The Lufthansa/Swiss group are now advertising their latest companion sale. These fares are great value but you need to consider a couple of things.
- Firstly, the group insists on no fabric masks onboard, only surgical masks or those conforming to certain standards such as N95. This is putting me off them as I have two very expensive fabric masks that have N95 filters but I don’t fancy arguing with them and not being allowed to wear them. Nor do I fancy having to wear some of the disposable masks I have tried that are N95 etc as they have not been very comfortable.
- Secondly, transmitting through a second country obviously adds complexity with travel restrictions. Obviously, if you are booking for towards the end of 2021 it is likely to be less of an issue.
- Finally Lufthansa and Swiss have possibly been one of the worst airlines for refunds. Both Roving Reporter and Paul have had to open credit card disputes to get their money back. I had hoped that once they got bailed out they would be better, but Paul is still waiting for his refund.
On the plus side, the first class experience on both airlines is great, particularly at these prices.
Here are the dates you need to know:
- Valid for sale from 12 February 2021 until 08 March 2021
- Valid for travel from 12 February 2021 to 07 February 2022
Business class companion fares
Business class companion fare for TWO people return start from:
- Amman (AMM) from £999
- Bangkok (BKK) from £2199
- Bangalore (BLR) £1999
- Bogota (BOG) £2199
- Mumbai (BOM) from £1999
- Buenos Aires (EZE) from £2599
- Cairo (CAI) from £999
- Cape Town (CPT) from £2399
- Delhi (DEL) from £1999
- Dubai (DXB) from £1799
- Hong Kong (HKG) from £2399
- Johannesburg (JNB) from £2399
- Muscat (MCT) from £1999
- Nairobi (NBO) from £1999
- Rio de Janeiro (GIG) from £2599
- São Paulo (GRU) from £2599
- Singapore (SIN) from £2399
- Tel Aviv (TLV) from £999
Not listed officially, but Osaka is £1507 pp and seems bookable solo.
You can fly on Lufthansa or Swiss. I would go for Swiss myself as the aircraft as their B777 business class seats are definitely better than Lufthansa with a lot more privacy. You can read our review of the Lufthansa business class here. Swiss alternate between solo and pair of window seats. Lufthansa is 2-2-2 for the whole cabin.
The only thing to bear in mind is that if you are traveling solo and don’t have status, the Swiss solo “throne seats” come at a charge of around £160 per leg! Personally, I would go for the middle seats at least one way than pay over £300 for seat selection!
First class companion fares
For first class either airline has a great product. Lufthansa has the edge in terms of the ground product in normal times with a separate First class terminal and the chance to be driven directly to the aircraft. The Swiss seats are more private and a bit more stylish.
First class companion fare for TWO people return start from:
- Bangkok (BKK) from £3399
- Bangalore (BLR) from £2999
- Bogota (BOG) £3199
- Mumbai (BOM) from £2999
- Buenos Aires (EZE) from £3599
- Cape Town (CPT) from £3559
- Dubai (DXB) from £2799
- Hong Kong (HKG) from £3599
- Johannesburg (JNB) from £3599
- Rio de Janeiro (GIG) from £3599
The fare rules for both offers are:
- Book by: 8 March 2021
- Travel: Valid for travel commencing on/before 7 Feb 22
- Minimum stay: 6 nights or Saturday night
- Maximum stay: 3 months
- Transfers: Unlimited
- Stopovers: No
- Refundable: No
- Changeable: Yes – You can change dates and a change of travel class, departure or destination airport is possible but you will have to pay any difference in fare.
You can book direct with Swiss here or find the cheapest online travel agent price with Skyscanner.
13 comments
Great to see some good fares, but all the while I will be treated like a disease I won’t be getting on a plane. I’ll be travelling with the first airline that treats us like people.
Hi Michelle,
What route is £430 J return, as per your title?
I guess its worth to consider for second part of 2021. I am curious if vouchers for previously cancelled flights can be used as well?
Yes you should be able to.
27 November was my birthday and TLFL’s tip got me a great present from SWISS. Two pax London to Nairobi Business Class £1,956 for June 2021. This replaces our June 2020 cancelled super-bargain KLM flight in Business which cost £2,711. (The KLM price is engrained on my heart because of the ongoing seven month argument I’m still having with Opodo and KLM to get a refund. Credit card repaid me.)
Glad to hear you got a great deal David. Let us know how your trip goes!
We had our flights to bkk cancelled in August with Swiss you have to phone a call centre with long waits and a premium rate but we got allowed a refund after they tried to rebook us. It took 6 weeks but got refunded to credit card and did not need to chase. So have now booked for June and august since ba are not flying the bkk route until November.
That’s good news. Hopefully they are improving.
I tried scanner but they didn’t come up with the right fare for LH FRA – JNB – any clues?
Ok, a word of caution here. I booked the Swiss F companion fare in the last round in November/December, to fly to Singapore in October, so I pushed it out as late as I possibly could during that round of ticket sales, knowing I could rebook when they ran the campaign again, if I needed to.
Oh no you can’t. Swiss have firmly told me that even though I have a booking in that fare bucket, I cannot now rebook onto one of the dates and flights they are currently advertising at that rate, because “the online prices are for new bookings only, not for rebookings”. WTF!
My booking conditions don’t mention that. It simply says if the fare class is available I can rebook without any fare difference charge, so how can I not rebook onto fares that are on sale and match what I bought before Christmas? Absolute madness
I have the same problem, bought tickets to Sin last year for August 2021 hoping situation will improve. Now I am not so sure as Singapore is super careful. Tried to rebook for January 2022 and oooops, not possible. Swiss has great first class but they are extremely rigid with the rules and very passenger unfriendly policies, sadly. Now I hope vaccination passports will allow us to travel.
Thanks for the heads up. If my flights get cancelled in June (more than likely). I will wait for them to cancel them and then ask for cash refund.
Swiss air have upped their game. Had an email on Friday 26th to say one of our June connections was cancelled. We’re given the option to cancel for a refund by pressing a button, which we did. Refund on credit card on Saturday 27th how good is that.
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