So you have a nice pile of Avios burning a hole in your pocket, and you want to spend them. Simple? For anyone who has ever tried to redeem flights and failed you will have realised that earning the Avios was often the easy part. In this article, I will explain how to stand the best chance of getting the flights you want. In part 2,  I will explore how to use vouchers, upgrading, choose airlines for lower taxes and use Avios for rewards other than flights.

The basics

There are three ways to use Avios for flights:

• Avios Part Payment – reduce the cash price for your flight with as little as 1,000 Avios. The more Avios you use, the less cash you’ll need to pay. These tickets are not reward flights, so only offer flexibility for the fare class purchased. They are usually poor value compared to full redemption.

• Reward Flight Saver – pay as little as £1 and 18,500 Avios for your next flight to Europe, or from £100 and 50,000 Avios to destinations further afield. Reward Flight Saver offers a fixed cash cost, inclusive of taxes, fees and carrier charges plus an Avios amount. You will pay more Avios but less cash using these for long haul. You must have earned at least 1 Avios in the past year to qualify. These are available on BA only. 

• Reward Flight – using just Avios, only paying taxes, fees and carrier charges and full flexibility with your ticket. These are available on a wide range of airlines as listed below. 

How to get the flights you want

Timing is key

The easiest time to get the availability is to book the day the flight is released for redemptions. This is 355 days before the flight between 12-1am. British Airways guarantee at least 4 Business class seats on every flight are made available at this point. The same does not apply to First Class which varies from flight to flight. The flights are not always loaded up online immediately so if it is a very popular route you may want to call a BA office that is open at midnight to secure it. There have been reports of some offices refusing to do this in the past but it is worth a try. Ideally you want to call about 5 minutes before to go through security.

However, there is a catch to booking at D-355. If you are booking a return flight that means only the outbound flight would be available on that day. Don’t be tempted to wait as by your return date -355, the outbound flights will have probably gone.

There are ways around this depending on how you are paying for your flights. If it is a simple redemption, you can just book 2 one way tickets. Obviously, if you book the outbound, then there is no guarantee you will get the inbound. However, Avios flights can be cancelled up to 24 hours prior, albeit for a £35 fee. If you are using a BA Amex companion voucher, you should buy the outbound flights at D-355 and then as soon as the inbound flight is available, telephone British Airways for them to add the flight to the booking. There should not be a charge for this if the flights were not available at the time of booking the outbound. 

How to find availability

Consider which airline

The first thing is to be flexible and consider all the airlines that could be used to get to your destination, rather than just sticking to British Airways. This could cost you more Avios at BA off-peak times as other airlines except for Iberia and Aer Lingus are charged as peak prices all year.

You can use Avios on any oneworld airline as well as several others. Remember, you can open an Iberia Plus, or Qatar account if you want to redeem Avios for airlines featured in their schemes by using the combine my Avios feature to move Avios from BA.

British Airways Companion vouchers are now also redeemable on Iberia and Aer Lingus. This applies to all card members who’ve earnt a companion voucher since 2021. However, these can only be used for routes starting outside the UK.  Both airlines require fewer Avios on many routes as well as much cheaper taxes.

Here are the airlines you can redeem Avios on through British Airways:

• Aer Lingus 
• Alaska Airlines.
• American Airlines.
• British Airways.
• Cathay Pacific.
• Finnair.
• Iberia, including Iberia Express and Air Nostrum.
• Japan Airlines.
• Malaysia Airlines.
• Qantas, including QantasLink and Jetconnect.
• Qatar Airways.
• Royal Jordanian.
• Royal Air Maroc.
• SriLankan Airlines.
• SUN-AIR of Scandinavia

Here are the airlines you can redeem Avios on through Qatar Avios: 

• Bangkok Airways,
• JetBlue,
• LATAM,
• MEA
• Oman Air,
• RwandAir,
• S7
• Virgin Australia.

