News & offers: TLFL news, Virgin + Delta US & Canada business class from £1293, Kimpton Fitzroy opens & offer

Today marks the start of a new venture for TLFL. We will be launching our new sister site, Turning Left for Less Brazil headed up by Claudio who also writes for TLFL UK. So if you know anyone in Brazil or any Portuguese speakers then let them know about the new site. As I will be spreading myself a bit thin with both sites, I am pleased to announce that Paul will be taking on the role of Deputy Editor at Turning Left for Less UK, so you can expect to see plenty more articles from him. I will still be at the helm of TLFL UK as well as writing the articles most days and assisted as ever by my wonderful team with Roving Reporter and Mrs B as well as Claudio and Paul.

Virgin and Delta US business class from £1293

If you are thinking of going to the US it currently pays to book a long time in advance as most of the airlines are doing 6-month advance purchase fares at very reasonable rates. Today I will have a look at the Virgin and Delta offerings from London. On most routes, direct flights are available for a similar price so it is worth looking closely unless you want to do extra legs to get the tier points.

Fares start from:

• Vancouver £1673
• Montreal £1571
• Toronto £1578
• Hawaii £2185
• Denver £1741
• Portland £1573
• San Francisco £1677
• Phoenix £1771
• San Diego £1741
• Seattle £1771
• Boston £1497
• New York £1487
• Chicago £1561
• Atlanta £1293
• Washington £1617

The rules of the fare are:

• Travel: outbound permitted Tue/Wed/Thu on each transatlantic sector and inbound permitted Mon/Tue/Wed on each transatlantic sector.
• Travel dates:
  • outbound 30 Mar 19 – 3 Jul 19 or 29 Aug – 26 Oct 19 or 13 – 23 Dec 19 for each transatlantic sector.
  • inbound  7 April – 17 Jul 19 or  8 Sep – 28 Oct 19
• unlimited stopovers permitted in each direction at £ 300 each (remember you can stop for less than 24 hours for free)
• Non-refundable and not changeable
• Minimum stay 7 days
• Minimum 6-month advance purchase

You can book the fares on either Virgin Atlantic or Delta. 

IHG – First UK Kimpton Fitzroy opens in London with a special offer

The first Kimpton hotel has opened in London called Kimpton Fitzroy. Kimpton hotels are part of IHG and feature boutique hotels that offer plenty of nice perks and extra touches. For example, if you are Gold Elite or above in IHG  Rewards Club you will get a $30 in room Spa Credit that can be applied toward any 50-80 minute service on the menu. You also get a Raid the Bar or mini bar credit of around $10-15. Rooms come with yoga mats and a nightly wine hour is held with free wine. Other perks include:

• Complimentary morning coffee and tea service
• Complimentary PUBLIC bikes

The hotel was formerly the Principal London where I stayed not long ago. It is a beautiful building but be aware some of the rooms are very small, especially the bathrooms. It is set on Russell Square within a Grade II listed heritage building dating back to 1898 and features 334 rooms and suites. If you wanted to do a redemption it is pretty pricey at 70,000 points. Personally, I wouldn’t spend that much for it but you may feel differently. You can read my hotel review here.

There is an opening promotion of an extra 10,000 points if you stay two nights from 29 October until 31 March 2019. Stays must be booked by 31 March at least 5 days in advance.  To qualify you must stay a minimum of 2 nights more in an Urban Double Room (or higher grade room). You also have to pay in full at the time of booking and it is non-refundable. The offer page is here. 

You can find more information on the Kimpton Fitzroy London and the latest prices here.