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JetBlue US business class deals from £1645
I recently flew with Jet Blue for the first time and was very impressed with the onboard product from the seats to the food and service. You can earn Avios but not BA tier points by crediting the flights to a Qatar Privilege account. The only downside is that you do not get lounge access, but in most places, you can usually buy third-party lounge access or use your Priority Pass. You can read my review of the standard Jet Blue Mint Suite here.
The offer is not the lowest we have seen as sometimes it can be as low as £1250 return, but this is rare. However, we do have Black Friday coming up at the end of November. The flights all involve a stopover via Boston, but you can break your trip here, so it could be a great option for a twin-centre holiday.
The prices are available for travel from 9 January to 14 February 2024. You must buy the tickets by 18 October and include a Saturday night in your booking. The second segment will be in economy, but the main long-haul segment will be in their signature Mint Suite.
Here are the routes all via Boston:
- Heathrow – La Guardia (New York) £1645
- Heathrow – Miami £1682
- Heathrow – Chicago £1690
- Heathrow – Orlando £1727
You can check prices and availability here.
Qatar Al Safwa closure
Qatar has announced that their First class Al Safwa lounge will be closed from 13 October 13 until 30 November 2023 for maintenance. It used to be a great lounge with fine wines and champagne, although it was a one blogger described it as “museum-like”. Sadly, the quality of the food and champagne has gone down since Covid to the extent that I would not bother paying to go in. They do still have the jacuzzi and proper sleep rooms, which are worth considering, although you could find them all fully occupied and waste your money. However, if you have access anyway, it’s worth a visit. Those flying in first class, including those on regional flights, can access the lounge, providing they are not on a connecting light business class ticket as I found out to my consternation last year.
Although during the closure, you will have access to the other Qatar lounges, such as Al Mourjan and their frequent flyer lounges, these obviously don’t offer the same facilities, such as the sleep rooms.
Expert Flyer
Expert Flyer is a great resource for frequent flyers showing things like seat availability (including whether seats are blocked or occupied), seat alerts and fare buckets. You can also use it to look for award flights, providing you know the fare class that you are looking for.
Things seem to be going a bit pear-shaped recently with a major failure over several days in July with no recourse for those that pay monthly and not the loss of data from most Star Alliance airlines.
They have now announced that a long list of airlines have been removed from their list of supported airlines in the Award & Upgrade search. This also means that any Flight Alerts for those airlines are not currently working.
Here is the list of airlines:
- Adria Airways
- Air Canada
- Air China International
- Air India
- Air New Zealand
- ANA- All Nippon Airways
- Asiana Airlines
- Austrian Airlines
- Avianca
- Avianca Costa Rica
- Brussels Airlines
- COPA
- Croatia Airlines
- Egyptair
- Ethiopian Airlines
- EVA Air
- LOT-Polish Airlines
- Lufthansa
- SAS
- Shenzhen Airlines
- Singapore Airlines
- South African Airways
- SWISS
- TACA
- TAP- Air Portugal
- Thai Airways International
- United Airlines
- Virgin Australia
- Vistara
The language appears to suggest it may be temporary. However, US blog OMAAT is reporting this could be part of a Star Alliance crackdown on companies using their data. One company has been sent a “cease and desist” letter not to use Air Canada data any longer, which appears to be related.
The main concern is thought to be points brokers who act as middlemen for people who want to sell points and miles and those who want to get cheap tickets. I highly advise anyone not to use these services as if the airline were to catch you, it’s against the terms and conditions of the loyalty programs, and you could have your account closed or your ticket cancelled.
Let’s hope this doesn’t give other alliances ideas, or it could be the end of sites like Reward Flight Finder and Seat Spy. Currently, you can find award availability for Swiss, Austrian, United, Lufthansa, LOT, Croatian and Brussels Airlines on Seat Spy.