Here are the airlines you can redeem Avios on through Iberia Avios: 

• Avianca
• Iberia including Air Nostrum
• LEVEL,
• LATAM,
• Interjet (only when linked to an Iberia flight to/from Mexico)
• Binter Canarias
• Vueling

There are also special rates for flights with two or more oneworld partners, or British Airways plus two or more oneworld partners. These often work out cheaper for longer flights and round the world. Find out more in this article. 

Use all the tools available

There are a number of tools available that can make it much easier to find availability. I particularly like the British Airways Reward Flight Finder tool where you can search for 3 destinations at once for a whole year ahead. 

Reward Flight Finder and Seatspy are new types of websites, external to BA. With these, you can search for availability to a destination for a whole year and set up alerts for when availability changes.

Another option if you are struggling to find your flights is to sign up with ExpertFlyer. With Expert Flyer Pro you can set up availability alerts. This means you can set an alert so that you’ll be informed when award availability opens up on a particular British Airways flight for up to 30 flights at a time. It costs $9.99 per month, but you can do a 5 day trial for free. You also get lots of other useful benefits with it. 

The British Airways reward flight categories to search for are:

• First Class Award — “Z” class
• Business Class Award — “U” class
• Premium Economy Award — “P” class
• Economy Award — “X” class

You can also use it to find the additional seats available for holders of the new style voucher for Club World – i class.

Using Reward Flight Saver (RFS)

Reward flight saver is best value areas of the British Airways Avios redemption scheme, open to anyone who’s earnt at least 1 Avios in the last 12 months. The reward flights are now available to use on ALL long-haul flights and in Club World (business class) as well as Premium Economy (World Traveller Plus) and economy (World Traveller). Executive club members in the US can now also use this.  Previously, the tool could only be used on short-haul for economy and business class (Club Europe) and economy on some long haul flights.

Avios flights also include baggage. You could get Return Club World RFS flights for as little as £350 plus 160,000 Avios, or return World Traveller Plus RFS flights are available from £280 plus 85,000 Avios.

The tickets are priced much lower than the taxes and charges would normally be. If RFS is used along with a BA companion voucher, fewer Avios are needed. You can also use your upgrade vouchers and travel without a companion for 50% off the total Avios cost.

BA also guarantees that a minimum number of Reward Seats are available to book on every flight to and from London Heathrow and London Gatwick. This includes:

• Eight in Euro/World Traveller
• Two in World Traveller Plus
• Four in Club Europe/World

Consider your destination

The easiest way to get flights is to be flexible on destination. I don’t mean go on a completely different holiday but look at whether you could go to a less popular destination nearby and get a connecting flight. This could be available all on one Avios ticket if you are lucky. America is a great place for this, as there are so many options.

If you can’t get all the flights on Avios you can get either a cash ticket to connect and perhaps earn a few miles on AA or try to get another redemption on AA nearer the time. Taxes can be very cheap on these.

Obviously, you need to consider any Covid restrictions still in place.

Examples of the best place to do this where connecting flights are relatively simple are (these include destinations where other oneworld airline fly not just BA:

• For West Coast USA – look at Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Diego, Denver, San Francisco, Phoenix, Oakland, Seattle, Portland, Vancouver and San Jose. Houston and Austin also tend to have better availability than some of the Californian airports, but it is a much longer flight with the connection as Texas is quite far south (3 hours+ longer), so it depends on how determined you are to use your miles.
• For Florida – look at Miami, Tampa, Orlando and Atlanta. New York can be another option, but the flight time is in excess of 3 hours to Florida.
• For East Coast USA & Canada – look at New York JFK and Newark, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Washington, and Philadelphia. Bear in mind if you go to a different country, you will have to go through immigration twice
• For South Africa and Mauritius, look at Johannesburg, Cape Town and Mauritius
• For Northeast Asia – look at Beijing, Shanghai (you don’t need a full visa for a transit from the UK) Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo Narita/Haneda.
• For South East Asia – look at Bangkok, Hong Kong or Singapore
• For the Middle East – look at Doha, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.

