News: Seoul flight deal, win 1 million Marriott points, DLR strike hits World Travel Market

News in brief:

Good Lufthansa business class deal to Seoul

If you’re looking to head to Korea in the first half of 2024, Lufthansa has some good deals out of Budapest.

Whilst this is clearly a diversion, the fare makes is worth it. Here is an example at HUF 493,000 which works out at £1,127 return:

Availability was admittedly slim by last night with February being your best chance to get this price.

Handily, the Lufthansa website automatically shows you the lowest price per day when you click into their calendar to select your dates. This means you can find the cheapest option in just a few seconds – a feature I’d love to see other airlines copy.

Lufthansa is a Star Alliance airline so you are looking at crediting your flight to its own Miles & More programme or that of another alliance member (United MileagePlus, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer etc). With SAS about to defect to SkyTeam, Singapore Airlines may be the best option if you want to top up your miles with an American Express Membership Rewards transfer.

If you don’t have a credit card with 0% FX fees, the best way to pay is with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. This offers double Membership Rewards points (2 per £1) on airline spend and on spend in a foreign currency. If these double up you’d receive 3 points per £1, although this is not guaranteed.

You can have a play around for suitable dates on the Lufthansa website here.

Win 1 million Marriott Bonvoy points with Vodafone

If you are a Vodafone customer and registered for VeryMe Rewards, you have an opportunity to win 1 million Marriott Bonvoy points.

This is surprisingly generous. Based on our valuation of a Marriott Bonvoy point you should be able to get £5,000 of free nights from the prize, and if you are strategic in how you redeem you should do even better.

To enter, go into your Vodafone app and look for the following tile:

Docklands Light Railway strike to hit World Travel Market

In what is probably not a coincidence, a strike which will close down 100% of London’s Docklands Light Railway network is due for next Tuesday and Wednesday.

This coincides with the huge World Travel Market show at ExCeL, a trade event which is mind boggling in its scale and scope (and lunch queues).

No other form of public transport is affected.

If you are in the travel trade and attending World Travel Market, the best alternative is to take an Elizabeth Line train to Custom House.

Alternatively, for a bit of variety, take a Jubilee Line tube to North Greenwich and then take the IFS Cloud Cable Car over to Royal Docks. From the cable car station it is a modest stroll down to ExCeL.