Lufthansa launches a good business class flight deal to Dubai

Lufthansa and SWISS have brought back their attractive flight deals to Dubai.

For the UK market the deal is not as good as previously. You are looking at £1,475 return, give or take. It’s better from Dublin (€1,475) and if you are being adventurous you can fly from Vilnius or Tallinn for around €1,200!

The price is available from May until the end of the year.

Remember that Lufthansa and/or SWISS fly from major UK regional airports so you don’t necessarily have to start your trip in London. Whilst these are ‘Business Basic’ fares, they DO include lounge access.

You will be changing aircraft in Germany or Switzerland, depending on which airline you pick.

Here’s an example in September flying on SWISS (click to enlarge):

I believe the flights book into ‘P’ class, so be careful which Star Alliance frequent flyer programme you credit. wheretocredit.com can show you potential places to credit a ‘P’ class Lufthansa or SWISS flight.

You are paying in £, if you book a flight starting in the UK, so the best card to pay with is American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. This offers double points (2 per £1) on all airline spend. If you decide to book from Dublin, your best bet is one of the Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard cards – these have 0% FX fees in the Eurozone and earn Virgin Points.

You can play around with dates and pricing on the Lufthansa site here. The site is VERY good at helping you see which dates have the lowest pricing – a calendar will appear as soon as you’ve typed some random dates into the home page search box.

Belfast to gain a DoubleTree hotel

Belfast will be gaining a new Hilton hotel towards the end of the year.

Ten Square Hotel, above, has announced that it will be rebranding under Hilton’s DoubleTree brand. The property has 131 rooms and food and drink venues including the Linen Bar, Jospers Steakhouse and The Doffer.

Ten Square will undergo a refurbishment before joining Hilton. It is under the same ownership as the existing DoubleTree in Templepatrick.

Hilton is also expanding into Portrush as we covered here, with the Marcus Hotel joining Tapestry Collection by Hilton after an £11m upgrade. This is due to open in time for the British Open golf tournament in the town.

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How to earn Star Alliance miles from UK credit cards (March 2025)

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