Here are the rest of the series of spending Avios guides:

GUIDE TO EARNING AVIOS – PART 1 FLIGHTS AND CREDIT CARDS

GUIDE TO EARNING AVIOS – PART 2 HOTELS, SHOPPING, CAR HIRE AND MORE

GUIDE TO SPENDING AVIOS PART 2 – USING AMEX COMPANION & BARCLAYCARD UPGRADE VOUCHERS

The post Guide to spending Avios part 1 – how to get the flights you want appeared first on Turning left for less.

Even if you think you know everything about Avios collecting and spending, you may find this series of articles teach you a few things. There have been huge changes over the last couple of years, so it is worth refreshing yourself where you may be missing out on getting Avios or all the spending opportunities.

We will be running the whole series of earning and spending Avios over the next few days.

Earning Avios – The basics

Avios (formerly airmiles) is the miles currency used by the British Airways Executive Club but they can be earned and redeemed on a large number of airlines and partners. They are the easiest way to travel in business or first class for the least amount of cash, particularly when combined with vouchers that I will discuss below.

The first step for a beginner is to make sure you join not only the BA Executive Club but also Avios.com via Aer Club, Qatar Privilege Club and Iberia Plus. Each offers something slightly different. In the case of Iberia some of the best offers require you to have been a member of the scheme for at least 90 days so it’s best to just join now.

You can easily move Avios between the schemes but probably will want to credit most of your flying to British Airways in case you earn enough to gain status. For Iberia Plus, you will also need to earn at least 1 Avios before you can partake of some of the offers such as transferring miles to someone else. Moving miles in from American Express does count. 

Make sure every time you fly, you check whether the airline gives Avios. There are also some partners outside the oneworld alliance who give Avios. You must enter your BA Executive number when flying on a non-BA flight/booking. 

The basic rules for earning on a BA Executive Club account are:

• Codeshare flight on any airline booked through British Airways with ba flight number – earn Avios and tier points
• Oneworld member – earn Avios and tier points
• Codeshare booked through Oneworld member but non-oneworld flight – no Avios or tier points (except Emirates booked on Qantas)

Which airlines can I collect Avios on?

Through British Airways Executive Club (BAEC)

Obviously, British Airways is included but did you know that if you book your flight with a hotel or car you can get an extra 1 Avios per £1 spent on top of the regular Avios? You can also use a BA Premium Plus Amex credit card to pay and get 3 Avios per £1 spent instead of the usual 1.5 Avios per £1. You are generally better off crediting Avios to your BA account if flying BA as you get a better rate, particularly if you have status.

Iberia has recently introduced spend based Avios earning on flights, and BA is due to do this in 2023. 

• Aer Lingus (no tier points unless codeshare)
• Alaska Airlines
• American Airlines
• Cathay Pacific
• Emirates when booked on a Qantas codeshare
• Fiji Airways (Oneworld Connect)
• Finnair
• Iberia
• Japan Airlines
• Malaysia Airlines
• Oman Air (joining 2024)
• Qatar Airways
• Qantas
• Royal Air Maroc
• Royal Jordanian
• S7 (currently suspended)
• Sri Lankan Airlines
• Vueling (have to collect through Vueling account)

Through Aer Lingus Aer Club

• United Airlines

Through Qatar Privilege Club

• Oman Air
• Rwandair
• Bangkok Airways
• Jet Blue

Ways to maximise your earnings

Many people forget that there are lots of ways to earn Avios, not just flights and credit cards. I will go through all the easiest ways to earn Avios, starting with credit cards today and other ways to earn in part 2.

Credit and charge cards

There are numerous credit cards that can get you Avios, not just the Avios and British Airways branded ones. Many of the American Express cards, such as Marriott, Preferred Rewards Gold and The Platinum charge card, also can give you Avios by converting the points afterwards.

For example, some Amex cards give you Amex Membership Rewards, which can be converted into Avios. The earning rates aren’t always as good, but they do give you the flexibility to move the rewards into other schemes such as Virgin Atlantic and some hotel groups. You can leave the points in the Amex scheme until you need them and then transfer over very quickly to the relevant scheme. This can be a very useful backup stash if you are just shy of being able to afford a redemption.

