Black Friday deals start + Qatar deals coming

The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas

I have stayed at the Cosmopolitan a few times now and would return, particularly for their wrap-around fountain view suites. The hotel is part of Marriott Bonvoy and has a great central location on the strip.

There’s a good offer currently direct with up to 50% off your stay when you book by Tuesday 29 November. It’s valid for select dates until 7 February 2023. 

You can find the offer page here.

Fairmont and Sofitel – up to 25% off

Fairmont usually do a Black Friday offer for 20% off gift vouchers, but I have not seen anything about that yet. However, they are running a decent sale which covers the US, Canada, Barbados and Bermuda. You can read my review of the Fairmont Barbados here.

There is up to 25% off at participating hotels  with discounts ranging from 15-25% off.  

The sale lasts until 29 November for stays until 30 June 2023. You can save up to 25% compared to the fully flexible rate. The catch is that there is a  1-night prepaid, non-refundable, non-transferable deposit is required at time of reservation (except Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, Fairmont Empress, Fairmont Pacific Rim, Fairmont Vancouver Airport, Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, Fairmont Waterfront which do not require deposit).

Plus, members of ALL – Accor Live Limitless can save an additional 5% with our Members’ Rate, among other perks and benefits. Not a member? Enroll here.

You can find the offer page here.

There is also a similar offer for Sofitel with hotels in US, Canada and Mexico being discounted by 20-30% off. These are on the same offer page. 

It is always worth speaking to our luxury travel agent partners GTC when considering a luxury hotel purchase as often the included benefits can work out cheaper than a discounted rate as these can include breakfast, hotel credit and upgrades depending on the brand. You can contact them for a quote here. 

IHG – breakfast and bonus points for $1 

By spending just an extra $1, you can get daily breakfast and 2000 bonus points included in your stay when you book for 2 nights or more. Plus, you get 25-30% off dining bills at participating outlets while also earning points.

To get the deal you need to book and stay at IHG Hotels & Resorts across India, the Middle East and Africa until 31 March 2023.

You can find the offer page here. 

Qatar deals coming

Qatar has announced that they will have a sale launching on 22 November, which is next Tuesday. As usual, I will be doing all the analysis to find the best UK and ex-EU deals for Black Friday so make sure you are signed up on one of our social media channels to get the deals as soon as they launch! You can find our Facebook and Twitter links at the top of this page. 

It is worth signing up for their Privilege Club as many of their offers are aimed at members only. You can join the Privilege Club free here.

Eurotunnel

For the first time, Eurotunnel Le Shuttle is holding a Black Friday Sale with discounts on many ticket types for customers with a My Eurotunnel account.

Sign up for a free account before 20th November in order to get exclusive access to the discounts on tickets for winter travel with Le Shuttle. The sale will be for travel until 29 March 2023. 

Discounted prices will be as low as £48 return per car for a Day/Overnight ticket. 

The exclusive Black Friday Sale will run from 25-28 November and is available only to My Eurotunnel members, who will also get a range of monthly offers, competitions, and partner promotions. 

There are some good reasons why it is worth considering Eurotunnel instead of flying for a winter break. This is particularly relevant if you plan to do some shopping. 

• Tax-free Christmas shopping: Since Brexit, a wide variety of goods qualify for a VAT refund (up to 20%) including cosmetics, technology, jewellery, and food and drink items. Cité Europe mall and Carrefour hypermarket are just a 5 minute drive from the Calais terminal. For the luxury bargain hunters, the Channel outlet store is also nearby. 
• Christmas markets: Load up the car with all the family, hop on Eurotunnel Le Shuttle, and you’ll be in Hauts-de-France, home to some of Europe’s Christmas markets – Lille, Arras and Amiens to name but a few. 

You can find the sale page here.

Hotels.com

If you don’t stay at one chain enough to make it worthwhile collecting their points, Hotels.com offer a decent alternative. They offer a “stamp” for each stay which eventually gives you a free night with 1 reward night for every 10 nights you stay. To be eligible, you just need to join Hotels.com Rewards for free. 

When you book on the app by 20 Nov, you’ll earn double stamps—just use the coupon code below at checkout.

