Air France has just unveiled a luxurious new 2,700-square-metre lounge, the largest in the network outside France. In 2027, Air France will move all JFK flights to the brand-new Terminal 1, where the new lounge will be located, though the terminal move and lounge opening dates have not yet been revealed.
The lounge is being designed in collaboration with MARKS Brandimage, the agency behind the recently renovated La Première lounge at Charles de Gaulle. It will span two levels, with space for more than 400 guests and a design inspired by French art and travel.
Access will be for:
- La Première ticket holders
- Business ticket holders (excluding Business Light)
- Flying Blue Elite Plus members
- Eligible travellers flying with KLM and SkyTeam partner airlines
The lounge will include a variety of dining areas and a bar with an exclusive selection of French wines and champagnes. There will also be dedicated areas for beauty treatments, relaxation, and work.
La Première ticket holders will have access to an exclusive area with a dining offer from a renowned French chef yet to be named. This is part of planned improvements for La Première flyers at T1, including a more personalised and straightforward airport experience.
An exclusive space will also be reserved for Flying Blue Ultimate status holders.
The Air France lounge will join the five other lounges already announced for Terminal 1, including airline lounges from Korean Air, Turkish Airlines and Qatar Airways, plus a Plaza Premium and Plaza Premium First lounge, one of which will be an arrivals lounge.
Terminal One is being built in phases as part of JFK’s $19 billion redevelopment and is due to be fully completed in 2030.
This lounge looks pretty exciting and a big improvement for AF at JFK. We’ll update you with more details once we have them.
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Qatar Airways Reverses Restriction on Avios Bookings
Earlier this year, Qatar added major restrictions on redeeming Avios for others. While your Privilege Club account must still be open for at least 30 days to book a redemption, Qatar has removed the flight-crediting rule. Until now, you had to credit at least one flight operated by Qatar or a partner airline to your Privilege Club account.
If you travel solo or your travel companions book their own Avios redemptions, nothing has changed. However, if you want to book Avios redemptions for multiple people, things look much better. It makes Qatar Avios bookings much easier if you’re travelling as a couple, family or booking a reward flight for someone else.
You can add up to four people to ‘My List’ to book redemptions for them, and up to six people through ‘Family & Friends‘. Your account needs to be at least 30 days old before you can add people, but Gold and Platinum members can also book redemptions without adding them to a list.
If you haven’t made a Privilege Club account yet, we recommend doing so in case you want to book a future redemption without waiting 30 days.
British Airways 5x Avios Boost Extended
Boosting Avios is usually much better value than buying Avios outright or through an Avios subscription. Normally, you can boost eligible Avios earned in the last 30 days by up to 300%, but this offer increases that to 500%.
The offer has now been extended by an extra 48 hours and will end on 18th September.
You can buy Avios for as little as 0.92p each with a 3x, 4x or 5x boost. The lower boost options cost slightly more at up to 0.96p per Avios, which is still pretty good value. You can boost up to 300,000 Avios per year. After that, you will be offered a more expensive option.
If you have earned 60,000 eligible Avios in the last 30 days and haven’t used any of your allowance, a 5x boost means you could purchase 300,000 Avios for £2,760.
This is a great opportunity if you’ve spotted a redemption that’s likely to disappear but don’t quite have enough Avios to book it.
For example, an off-peak Bangkok redemption in Club World would usually cost 110,000 Avios + £349.50. With cash fares starting at £2,455. You could purchase the Avios needed for £1,012 and pay the £349.50 in taxes and fees. That brings your redemption to just £1,361.50, saving at least £1,093 compared to a cash booking.
You can also pick and choose which transactions you boost rather than boosting everything, but keep in mind that you can’t boost Avios transferred from other loyalty programmes. You can, however, boost Avios earned from things like flights, credit cards and bank accounts.
For even better value, you could make the most of the 20% transfer bonus on HSBC Rewards points, then boost them with this offer!