Credit and charge cards which you can get Avios from include:

• British Airways American Express Card – There are two versions – a free one and a premium one (the Premium Plus) with a fee of £250 per year. The card has the potential to get a companion voucher after spending £10,000 on the premium card and £12,000 on the free version. You also get bonus Avios when you use the Premium Plus Amex to pay on britishairways.com.
• American Express Platinum card – 1 Avios per £1 spent. Lots of other benefits such as travel insurance, status in hotel loyalty schemes and car hire excess insurance. 
• American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card – 1 Avios per £1 spent
• Barclaycard Avios and Avios Plus (can earn upgrade vouchers)
• Marriott American Express (can transfer Marriott points into Avios)
• HSBC Premier World Elite MasterCard – Earn 2 points (1 Avios) for every £1 of eligible spend you make in sterling and 4 points for every £1 spent in non-sterling currencies. £195 annual fee, card only available to HSBC Premier current account holders. 

For business owners there is also

• Capital on Tap Visa (limited companies only) £99 to join the rewards scheme. 1 Avios per £1. 
• British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

All the cards have different earning rates, and some can include an enhanced earning rate for the first few months. Make sure you look at all the benefits of the card versus the fees charged to work out which is right for you. The two Avios cards I currently own are the BA Premium Amex for the earning rate and the companion voucher and Platinum Amex due to the flexibility to transfer points into different airline schemes. I also have the Marriott one for the Marriott perks rather than for transferring to Avios. 

How to maximise your gain from credit cards

Make sure you keep an eye out for the sign-up bonuses. These vary throughout the year and can be as much as 70,000 Avios for an Amex BA Premium Plus card. If you are aiming for a bonus make sure you read the fine print. Often if you already hold a particular type of card with the credit card company or have held one in the last six months you are not eligible for the sign-up bonus. There will nearly always be a minimum spend required to get the bonus so make sure it is achievable for you.

Does one of your friends or family have the card you want? Often if they refer you, you both get a bonus which can be more than the normal one. Once you have the card, why not get your partner or spouse one and refer them too?

Make sure you check TopCashback for credit card cashback before applying for a card. For example, when I took out the Lloyds Avios card the cashback almost paid for my yearly fee.

Become like the Royal Family and never use cash! Use your credit card like a debit card and use it for everything as well as paying it off in full every month. With contactless payment it is so easy to use a card for even the smallest things.

If you are married or have a partner, you should both take out a card. That way you both get the sign-up bonus. If you will struggle to make the minimum spend for the 2-4-1 voucher, why not get them a supplementary card to both use one account towards the spend?

I will continue the list of way to earn Avios in tomorrow’s article – Beginners’ guide to collecting Avios part 2

Disclaimer: Turning left for less is a journalistic website. Nothing here should be construed as financial advice, and it is your own responsibility to ensure that any product is right for your circumstances. Reviews are based primarily on the ability to earn miles and points and do not consider interest rates, service levels or any impact on your credit history.

Here are the rest of the series of spending Avios guides:

GUIDE TO SPENDING AVIOS PART 1 – HOW TO GET THE FLIGHTS YOU WANT

GUIDE TO EARNING AVIOS – PART 2 HOTELS, SHOPPING, CAR HIRE AND MORE

GUIDE TO SPENDING AVIOS PART 2 – USING AMEX COMPANION & BARCLAYCARD UPGRADE VOUCHERS

The post Guide to earning Avios – Part 1 Flights and credit cards appeared first on Turning left for less.

Today’s review, Ethiopian Airlines Business Class, is from reader Jason. If you would like to submit a review, please email admin@ turning leftforless.com.

Ethiopian is often overlooked but they actually have a very young fleet with A350s and B787s. They often can offer bargain prices. Ethiopian have their own frequent flyer scheme and are also a member of Star Alliance. This would also allow you to use the miles on Virgin if you joined Singapore’s KrisFlyer and credited the miles there.

Ethiopian fly from Heathrow with an A350 currently. 