Enter the coupon code at checkout to earn double stamps:  APPRWDBF

Uber – the quickest way to get Avios?

Usually, the only way to get Avios almost instantly is to buy them. Transferring from Amex Membership Rewards is also quick but can take a day or two. I recently wrote about Uber now being an option to earn Avios, and it is live in the app for most people to link their accounts. 

I am finding that rides credit almost instantly. The rides I took last night were already showing this morning and I have seen that some people’s are crediting within a few minutes. So if you only need a small number of Avios to do your redemption, Uber may well be the way forward for many people. 

The post NEWS & OFFERS: Black Friday deals start and Uber – the quickest way to get Avios? appeared first on Turning left for less.

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.

The post Lufthansa & Swiss UK companion sale First from £1399 & Business £498pp return – dates up to 2022 appeared first on Turning left for less.

Double Avios on hotels

Kaligo.com offer the same large selection and similar rates for hotels you get elsewhere on the web. In addition, you earn miles or points for a range of airline programs including British Airways, Avios, Qatar, Singapore Airlines, Flying Blue, and Virgin Atlantic.

It’s completely free to create an account.  When you search for hotels, you choose your preferred loyalty program for earning rewards. The website then shows you exactly how many points or miles each booking earns. The miles or points are automatically credited into the program you’ve chosen after your purchase, but it can take up to 6 weeks. Read the terms of the hotels carefully before booking, as most are non-refundable.

They also have a useful feature that shows you the price on a couple of the major websites so you can see if you are getting a good deal. Personally, I will sometimes be willing to pay slightly more if there is a big bonus on offer. For example, on the promotion below, you could easily earn 20,000 Avios for a 3-night stay. It is a better option than buying miles usually if you look at the extra you paid versus the cost of buying them.

Kaligo has a flash sale on to get double Avios. You can now collect between 10-40 Avios per £1 spent on every hotel booking verus the usual 5-20 per £1

• Offer period: 30 November – 31 December 2020
• Stay Period: 30 November 2020 – 30 June 2021

You can find the offer page here.

10% off Marriott Homes and Villas

As well as hotels, Marriott has a range of homes and villas that you can earn and redeem points on. This is handy if you fancy a private residence rather than a hotel but don’t want to miss out on the points. At the moment they allow for 10-day flexible cancellation
on most homes until  31 March 2021.

For Cyber Monday they are having a sale for 10% off accommodation. Marriott Bonvoy members will still be able to earn and redeem points on discounted bookings. You need to book by midnight on 2 December 2020. Some properties are excluded from the sale.

You can find the sale page here.

75% off Bahia Principe – All-inclusive suite in 5* Riviera Maya from £116pn

Bahia Principe have a fantastic sale on which is offering up to 75% off! Featured is a hotel that I have stayed at and would highly recommend. The Sian Ka’an hotel is on the Riviera Maya in Mexico. It is close to Tulum where you can visit the Mayan ruins as well as Akumal where you can swim with turtles. The all-inclusive hotel is adults only and situated close to 3 other hotels in the same group which you can also use.

Prices for a one-bedroom suite start at an amazing £116 per room per night. We stayed in the penthouse which is slightly more but comes with a rooftop terrace with jacuzzi. 

There are two prices on the offer – one for non-refundable and another one that is very slightly more but allows cancellation. Personally, I would rather pay a bit more for the cancellation. For the Sian Ka’an hotel, it makes the hotel £130 per room per night which is still a bargain!

The post CYBER MONDAY: Double Avios on hotels 40 Avios per £1, 10% off Marriott villas & 75% off Bahia Principe appeared first on Turning left for less.

Virgin Atlantic has knocked it out of the park with its Black Friday sale that I wrote about here. 

Now that the sale is live I have had a chance to go through some options. These are probably the best prices we are going to see for Hawaii and although it’s a long way, it is one of my favourite places in the world. The islands are all quite different and there is easily enough to do for a few weeks.

