Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Excellent 2-4-1 First and business class flights deals from the UK with Lufthansa and SWISS

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If you thought we’d never see the return of pre-Covid sub-£1,000 long haul business class flight deals, think again.

SWISS and Lufthansa have launched an astonishing 2-4-1 sale from the UK and some other European countries.

We have fares in business class as low as £694 return to Dubai (from London) and £864 return to Seoul (from Stockholm).

You can find out more, and book, on this page of the Lufthansa website.

SWISS and Lufthansa 2-4-1 business class flight deals

Here, partly courtesy of Luxury Flight Club, are the best of the deals, starting with London departures. It is important to note these are only example deals – the booking page says that other destinations are also discounted.

Here are the rules:

  • you need to book for two or more people
  • you can travel until 30th June 2025 (best availability is September and March-June)
  • you must book by 3rd September 2024
  • it seems that a six night stay is required, with a 14 day maximum

IMPORTANT: Whilst the website says you can book for two people, you can book for 3, 4 or however many you want – although you will struggle to find flights with a lot of seats at these prices.

London:

Business Class

  • Dubai £710
  • Johannesburg £1,040
  • Delhi £1,100
  • Bangkok £1,155
  • Mumbai £1,280
  • Singapore £1,475
  • Sao Paulo £1,700
  • Buenos Aires £1,820
  • Hong Kong £2,199
  • Seoul £2,309

First Class

  • Delhi £2,070
  • Dubai £2,120
  • Johannesburg £2,320
  • Sao Paulo £2,530
  • Singapore £2,530
  • Buenos Aires £2,665

Manchester

Business Class

  • Mumbai £1,070
  • Dubai £1,165
  • Johannesburg £1,175
  • Delhi £1,210

First Class

  • Johannesburg £1,925
  • Dubai £2,160

IMPORTANT: Other UK departure points are available – Lufthansa and/or SWISS fly from most major regional airports. Deals may be more restricted though.

If you are flexible about your departure point, look at Norway:

Oslo

Business Class

  • Delhi €848
  • Bangkok €840
  • Beijing €820
  • Dubai €750
  • Hong Kong €1,030
  • Mumbai €960
  • Shanghai €840
  • Johannesburg €1,032

First Class

  • Dubai €1,985
  • Delhi €2,282
  • Johannesburg €2,341

Fancy Singapore for under £900 return? Or Seoul? Head to Stockholm:

Stockholm

Business Class​

  • Delhi €807
  • Singapore €950
  • Dubai €962
  • Seoul €996
  • Mumbai €1,086
  • Hong Kong €1,132

First Class

  • Dubai €2,020
  • Singapore €2,372
  • Seoul €2,378
  • Delhi €2,422
  • Hong Kong €2,573

These flights are very much bookable

You can get seats at these prices. To make it easier, the booking page shows (when you start to select a date) a calendar showing when you can get this price. The price is shows is NOT per person, it is for the group – be aware! It won’t look as low as the headline per person price.

Here is Dubai DURING OCTOBER HALF TERM (if your kids get two weeks off) for £694 per person:

Here are two people to Seoul from Stockholm at SEK 23,000 (£1,729, so £864 each):

Where can I credit my flights?

SWISS and Lufthansa are both part of Lufthansa’s Miles & More loyalty scheme.

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.

The Lufthansa business class fares usually book into P class.  This page of wheretocredit.com shows what you can do with that – ‘not much’ is unfortunately the answer.

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

How should I pay?

If you are booking in £, or you don’t have a credit card with 0% foreign exchange fees, your best option for paying if you book direct is American Express Preferred Rewards Gold.

This offers triple points – 3 per £1 – when you book flight tickets in a foreign currency.  This is because the transaction triggers the ‘double points for airline spend’ and the ‘double points for foreign spend’ bonuses.  Our review of Amex Gold is here.

Conclusion

It’s fantastic to see these crazy SWISS and Lufthansa 2-4-1 deals return.

Don’t wait if you see something you want. If you are reading this via email on Wednesday morning then the best options will have gone – don’t even think about waiting until nearer the nominal 3rd September end date for these deals.

You can book on this special page of the Lufthansa website.


best credit card to use when buying flights

How to maximise your miles when paying for flights (April 2025)

Some UK credit cards offer special bonuses when used for buying flights. If you spend a lot on airline tickets, using one of these cards could sharply increase the credit card points you earn.

Booking flights on any airline?

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold earns double points (2 Membership Rewards points per £1) when used to buy flights directly from an airline website.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points. These would convert to 20,000 Avios or various other airline or hotel programmes. The standard earning rate is 1 point per £1.

You can apply here.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

Buying flights on British Airways?

The British Airways Premium Plus American Express card earns double Avios (3 Avios per £1) when used at ba.com.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 30,000 Avios. The standard earning rate is 1.5 Avios per £1.

You do not earn bonus Avios if you pay for BA flights on the free British Airways American Express card or either of the Barclaycard Avios Mastercards.

You can apply here.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

Buying flights on Virgin Atlantic?

Both the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard and the annual fee Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard earn double Virgin Points when used at fly.virgin.com.