Booking

After a year and a half of no long-haul travel, as soon as the UAE was moved from the UK red list to Amber I booked a flight to Dubai from Paris using 42,000 Avianca Lifemiles and around €220 in taxes.  I had options to travel via Frankfurt with Lufthansa or via Istanbul with Turkish but I’ve always been curious to try Ethiopian Airlines and as a plane geek a more circuitous route is not a bad thing so booked their flight via ADD.

Check in/boarding

Nearly all airlines are currently using Terminal 2 at CDG due to the reduction in air travel, my flight was departing 2E usually the domain of Air France.  There were massive queues for Economy, most passengers with a huge amount of luggage and items to check-in.  I waited briefly to check in all the way through to DXB at the Business Class counter and was on my way through security which was also very efficient. 

There is no lounge access whilst Ethiopian is temporarily operating from T2E as the only lounges in the terminal are operated by Air France. 

Boarding commenced on time.  I couldn’t see any dedicated Business Class signage at the gate but I did periodically hear one of the ground staff shouting out for Business Class passengers.  Personally, I’ve never been one of those that has to get on the plane ASAP so I just waited for the Economy boarding queue to reduce and joined it towards the end.  I was greeted at the door of the A350 by two crew.  One in corporate Ethiopian Airlines uniform and one in traditional Ethiopian dress.

I settled into my seat 1A and was offered a glass of champagne and a washbag.  There was also a bottle of water at the seat.  The cabin was around 60% full which afforded most of those travelling solo like me an empty seat next to them.  Meal orders for dinner were taken on the ground and also our preference of whether to be woken up for breakfast.  We pushed back on time and were airborne shortly after.

Ethiopian Airlines Business Class Seat

Ethiopian is a bit of a lucky dip when it comes to the type of seating you will encounter on their longhaul fleet of A350’s, 787’s and 777’s.  Most of the A350’s and 787’s feature 2 x 2 x 2 full flat seating, not ideal if the flight is full and you are travelling solo.  A couple of the 350’s feature 1 x 2 x 1 configured cabins.  The 777’s feature the dreaded Business Class middle seat still a 2 x 3 x 2 configuration. 

My A350 featured the Rockwell Collins ‘Diamond’ seats which is the same seat Lufthansa uses on the majority of their long haul flights.  They are fully flat which is their main benefit.  Cons to the seat include not all having direct aisle access, limited privacy, and pokey caverns for your feet when in bed mode.  For this last reason, I chose a seat at row one where the footstool is much wider. 

I was concerned about galley noise but this did not end up a problem.  The IFE screen was large and bright and there was a universal plug charger.  The aircraft also had wifi available for a charge.

You can see a virtual tour of the A350 business class here.

Ethiopian Airlines Business Class Service and catering

My flight departed at 22:15 so the after take-off service was quite quick. A combined dinner and drinks service was conducted swiftly once airborne.  Meal orders were taken on the ground and this is where I discovered that menus are not provided on Ethiopian Airlines flights.  I’m all for saving paper but there should be some alternative means to view the choices – such as via the IFE.  But no.  The crew simply ask you if you want ‘beef, chicken, fish or pasta’ and unless you want to have a conversation about each dish and how it’s prepared and what accompanies the dish it really is pot luck.

I chose the ‘fish’ which ended up being a very tasty salmon main course.  I was also asked if I wanted ‘soup or salad’ to start.  I chose the soup which was disappointing.  Lukewarm and lumpy.  Fortunately for me, the starter also included a smoked salmon dish for all (which without menus you don’t know about) so all in all I was really impressed with the dinner itself. 

Courses were served individually and the main courses were plated in the galley.  Following the main course, a trolley that was nicely presented with tea and coffee silverware and some desserts were wheeled around.  I did not partake, choosing sleep instead.  I was asked if I wanted to be woken up for breakfast which I declined.

From what I saw in the morning, breakfast was just a pastry and coffee but without a menu, who knows.  I slept well during the flight and when I woke up 40 minutes before landing the crew asked if they could get me anything and I had an espresso.