Obviously, with the current situation, we don’t know when we will be allowed into the US again. The offer prices are available until the end of June, so I think with vaccines on the horizon and the Virgin offer of 2 free changes I would feel comfortable booking for May/June. I have been to Hawaii at all different times of the year. May is a great time of year for Hawaii. If you avoid the US Memorial day weekend (end of the month) it’s not too busy and the weather is just right at around a 27C daily high.

The big watch out

The reason the title says to be careful is that you will come across some itinerary that shows as business class initially but when you look at them in detail the legs to Hawaii are only in economy. However, there are legs available in business class the whole way. Just make sure you go through it with a fine-tooth comb and if you pre-book your seats then you should be fine. This does not appear to be an error fare since other US routes are £999, but I always advise holding off booking anything else non-refundable for at least 10 days just in case. Personally, I would not be booking anything at the moment that I can’t change or at least get a voucher back if things change. 

The offers

The flights to Hawaii are available with Delta, Virgin, KLM and Air France. Delta or Virgin would be my choices. This would be down to the fact that the seats are better on Delta and with Virgin the A350 is available on the Los Angeles route with the Upper Class Suite. It may not be as good as the BA Suite, but it definitely has a lot more room than the old Virgin Suites. I always enjoy the onboard service from Virgin and their lounge at Heathrow is one of my favourite business class lounges in the world. If you travel with Air France or KLM, it means you have an extra leg to the journey and have to change in Amsterdam or Paris. However, if you live some distance from Heathrow, there are offers available from most regional airports using Air France or KLM so that may be a better option. 

The fares are available to all the man islands in Hawaii – Honolulu, Maui – Lihue, Kauai – Lihue, and the Big Island – Kona. If you live in Scotland, flying from Inverness may be cheaper due to the lack of APD.

• Book by: 30 November
• Travel: Outbound – Permitted 23 Nov 20 through 30 Jun 21 for each transatlantic sector. Inbound – Permitted 23 Nov 20 Through 30 Jun 21 for each transatlantic sector.
• Minimum stay: 3 nights or a Saturday night
• Maximum stay: 3 months
• Transfers: yes up to 5
• Stopovers: Yes Amstedam or Paris for £70
• Refundable: No
• Changeable: Yes

You can book direct with Virgin Atlantic here, Delta here or find the cheapest online travel agent price with Skyscanner.

The post BLACK FRIDAY: London to Hawaii from £993 in business class until mid 21 with Delta, KLM or Virgin – but be careful! appeared first on Turning left for less.

This November, Virgin Atlantic is launching its best value Black Friday sale ever. Beginning today Monday 23^rd November, Upper Class return flights start from £999 as well as 50% off reward seats. In addition, flights to St Vincent in the Caribbean go on sale this Tuesday 24^th November with Premium from £599 and Upper Class from £999. Virgin’s flexibility policy means that you can change the dates of your travel up to two times as well as change names once, with the associated fees waived, though fare difference may apply. Original travel dates up to 31 August 2021, new travel dates must be completed by 31 December 2021. One name change fee will be waived.

Juha Jarvinen, Chief Commercial Officer at Virgin Atlantic commented: “This year has been incredibly tough on everyone and at Virgin Atlantic, we’ve really missed seeing our customers onboard. With England’s second lockdown coming to an end, it is the perfect time for Brits to plan their next holiday. This year’s Black Friday sale is our most generous ever, with Upper Class return flights from just £999, Premium from £599 and Economy light from £239. And for our loyal Flying Club members, we’re offering 50% off reward flight bookings, with return flights starting from just 9,000 Virgin Points.”

 

Black Friday seat sale

These fares are pretty much the lowest I have seen apart from the Boston fare which was around £915 for a while. The real bargains for me are the Caribbean as I have never seen these below £1000 before. Barbados is on the travel corridor list and open for visitors. Read more about it in this article. 

Also, a standout is Cape Town at £999 for an 11-hour flight!

Grenada is also open to UK visitors with a negative PCR test and will be required to remain at the hotel until a second test on day 4. Details here. 

Example fares include:

You can find availability and book here

Reward seat sale 50% off

Members of Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club programme can bag a bargain with 50% off reward flight bookings on the Virgin Atlantic network. To make their points go 50% further, members must book between 23-30 November, travelling between 23 November 2020 and 20 October 2021.

