NEWS: Virgin adds extra US flights – book your reward seats, Finnair business class update and AA & Alaska Avios devalue

Virgin adds extra US flights – book your reward seats

Virgin Atlantic today announced plans to increase capacity to the USA, adding frequencies from London Heathrow to both New York JFK and Boston for summer 2024. Virgin previously announced an increase in Miami services from 11 flights per week to twice daily year-round and a new seasonal summer service from Manchester to Las Vegas.  

Next summer, the airline will offer a record number of flights between London and New York, with a seventh daily flight to JFK, and together with Joint Venture partner Delta, will offer ten* daily services in total to New York.

Virgin Atlantic will also operate a second daily flight to Boston. Complementing Delta’s daily service, Boston will be served with three flights a day.  

Virgin can be tricky to find redemptions on, but with the addition of the new flights, now is the time to get looking! If you can’t find what you are looking for on Virgin or Delta, it is always worth considering Air France or KLM who tend to have cheaper taxes and charges. 

Customers on both Virgin Atlantic departures will experience flying on the airline’s newest aircraft, the A330-900neo, and A350-1000, increasing the number of Upper and Premium seats by 23%. Upper-Class passengers can also book the A330-900neo Retreat Suite, which comprises of two spacious suites at the front of the Upper Class cabin.

Here are the frequencies for Virgin and Delta from the UK:

Finnair business class update

Not content with introducing their Light business class fare that includes no luggage at all, Finnair not that long ago decided to reduce all the allowances for business class hand luggage and checked luggage. Checked luggage was restricted to one piece at 23kg, which is way below other airlines’ allowances. I said at the time, this decision would be likely to backfire and put people off which seemed to be the consensus from the comments section as well. 

Initially, hand luggage was reduced to 8kg, which is very low considering that many hand luggage cases weigh 4kg empty. It then increased to 10kg. Now Finnair has done a complete reversal on the whole thing.

Hand luggage is now 12kg with one small personal item and a standard wheelie bag totalling 12kg.

Business Light does not come with checked luggage.

For checked-in luggage it varies:

• Journeys to or from Asia, the Middle East and other intercontinental destinations except USA, Canada, Mexico and Japan​: 2 pc (32kg each) in Business Class (excl. Light ticket types).
• Journeys between Japan and Europe: 2 pc (23kg each) in Economy Class and Premium Economy and 3 pc (32kg each) in Business Class (excl. Light ticket types).
• Journeys between North America and Europe: 2 pc (23 kg each) in Premium Economy and 2 pc (32kg each) in Business Class (excl. Light ticket types).

American Airlines & Alaska Avios redemption devalue for British Airways Executive Club

Hot on the heels of Cathay Pacific and JAL British Airways Avios redemptions being devalued for flights under 3000 miles, now American Airlines and Alaskan flights will also cost more Avios. This again covers flights of 3000 miles or less. The increases are pretty substantial at between 11-32%.

However, there is a way around this, as Qatar has done the exact opposite earlier this year and reduced the cost of their partner rewards. It is easy to transfer Avios from your BA account to a Qatar Privilege account by linking your accounts. As you can see from the Qatar chart, it is substantially cheaper to book through them. The downside is that you can’t check availability on the Qatar website and have to submit a request to book partners, which can take some time to confirm. However, there is a chance Qatar could also raise theirs to be in line with BA, so I wouldn’t hang around if you plan to do a redemption.