This means 1.5 Virgin Points per £1 on the free card and 3 Virgin Points per £1 on the paid card.

There is a sign-up bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points on the free card and 18,000 Virgin Points on the paid card.

You can apply for either of the cards here.

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Comments (180)

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

  • Tom says:

    Hi, one question – we managed to get tickets for LHR – DXB for October half term. However, we will not take the return from DXB to LHR. It still made sense at that price. Is there any refund for taxes or similar if you cancel after you have taken the LHR – DXB flight?

    • Rob says:

      Cancel and your outbound is repriced as a single and you get a huge bill. Just don’t show.

    • Blair Waldorf Salad says:

      You can retrospectively claim the taxes back after you have ‘missed’ your flight

    • planeconcorde says:

      Last year I booked Lufthansa FCO -> BER return as it was cheaper than the one-way price. After the outbound was completed, the day before my scheduled return, online I cancelled the return. All the return flight taxes were refunded in full. No admin fee. No re-price of the outbound.

      • Tom says:

        And you had a non-refundable ticket?

        • planeconcorde says:

          Yes. The none of the return fare portion wasn’t refunded.

          • planeconcorde says:

            That was meant not say: Yes, non-refundable, cheapest economy fare. None of the return portion of the fare was refunded. That was lost.

          • Tom says:

            Makes sense. Thank you – very helpful! @Rob do you agree this can be done?

          • Rob says:

            Not saying anything – don’t want to be on the hook if you’re charged.

      • BBbetter says:

        It probably works only after flying the outbound. The ticket cannot be modified but may only be cancelled for remaining legs.

      • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

        Both Italy and Germany are covered by court rulings that limit what airlines can and can’t do in situations like yours.

    • Phillip says:

      I would stick to “missed” your flight, and ask for your taxes back after the return leg date.

  • occasionalranter says:

    Can’t get any sensible fares for November / early December LHR-BKK, sub 14 day trip, 2xJ.

    Have been here before, always find LH/LX deals very frustrating to actually pin down. Similar problems when using Google flights to find cheapest deals ex-EU to NZ many times over last 5-6 years: the prices given on Google flights nearly always jump when you click through to the LH/LX website.

    Can’t see what the refund terms are on the cheapest deals quoted here but assume they’re completely non-refundable and the cheapest refundable fare (minus say £200-300 fee) is a lot higher ?

    • occasionalranter says:

      But… I am cheered by the mere fact of this promotion existing, and the prices attainable at least by those quickest off the mark. It does feel like cash fares in J to Asia and beyond are going to get more competitive soon ?

      • Matty says:

        I saw these fares last night – €761 OSL to BKK, via Munich, 11 September to 25 September. A similar trip with Finnair, via Helsinki, was around £850 in economy. £200 more and 2 cabins down. Aggressive pricing from Lufty.

      • Phillip says:

        Last time they did this before Covid, I remember about a month or two later, they repeated it!

  • Matthew says:

    Just missed out. Waited to a pal to confirm and now deal gone for me. Snooze you loose sadly..

  • Daniel says:

    just doubles the price on anything I’ve tried..

    • Bob says:

      Same here. I assume I’m too late, or doing something wrong.

    • Darren says:

      You need the ‘fly with me’ fare rather than Business basic etc hence the per person fee and not the promo price.

      • Niall says:

        Hi -I cant see a fly with me far – just a basic business, or business basic plus etc – no 2 for 1 anywhere?

  • Kes says:

    Managed to book from Stockholm to Nairobi end of June business for 680£ return, happy days. Thanks!

  • Manya says:

    All those flying to Dubai over Oct ht may have wanted to check hotel prices first.

    Anything decent is £400 per night for an entry level double room.

    • Rob says:

      Week of 19th is ok, 25th is mad – our usual Madinat Jumeirah room is £1600 plus 20% and we’d need two of them …..

      • Manya says:

        The hotel prices in Dubai are ridiculous. We stayed at DAM 6 years ago at £350 a night. That’s not also around £1,500 a night.

        Even the likes of Marriot and Hilton properties are going at £400 a night in October.

      • LordLucan says:

        Saadiyat Island (Abu Dhabi) equally “silly”. Is this a short term effort to target wealthy non-Brits or a permanent shift in rates?

  • Graham says:

    Can’t find any 2 for 1 London to Bangkok in December or am i doing something wrong
    Not getting any alternative dates

    • Mark says:

      I checked this morning to see if it made sense to rebook the flights for our Asia trip in March/April and cancel our redemption seats on BA/Qatar. Couldn’t find any 2for1 for Bangkok around our dates, and Singapore came out at around £1500 each return Business non-refundable. Given we’re paying £1800 each including Avios on our cancellable redemption flights for a direct flight on the way out and better timings for the way back, much closer to where we actually want to go and better seats, especially on Qatar we’ll probably stick with those 🙂

      I did find some Bangkok seats in May for around £1200 return. Might have been tempted if those were available for our dates.

  • Throwawayname says:

    Commiserations to anyone who has spent a grand or whatever it was for the privilege of redeeming VS miles.

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