If you don’t have quite enough points for your desired trip, there’s also 50% bonus points when you buy 5,000 Virgin Points of more on purchases made between 23-30 November. Members can buy up to 100,000 points each calendar year.

Here are some examples prices for off peak:

You can find availability and book here. 

St Vincent and The Grenadines goes on sale

Virgin Atlantic’s latest route, the Caribbean Island of St Vincent and The Grenadines will go on sale this Tuesday 24^th November. Flights will begin on 23^rd June 2021 and will fly twice weekly on Wednesdays and Sundays operating on the airline’s A330-300 aircraft boasting 31 Upper Class, 48 Premium and 185 Economy Delight, Classic and Light seats. Flights to St Vincent will start at £349 in Economy, £599 in Premium and £999 in Upper Class.

You can find availability and book here. 

The post BLACK FRIDAY: Wow! Upper Class from £999, 50% off reward flights – Virgin’s best ever Black Friday sale appeared first on Turning left for less.

Oneworld to Australia from £2583 business class return – Finnair, Cathay and Qantas

If you don’t fancy the Qatar deals from Scandinavia I talked about here, there are some interesting deals from Brussels and Berlin. There are two separate deals. One is from Brussels which is a Cathay Pacific deal just to Sydney. Cathay Pacific are a great airline and I have flown to Australia with them myself. The seats are the reverse herringbone style in 1-2-1 and the onboard food and service is usually impeccable. They have just upgraded their business class service which can read about here. You can read our reviews of Cathay business class here.

The other deals are from Berlin, which involves more flying although a slightly cheaper price and a better choice of destinations. You have to fly to Helsinki first and then on to Hong Kong where you can then fly either Cathay or Qantas on to Australia. Finnair use their A350 to Hong Kong with the reverse herringbone seats. You can read our review here. 

Here are the headline fares:

• Brussels to Sydney £2743 on Cathay Pacific
• Berlin to Sydney £2577 on Finnair/Cathay/Qantas
• Berlin to Brisbane £2588 Finnair/Cathay/Qantas
• Berlin to Melbourne £2583 Finnair/Cathay/Qantas
• Berlin to Perth £2583 Finnair/Cathay/Qantas
• https://www.finnair.com/en

The rules for Cathay are:

• Book by: 18 December 2019
• Travel: 31 March 2020
• Minimum stay: 3 nights 
• Maximum stay: 3 months
• Transfers: Unlimited
• Stopovers:
  • 2 free stopovers permitted on the pricing unit in HKG.
  • and – 2 stopovers permitted on the pricing unit in Malaysia/Philippines/Laos, People’S Democratic Republic Of/Myanmar/Pakistan/Indonesia/Vietnam/
    Japan/Korea, Republic Of/China/Singapore at €100.00 each.
  • and – 1 free stopover permitted on the pricing unit in
    Thailand/Taiwan, province of.
  • and – 1 stopover permitted on the pricing unit in Israel at €400.00.
  • and – 8 free stopovers permitted on the pricing unit in Australia/New Zealand.
• Refundable: Yes for a fee
• Changeable: Yes for a fee

The rules for Finnair are similar except that there is no book by date and stopovers are unlimited and free.

You can book direct with Cathay Pacific here or find the cheapest online travel agent price with Skyscanner.

For Finnair, you can also book direct or with Skyscanner.

The post Offer: Oneworld – Cathay, Finnair and Qantas to Sydney, Perth, Melbourne or Brisbane from £2583 appeared first on Turning left for less.

New York from £889 & La Compagnie new A321 all business class

La Compagnie is an all business class airline that operates from Paris to New York. The airline currently flies two Boeing 757-200 aircraft with only 74 lie-flat seats in a 2-2 configuration. They regularly have good offers the new one for a return to New York for €1000. In April 2019, La Compagnie will become the first French airline to operate the new generation aircraft: the Airbus A321neo. The new aircraft will be more efficient, less noisy and more sustainable plus it will considerably improve the passenger experience compared with the rather dated current seats.

