NEWS & OFFERS: Virgin’s new Upper class menus, Amex Qatar £300 off and Air France £150 off offers

Amex Qatar Airways and Air France money back offers

If you haven’t got one of the travel rewards Amex cards, this last couple of weeks has been a good reason to get one. I reckon that I get the fees that I pay back in all the offers that give money back on airlines and hotels. Currently there are offers with Hilton and Marriott as well as United Airlines and Etihad.

Now two more offers have popped up:

Qatar Airways

This is a generous offer with £300 backwhen you spend £2,000 with Qatar Airways by 6 November. I have this offer on my Marriott Bonvoy Amex card but it is always worth checking your other cards in case it appears there. While it is a generous amount of cashback there is a drawback as it can only be used to depart from a UK airport. Prices from the UK are substantially higher than elsewhere. For example, to fly to Dubai, which nets you BA 400 tier points in business class, from the UK, it will cost you around £2600 and from Oslo it will cost £1300. However, at least with the £300 off being cumulative and applying to all classes you don’t have to spend a fortune. Obviously if you want to book two tickets, you may want to use two cards to get the maximum discount if you both have the offer. 

You need to make the booking via the Qatar website to get the offer. 

Air France

The offer gives you £150 statement credit when you spend £1000 or more cumulatively online at Air France by 6 November. Again, this is only valid for flights departing from the UK but generally Air France has some decent fares from the UK. There is curretly a fare to Seoul Korea for only £1618 on mid week fares until the end of January. This is also on my Marriott Amex.

You can read my latest review of Air France business class here.

Virgin Atlantic launches new Upper Class menus

Virgin Atlantic has launched its new Autumn/Winter menu across all cabins from 4 October with its catering partners Gate Gourmet.

Upper Class customers will be able to try dishes such as serrano ham with roasted squash, pickled red onion and feta cheese, herb roasted chicken breast and roasted trout fillet. On the Extra Bites menu, it will feature a cream tea including both a sultana scone and white chocolate and orange scone, with clotted cream, morello cherry jam and lemon curd. There’s also a bao bun with cashew satay chicken and a spiced lamb flatbread. The new menu features an increased focus on vegetarian and plant-based options, including carrot tartare with whipped ricotta, spinach and ricotta tortellini, spiced apple and parsnip soup and a beyond burger® with pickled onions, vegan cheese and vegan mayonnaise. Northern Bloc plant-based ice cream will also be served, with a choice of double salted caramel or lemon sorbet. 

A new A La Carte breakfast menu has been introduced in Upper Class, enabling customers to ‘build their own breakfast’ from options of yoghurt, fresh fruit, warm pastries and a new range of cereals such as artisan granola or fruit and fibre. I’d assume they will still have cooked options as well which are normally a cut above the usual airline business class breakfasts. Customers wanting to catch up on sleep can order an Express Breakfast, served 40 minutes before landing. This includes either a bacon roll or sweet pastry. New wellbeing drinks are also being served onboard including Real sparkling tea, Perfect Ted matcha and Lo Bros kombucha.

The latest edition of onboard wines feature a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, a Côtes du Rhône Rosé and an Italian Villa Borghetti Valpolicella Classico.  

Snacks across cabins have been upgraded too with the Upper Class and Premium cabins featuring Savoursmiths bubbly and serrano chilli crisps, Yumma peach flavoured gummy sweets, Creative Nature blueberry muffin bar, Love Raw Vegan caramelised biscuit bar and more.