Black Friday 2023 – your best airline and package holiday offers (Part 1)

Black Friday is back again although, as you have probably noticed, it has morphed into a week-long run of deals, some better than others.

The highlight is probably £927 for Aer Lingus business class to New York, although you’ll need to fly to Rome to start your trip!

I’ve split our coverage into two parts. This article looks at airline and package holiday offers, whilst Part 2 looks at hotel deals and everything else (click here).

This is not, in any way, meant to be a comprehensive listing. The main criteria for being listed is that the company involved sent us details of their offer.

Read our flight reviews before you book!

HfP’s index of flight reviews is here if you want to learn more about most of the airlines listed below.

Cathay Pacific has not been added yet but is here.

Aer Lingus

Aer Lingus is offering some good deals on its US flights from (or via) Dublin.

You will save £100 on return Economy flights and £200 off return Business Class flights.

You must book by 27th November for travel by 14th March 2024.

Interestingly these discounts stack with the generous Aer Lingus ex-Europe deals. For example, I found Rome to New York on Aer Lingus via Dublin at £927 (€1,067). Paris is only a little more expensive at £999 (€1,150) and is obviously easier to reach.

It’s just a shame that you won’t earn British Airways tier points on Aer Lingus (yet) although you do earn Avios.

You can find out more on the Aer Lingus website here.

British Airways – Avios deals at London City

British Airways is offering up to 40% off Avios redemptions from London City Airport. We weren’t sent a list of which routes have the biggest discounts (and Club Europe discounts are capped at 25%) so you’ll have to dig around for yourself. You need to book by Monday and fly by the end of March.

BA is also offering some short haul flight deals. The best way to see pricing is via the Low Fare Finder tool on ba.com here.

British Airways Holidays

We published an article yesterday on the British Airways Holidays deals – click here.

The headline discounts are:

• £300 extra discount with a minimum spend of £10,000 per booking (flight + hotel)
• £100 extra discount with a minimum spend of £10,000 per booking (flight + car)
• £200 extra discount with a minimum spend of £5,000 per booking (flight + hotel)
• £100 extra discount with a minimum spend of £5,000 per booking (flight + car)
• £100 extra discount with a minimum spend of £2,500 per booking (flight + hotel or flight + car)
• £100 extra discount with a minimum spend of £2,500 per booking (flight + car)
• £50 extra discount with a minimum spend of £1,250 per booking (flight + hotel or flight + car)
• £50 extra discount with a minimum spend of £1,250 per booking (flight + car)
• £25 extra discount with a min spend of £625 per booking (flight + car)

The offer page is here.

Cathay Pacific

You can choose your deal with Cathay Pacific. Book by Sunday and you will get £75 off an Economy or Premium flight, or £100 off a Business Class flight to selected destinations. It is not valid on direct flights to Hong Kong, only for people connecting onwards.

Alternatively, for Monday only you will receive 10,000 bonus Asia Miles in Premium and 20,000 bonus Asia Miles in Business. I suspect, because most HfP readers would prefer Avios and British Airways tier points from Cathay flights, that the cash discount will be more attractive.

Full details are on the Cathay Pacific website here.

Malaysia Airlines

Malaysia Airlines is running a sale from Heathrow to over 30 destinations. Remember that, as a oneworld alliance member, you will earn Avios and British Airways Executive Club tier points on Malaysia Airlines flights.

You need to fly between February and June next year. Headline fares, bookable to 4th December, are £715 in Economy to Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, £759 to Bali and £979 to Sydney.

Business Class fares start from £3,550 to Kuala Lumpur, £4,775 to Melbourne and £4,785 to Sydney.

You can find out more on the website here.

Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways is offering 5,000 bonus Avios for Economy return flights and 10,000 bonus Avios for Business Class return flights booked by 28th November. You must travel by 30th June and credit your Avios to a Privilege Club account.

It is also still offering 4,000 bonus Avios on your first Qatar Airways booking for new Privilege Club members.

Full details of both offers, plus their Black Friday fare deals, are on this page of the Qatar Airways website.

SAS

Whilst not strictly a Black Friday deal, SAS has brought back its very aggressive business class deals to the US.

Typical prices from London are £1,210 to New York and £1,510 to Los Angeles. I suggest you read this HfP article on how these deals work. You need to book by Tuesday for travel up to April 2024.

TAP Air Portugal

TAP is also running aggressive sale fares from the UK to the US. Like SAS, the fares allow you to pick up Star Alliance miles in the programme of your choice. Like SAS, you will be changing aircraft in an out-of-the-way location, either Lisbon or Porto (free stopovers are available). In theory you need to book by Friday although it could potentially be extended.

As an example, I found Heathrow to Boston in Business for £1,095 in May. You need to stay away for a week to get these deals. There are blackout dates between 15th December – 10th January and 21st March – 8th April.

You can find out more on the TAP site here.

Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic is offering headline discounts of £90 off Economy and Premium and up to £2,000 off selected Upper Class fares. You need to book by Monday for travel at any point in the booking window.

You can find out more on the Virgin Atlantic website here.

Virgin Atlantic Holidays

Via Virgin Atlantic Holidays, you can save £25 per person on all ‘flight and hotel’ or ‘flight and car’ packages booked by Monday night. Spend £3,500 in total for two people (+£450 for each additional person) to receive an extra £150 off the total.

You need to use promo code HOLIDAY150. Full details are here.

Want hotel deals?

Click here for Part 2 of our 2023 Black Friday round-up.