with best timings.

      • James C says:

        31 Jan31 January 11:44

        For minor reasons I prefer the 777 but with the CS you’re on to a winner with either really. My main frustration on the A350 is the crew tend to take the forward washroom out of service for the entire flight as the galley space is inadequate otherwise. This leaves just two washrooms for 56 J pax in the middle of the cabin vs 3 for 48/49 pax on a CS configured 772 or 4 for 76 pax for on a CS configured 773.

        The galley is also at the front of J on the A350. I much prefer a 4 class 777 where the galley is behind the mini J cabin which gives you prompt service but without the crew going back and forth delivering the service to the rest of the cabin.

        I also find the A350 cabin feels more cramped although the dimensions imply there is minimal difference. The crew also struggled to close the overhead bins on the last A350 flight I took. That was however in March and I can’t recall if it’s the same design as on the refurbed 777 or not.

        • Jeff says:

          31 Jan31 January 19:17

          Thanks. And any good value for money hotel redemptions you’d suggest? Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Jumeirah maybe?

        • Rob says:

          31 Jan31 January 19:39

          I got a good deal here by buying the points I needed – see https://www.headforpoints.com/2021/03/08/how-to-get-cheap-hotel-rooms-by-buying-loyalty-points/ – but the current ‘buy points’ offer doesn’t let you buy 320k in one go, only 160k.

          If Jumeirah Zabeel is the same price and you have no Hilton status or points, I’d prefer Zabeel. If any of the Madinat Jumeirah hotels are the same price as Zabeel / Waldorf (As Naseem, Mina A Salam, Al Qasr) then I’d take those instead. Plenty of other options of course but the Madinat hotels have the best stretch of beach in Dubai.

• Charles Martel says:

  31 Jan31 January 10:43

  Yes, they often require you to fill out a paper form for scanning and emailing back
  to authorise the payment but never had any issues.

• Paul says:

  31 Jan31 January 12:39

  The Olympics lottery is only for those wishing to book multiple events and excludes the ceremonies. Single event tickets and tickets for ceremonies don’t go on sale until May.

• pbcold says:

  31 Jan31 January 13:32

  If people think that 7 hours in economy is acceptable then, fair enough.

  • Chris W says:

    31 Jan31 January 14:25

    You can get nonstop, daytime flights in premium economy in both directions for less than these prices.

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