Service was efficient and polite, not particularly engaging, but I guess for most on these short flights most people just want to get to sleep.

Upon landing in Addis I made my way to the ‘Cloud 9’ lounge for a couple of hours before my connecting flight to Dubai.  I was really impressed with the lounge.  It was bright, modern, spacious, and had excellent food and beverage facilities.  I particularly enjoyed the ‘Ethiopian coffee ceremony’ they conduct every couple of hours in the lounge where an attendant slowly prepared ground Ethiopian coffee over hot coals.

I was impressed with Ethiopian Airlines overall and would definitely fly them again.

Like our Ethiopian Airlines Business Class review? You can read more flight reviews here. 

The post Paris to Dubai on Ethiopian Airlines Business Class A350 review – a pleasant surprise! appeared first on Turning left for less.

Today’s review, Qatar A350-1000 QSuites, is by reader P. He lives in Qatar and flew to the USA with a UK passport recently on Qatar Airways. You are not allowed to enter the US unless you are a US citizen if you have spent any time within the last 14 days within the UK, Europe and a few other countries. One way round it for people desperate to enter it sot spend 14 days somewhere not banned such as Mexico or the Caribbean. 

Check-in at Doha

We arrived at Hamad International Airport at around 4:50am. Normally business class passengers are met by baggage porters to assist you through the check in procedure, but on this occasion there didn’t appear to be any. This didn’t bode well…

We entered via Door 1 and had our government health app and temperature checked. We approached the Al-Mourjan Business Class check in area to what appeared to be fairly chaotic. We have travelled twice through the airport this year and both times it was very calm, very well organised and somewhat serene.

We were asked to sit and wait to be checked in, whilst people who arrived after us went straight to the desks as they became available. It was a little bit disappointing.

Fortunately by the time 5am arrived, a new shift of check in staff started and things became much more organised very quickly. Thankfully it was only a 10 minute delay.

The lounge

After proceeding through immigration and security, both of which were very efficient and friendly, we passed the iconic Lamp Bear and made our way to the lounge.

Greeted at the bottom of the escalator we had our boarding passes scanned and we’re invited to enter. On this particular ticket we were travelling on QMiles. Qatar airways have recently restructured their business class ticketing, and the cheapest cash tickets as well as cash tickets upgraded with QMiles do not include seat selection or lounge access. Full QMiles tickets and the upper 2 ticket classes for cash tickets still do.

The lounge was fairly quiet when we entered. Jess, my wife, went to get a table for us in the upstairs dining area for breakfast, whilst I visited the business centre to print out some paperwork for returning to Qatar.

Breakfast was good, and for a change wasn’t entirely liquid!

I ordered scrambled egg which was frankly bland, so I made use of the buffet.

Beef and chicken sausage, an omelette and some garlic potatoes went down well as a perfect accompaniment to a couple of glasses of Laurent Perrier Rosé.

The flight

After the lounge we headed to the gate, but not without a short period of defending my credit card from attacks by Jess in duty free.

Today our flight departed from gate C3. All US, UK and Australia flights from HIA depart from contact stands due to the requirement to perform additional security checks at the gate. If you are flying to one of these destinations, make sure to give yourself a bit of extra time to clear that security before boarding.

Formalities completed, we boarded our A350-1000 via door 1L and were shown to our Qatar A350-1000 QSuites seats 1E and 1F. Today we would be on A7-ANN which was delivered to QR at the end of 2019.

The middle QSuites that transform into a double bed are rear-facing and very comfortable, even on a flight scheduled for 15hrs30.

Our crew for this flight were absolutely fantastic and really did a great job of looking after us. We do find that QR cabin crew are usually prepared to go the extra mile to make your journey special and memorable, and we were not disappointed on this trip.

As I had been on a night shift the day before we flew, I elected to sleep straight away. I woke somewhere over Russia just north of Moscow and decided to eat breakfast.

