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New Lufthansa/Swiss companion sale
It’s been a long time since we last saw a companion sale with Lufthansa/Swiss, but they are finally back. I personally regard the rise in great-price sales such as this and Etihad as a sign that demand is weakening as airlines recover their capacity, and hopefully, it will start to drive prices down (though I’m not holding out much hope for BA Club Europe prices, if I am honest).
If you travel with a partner, you save up to 30% on Premium Economy, 40% on Business, and 50% on First Class tickets.
Lufthansa has been really trying to up its game recently and, of course, now has some aircraft with its new Allegris business class seats, and some they have bought from other airlines that also have better seats. If you can push the boat out, I’d be going for their first class, which is excellent on both airlines, with private First class terminals in some airports and a private car to the aircraft as well.
Swiss also use Michelin-starred chefs to design their First—and business-class meals. I do find their business-class seats a bit dated, although they are planning to introduce new seats in 2025, but we don’t know when. You can find our review of Lufthansa First Class here.
The very low prices are hard to find, but there are still some decent deals to be had. The sale is on until 3 September, and you can travel until 30 June 2025.
Prices start from around £2500pp in first class and £1400pp in business class. The sale is available throughout Europe so it is worth looking at starting your trip from other cities such as Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen to get the best prices.
You can find the Swiss sale page here and the Lufthansa sale page here.
Air France/KLM Virgin redemptions back
A while ago, I wrote about how you could no longer redeem your Virgin points for Air France/KLM flights either online or via the call centre. At the time Virgin said,
“Due to a system issue, customers are currently unable to book Air France/KLM seats with Virgin Points on our website and through the Customer Centre. We’d like to sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused and our teams are working hard to fix this issue. We expect bookings to be available again at the start of August.”
Well, it’s not quite the start of August, but I am happy to report that redemptions are available again. You should be able to see them online when you do a search. Prior to going offline there was an issue actually completing booking online for these airlines so hopefully this has now been solved.
If you have Virgin points, redeeming on Air France/KLM can work out much cheaper in terms of cash, and I was very impressed with my Air France experience. They also offer a lot more choice if you live outside London. You can also redeem on all the other Skyteam airlines.
10,000 Bonus Avios with The Wine Flyer
IAG Loyalty’s own wine company regularly features bonus offers, and this one is a good one: 10,000 bonus Avios are available on top of the standard 5 Avios per £1 that you earn.
You collect 10,000 bonus Avios when purchasing 24 bottles of wine. To qualify you need to add two 12-bottle cases to your basket and use code BANKHOLIDAY at checkout. The cases available are all mixed, but there are lots of choices, such as by a specific grape, region, or country, and there are Champagne and Prosecco options, too.
The offer is on until Monday 26th August. You can find the offer page here.
4 comments
The LH/LX deal has been advertised online for a few days now so the best dates are gone, but I was able to find a deal in First to JNB from Northern Europe for under £2000, incredible!
You mention above that prices start from £1500pp in business. I have just secured return business class to DXB mid March for £707 per person. Managed to secure the front row of business in the tiny cabin (4JK) for both Swiss 777-300 flights ZRH – DXB – ZRH. Deal of the century!
That’s great Kevin. It looked like all the super cheap ones had gone when I was writing the article. Well done for getting it!
Thanks Michele
I am delighted to have received a personalised response from you after enjoying so many of your articles with invaluable hints and tips. When you write, it feels like you are speaking to me personally which in my opinion, is such a very rare talent, as in reality you are speaking to a very large audience.
Call me sad, but I am a sucker for a great premium deal too and have spent the past few hours searching for more of the very lowest Business deals £700 return to DXB. They are still there but you do need to spend min 7/8 nights in DXB.
Regards Kevin
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