The offer runs until 20 November 2018 for selected dates over the next year. La Compagnie are due to start flying their A321 Neo from April 2019. I can see plenty of availability after April when the new A321neo start. At this price on the new aircraft, I am very tempted to try it out myself! There is more detailed information about La Compagnie in this article. 

You can find the link to the offer page here. 

Uk to Australia Business Class from £2299

Trailfinders regularly do good deals on Asiana Airlines to Australia and the latest deal is worth a look although I have seen it as low as £2100 before. Asiana Airlines are part of Star Alliance and are rated 5* by SkyTrax. You can obviously credit miles to any Star Alliance airline but you may wish to choose Singapore Airlines if you want to have the added benefit of being able to redeem on Virgin Atlantic.

Asiana uses an A350 and then a B777 on the London to Sydney route with a connection via Seoul, their home base. This features their latest business class, Smartium. These are fully flat and are configured in 1-2-1 in a slightly staggered layout. This gives more privacy except in the middle ‘honeymoon seats’. The layout alternates so you would be OK in the middle seats that are further apart if you are not travelling as a couple. Food, drink and service are good but not at the levels of the likes of Qatar etc.

You must book by 21 December 2018 and fly from 31 January until 31 March 2019. You can find the Trailfinders page here. 

Curve Amex update

Those of us with a Curve card were delighted to hear that they planned to go back to being able to link your Curve card to Amex again in the future. For those who have a Lloyds Amex that they use for foreign currency spending, this may be your best option to get Avios with 0% foreign currency fees.

If you are not familiar with Curve it allows you to sync all your Mastercard and Visa cards with the Curve card and spend via the Curve card instead (a bit like Apple Pay). Every time you make a payment with Curve card you can choose which credit card to use, even after the purchase where you can change your mind with the go back in time feature.

There are two options for the card and with the new 0% foreign exchange fees I will be upgrading to the black one to allow me to use my miles credit cards abroad with 0% fees as I need the higher limit. It is worth considering not just your spend when abroad but also your foreign currency spending such as ex EU fares and foreign hotels that you pre-pay which would also usually incur the foreign exchange fee.

The options are:

Blue card (free)

• Spend Abroad: 0% fee and access to the Real Exchange Rate (better than the usual bank rate) on spend in over 150+ foreign currencies.
• Initial cap of up to £500 per rolling month, and 1% fee thereafter (in November this will become 2% thereafter).
• ATM withdrawal abroad: £200 at 0% fee, 2% or £2 per transaction thereafter (whichever is greater).
• Weekend Spend Abroad: as the currency market is closed, Curve charge a 0.5% markup on Euros and US Dollars and 1% markup for all other supported currencies (in November this becomes 0.5% fee for Euros and US dollars, 1.5% fee for all other currencies).

If you’re a frequent traveller, you’d be better off using the Curve premium Black card (£50 fee):

• Spend Abroad: 0% fee and access to the Real Exchange Rate on spend in over 150+foreign currencies worldwide
• Up to £15,000 per rolling year and 2% fee thereafter
• ATM withdrawal abroad: £400 ATM at 0 fee, 2% or £2 per transaction thereafter (whichever is greater).
• Weekend Spend Abroad: as the currency market is closed, Curve charge a 0.5% markup on Euros and US Dollars and 1% markup for all other supported currencies (in November this becomes 0.5% fee for Euros and US dollars, 1.5% fee for all other currencies).

You can read more about Curve here. If you apply using the code VIMI4 you can get £5 of credit to spend as you wish on your first transaction with the card. You can find more details and apply on the Curve website here.

Things appear to be moving on as Premium card holders (£50 for unlimited foreign currency transactions) have been sent invitations to participate in Beta versions of the app to link their Amex card. Roving Reporter has applied so hopefully he will get selected to take part and we can report back how it is working. Given that they will need to test this for a while I doubt we will see a launch until the New Year but hopefully, they will launch before the Lloyds Amex is killed off.

The post News & offers: New York £889, UK-Australia £2299 & Curve Amex starts Beta version appeared first on Turning left for less.