Offers & news: Qatar QSuite, Hotel+ business class flights from £1529, How to fly Lufthansa First on miles, SPG discount

Hotel+ business class flights from £1529

Trailfinders have another great value promotion to Dubai and the Far East starting at £1529 for business class flights and 3 nights in a 4-5* hotel. This is based on two people sharing a room. The catch is that the flights are on Turkish Airlines via Istanbul. However, Turkish in-flight service is generally very good and you can collect miles on any Star Alliance airline scheme which could be handy for the next item in this article. I have heard issues with the customer service on the ground though when things go wrong which is worth bearing in mind.

Other things to consider are that the first part of the flight from London to Istanbul will be either a short haul A321 (Gatwick and Heathrow) or B777 (Heathrow). This means you won’t get flat beds on the A321 but more of a short-haul style business class seat. On the B777, unfortunately, the layout is 2-3-2 which is not great. The A330 used on Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur is 2-2-2 which is more reasonable if you are travelling with someone else.

There is an onboard chef but it doesn’t appear to equal the chef on Etihad where they actually prepare things to order. The lounge is Istanbul is good with plenty of amenities on offer.

The offer must be booked by 30 April from travel until 30 June 2018.

The prices are as follows:

• Dubai – £1529 Flights + 3 nights Hilton Dubai Creek 4*
• Kuala Lumpur – £1729 Flights + Majestic Hotel 5*
• Bangkok £1729 – Flights + 3 nights Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel & Towers 4*
• Singapore £1729 – Flights + 3 nights Pan Pacific 4*
• Hong Kong £2059 – Flights + 3 nights Harbour Grand 4*
• Ho Chi Minh City £1939  – Flights + 3 nights The Reverie Hotel 5*

You can find more information on Trailfinders website here.

Lufthansa – upgrading to First & SPG discount

If you saw the Lufthansa First class deal last week and didn’t fancy the deal but liked the sound of the service, this may be for you. Even if you don’t collect Lufthansa Miles & More or other Star Alliance miles there are other ways to get your hands on them than flying. Lufthansa have recently changed their policy on upgrading cash tickets with miles that makes this an attractive prospect when there are some good business class fares on offer. You can now upgrade even the lowest category of Lufthansa business class tickets with miles. Prices start at 55,000 miles for the lowest booking class from Europe to the Middle East up to 95,000 between Europe and Australia. You can find the full list of upgrade prices here.

So how do you get miles if you don’t fly on Star Alliance airlines? Hotels are one answer but there is one particular scheme that is the easiest to use, particularly if you have an American Express card that offers Membership Rewards –  SPG, Starwood’s current loyalty program (which is merging with Marriott – see here). You can transfer SPG Starpoints to Miles and More (Lufthansa’s scheme) at a 1:1 rate but if you transfer 20,000 points you get a 5000 point bonus. When the Marriott/SPG schemes merge, the Starpoints will be converted into Marriott points at 1:3 and then the new transfer rate from Marriott to Miles and More will be 3:1, so exactly the same as SPG now.

You can also transfer into SPG from Amex Membership rewards at a rate of 2:1 with a minimum transfer of 400 points. There is also a Starwood Amex card which has a sign-up bonus of 10,000 SPG points. There is more information on Miles and More here.

If you need some extra points SPG have a promotion for 35% off when you buy miles before 31 May 2018.

You can buy SPG miles on this page. 

Qatar’s new QSuites route

Qatar are gradually following out their new QSuites across their fleet and have announced the start date for a new route for the product. QSuites are enclosed business class “suites” which also have seats that can be transformed into a double bed or even a set of 4 seats in a suite together for people travelling together. Starting from 15 May 2018 QSuites will also be available from Shanghai along with certain flights to London, Paris, Seoul, Frankfurt and various US destinations.