For starter I had the cold cuts and the Greek yoghurt, and a deconstructed omelette for main. Here are the full menus for the flight:

The food was presented well and very tasty. Since the start of the pandemic the crew now serve your meals all on one tray to minimise crew/passenger contact where possible. Despite this, they really didn’t feel like they were trying to keep their distance and were always happy to help.

After breakfast it was time for more sleep. In total, I managed about 7 and a half hours on this flight, which ended up having an enroute time of about 14hrs25.

Later in the flight I ordered the afternoon tea which was delicious. I’ll leave the arguments for the jam and cream debacle in the comments, but I did what I did and I’m not sorry!

About 2 hours before arrival dinner was served. I had pre ordered the sea bass, which I decided to have without any starter as by this point I was quite full. Unsurprisingly, it was absolutely delicious!

Arrival in the US

I wrote this piece basically to cover the experience of entering the USA as a British passport holder. Since last year, travellers coming from the UK, the Schengen area, China, Brazil and a few other countries have been unable to enter the USA.

This is however only applicable to those who have been physically present in the areas under the travel ban. As a British passport holder who lives in Qatar, I had spent more than 14 days outside the banned areas and so was eligible to travel under the normal ESTA visa waiver program. (There’s no reason why any Brit can’t go somewhere like Mexico or the Caribbean for 14 days and then enter the US).

Paperwork checks at check-in were thorough. Qatar airways needs an authorisation form, then you will need a negative covid test performed within the 3 days prior to your departure to the USA, or proof of a previous recovery within 3 months.

The check-in staff also took from us an attestation that we had been tested within the last 3 days (not entirely sure why that was required as well as the actual test) and checked our ESTA paperwork.

On arrival at the gate in SFO, the crew warned us that CBP officers may be waiting on the jetbridge to check paperwork before releasing us into the terminal, but this didn’t happen.

We reached immigration very quickly and the line was almost non-existent. Presenting ourselves to the CBP officer I handed over our passports and boarding passes as well as our customs declaration. I had with me our folder of paperwork and waited for what I thought would be an inevitable grilling about travel history, covid tests, vaccination status and so on, but it never came.

We were asked all of the regular questions: where are you travelling from? What is the purpose of your stay? When are you leaving? Etc.

Pictures and fingerprints were taken, passports stamped and we were through! Our bags were on the carousel when we reached it. There was a final customs check where we were asked about carrying fruits and cash, and then we were out!

From arriving at immigration to being landside at SFO, could not possibly have taken more than 10 minutes! I was in absolute shock. US immigration isn’t often known for being friendly, but this was a fantastic experience. I do think being well prepared and organised in terms of paperwork helped, and we are grateful we had a pleasant experience.

The purpose of our trip is to spend enough time here out of a red country to qualify for amber arrival rules in the UK. This piece was designed to show you that if you have the time available to do something like this, the USA is VERY much open for business and looking forward to welcoming tourists.

It is worth noting though that individual states have differing quarantine requirements, however almost universally vaccinated travellers are exempt. It seems to be based on an honour system though as we were never asked our vaccination status.

Like our Qatar A350-1000 QSuites review? You can read more flight reviews here. 

Other Qatar Reviews that you might like is A Guide To Qatar Airways Business Class Seats – Which Are The Best? and Qatar Airways Qsuites B777-200lr Business Class Review Doha To Oslo. 

The post Qatar A350-1000 QSuites review and entering the US as a UK passport holder appeared first on Turning left for less.

This is a revised review of the new British Airways Club lounge at Gatwick South Terminal for BA and oneworld passengers which opened in February 2017. I originally visited in the week that the lounge opened. I have now been back on many occasions so I thought it was worth updating the review and adding in some 360° photos.

Eligibility and opening times

To access the British Airways Club lounge you must be:

• flying on a scheduled British Airways flight in First, business (Club World) or business (Club Europe)
• a Silver or Gold Member* of the British Airways Executive Club on a scheduled flight operated by British Airways or  oneworld^® partners
• an Emerald or Sapphire member* of any of the oneworld airline frequent flyer programmes on a scheduled flight operated by British Airways or  oneworld partners
• over the age of 18 years, or if under 18 years you are accompanied by a responsible adult. (Local laws relating to the consumption of alcohol will apply.

