Etihad is currently in financial difficulties meaning that it seems to have more sales than Qatar at the moment. Generally, the sales fares aren’t overly exciting from the UK. However, the latest flash sales has the best fares that I have seen for a while to Abu Dhabi and Bangkok from the UK on Etihad . For example, Abu Dhabi was £2109 and Bangkok £1801 in the last sale a few weeks ago.
Although you can’t earn Avios and BA tier points on Etihad like you can on Qatar, Etihad has one of the best business class seats. They are also an Amex Membership reward partner so you could top up any miles earned with Amex points.
In this post:
The new Business Class Studio
The new Business Studios are available only on the A380 and 787 Dreamliners at the moment. Fortunately, the London to Abu Dhabi route currently has the A380. The rest of Etihad’s fleet offer their older business class which still has fully flat beds.
The Business Class Studio features a 22-inch wide seat that converts into a fully-flat bed of up to 6 feet and 8 inches. Each seat has direct aisle access, unlike British Airways.
All business class seats provide:
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- mood lighting providing a relaxed ambience throughout the flight
- in-seat massage function and personal lighting, controlled at the touch of a button
- a turn-down service including a mattress, luxury loungewear and slippers on ultra long-haul flights
- noise-cancelling headsets.
- range of connection ports and mobile or Wi-Fi connectivity on board for selected flights.
- 18.5-inch touch-screen TV (Business Studio)
- 15.4-inch touch-screen TV (Business Flatbed)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=p6E9BdY0qK0
If you are reading via email you can view the Business Class Studio video here
The best fares are all from London unless otherwise stated:
- Bangkok from £1,610
- Abu Dhabi from £1,613
- Mumbai from £1,711
- Kuala Lumpur from £1,811
- Singapore from £2,060
- Melbourne from £2712 (Edinburgh)
The sale ends on 27 September. The sale page is here.
Ex EU to San Francisco from £1365
West Coast US business class fares are usually pretty expensive, although you get American Airlines ex Dublin fares from around £1500 during a sale. The latest deal is a good price although there are 2 potential catches depending on your preferences.
The first catch is that it is from Oslo not Dublin. Obviously, Oslo takes longer to get to and is usually more expensive than getting to Dublin. However, given the price of this one you may decide it is still worth it. The second is that you have to fly on Star Alliance. This means for the transatlantic sector you are probably looking at Lufthansa or United unless you want more than one connection. However, oneworld also have a fare from £1413 which you may prefer, although there is very limited availability at that price.
The fare is available for travel 18 -25 November, 24-31 December and 8-26 April 2018. Reservations must be made at least 14 days before departure and the minimum stay is 6 days or until the first Sunday after departure. The fare must be booked by the end of today 25 September.
HT: Loyalty Lobby
Ex EU Prague to Shanghai from £886
If you need to do a tier point run or just fancy a cheap trip to Shanghai there is an excellent deal out of Prague currently. As I predicted with the launch of Qatar’s flights from Prague, it is proving to be a cheap source of ex EU flights. Shanghai is a fantastic city to visit with its mix of futuristic and older style architecture as well as cosmopolitan bars, restaurants and attractions.
The fare is for Qatar business class flying on an A320 to Doha and then on a B777 with the older seats. You can read about the seats on Qatar’s A319/A320 medium haul aircraft in this review. The B777 seats are comfortable but being in a 2-2-2 layout they aren’t great for the window seat as there isn’t direct aisle access. Given the price of the fare it is probably still worth considering. You would also get 560 tier points for the trip which, if added to BA positioning flights, could take you to silver if you got the necessary 4 flights on BA.
The fare is available for Tuesday to Friday departures flying until the end of March 2018. Fares must be purchased at least 5 days in advance and there is a minimum 7 night stay. Tickets must be booked before 1 October 2017.
You can book on Qatar Airways here.
HT: HfP/Flyertalk