The opening times are:

Check-in

At 10.45am on a Tuesday, check in was very quiet. Apart from someone trying to steer me into the Club check-in (obviously I didn’t look like I was a Gold card holder!) it was a seamless experience. There were 2 check-in staff waiting to serve me and I was in and out in less than 3 minutes. The friendly agent invited me to enjoy their new lounge.

There is a separate area for First and Club check-in but it is not like the First Wing at Heathrow. The desks are just part of the main run of check-in desks but the entrance does look smart. You then have to go upstairs to go through Gatwick Premium security if you are eligible.

I then went up to security where there was no queue and again I was through within a couple of minutes. There is a shortcut to the lounges just as you come out of Premium security to the left. I choose to go the long way round through duty-free but it was well signposted once you entered the main departure lounge. You can access the lounge between JD Sports and Dixons on the upper floor of the departure area.

The lounge

The lounge was modern and stylish and certainly a lot bigger than the previous Club lounge. There were 2 levels with the mezzanine being up a spiral staircase. The whole area was divided into lots of smaller areas which I liked and there were even dining booths which reminded me of a first class lounge.

Post from RICOH THETA. #theta360 #theta360uk – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

Now that they have started opening the First lounge at the same time I have found the lounge less crowded in the morning. On all my visits since there was always somewhere to sit. Although I prefer Heathrow’s Terminal 5, I much prefer BA’s lounges at Gatwick. They are newer and I find the staff more helpful as well as more proactive. The lounge is also usually much less busy than Heathrow.

If you go up the staircase you will find another seating area which is normally very quiet. There is not much selection of drinks up there but there are a few newspapers, a coffee machine and soft drinks.

Post from RICOH THETA. #theta360 #theta360uk – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

Food and drink

Breakfast

If you have been to the Heathrow Galleries Club lounge you will not be surprised by the very standard BA breakfast at Gatwick. There were pastries, bread, fruit, yoghurt and cereal.

The only hot food is bacon or egg and cheese rolls as per the Heathrow lounges. They have recently introduced slightly better quality bread which is good as I was never a fan of the hard white rolls.

Rest of the day

During the day a selection of hot and cold food is served. There were salads, meats and tortilla when I visited for the cold choices.

For the hot choices, this is usually a couple of different dishes served with rice and a pasta dish. There is also a soup with bread and various accompaniments.

On my last visit, there were baked potatoes, baked beans, butternut squash curry, rice, peperonata pasta, chicken with a wild mushroom sauce and Morrocan beef. There are also biscuits and fruit if you want something sweet.

Drinks

There were the usual coffee machines and selection of Twinings tea. BA now serve Union hand roasted coffee in their lounges. Castelnau Champagne is available to help yourself to instead of on request as it was previously. This has been a trial so it will be interesting to see whether it continues. Soft drinks were in the fridges and the standard Highland Spring still and sparkling water in big bottles were also available.

There were 4 red and 3 white wines to choose from of very average quality but the ones I sampled were perfectly drinkable. For the red wines, they was a Paul Cluver Pinot Noir from South Africa, a Rioja, a Spanish Garnacha and Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robles in California.

Spirits were varied with 2 types of Gin including Bombay Sapphire and 3 types of Vodka including two types of Grey Goose. There was even Pimms which I thought was a nice touch.

Business area

There was a business area with a printer, PCs and worktops with charging facility if you needed to do any work. It wasn’t the nicest area to sit in as there was no natural light but it served a purpose. There is also a small bench with bar stools and power for working on the mezzanine floor.

Showers

There were a small number of showers but no one waiting. I was impressed with the showers and they were certainly better than those at T5 that have an NHS air about them! It was nice to see a rainhead shower as well as a wall mounted one. The rooms also had a hairdryer, hand and body wash, moisturiser, shampoo, and a shaver socket.

Conclusion

Overall I thought the lounge was a vast improvement on the old Gatwick North lounges and much more spacious. Food seemed about the same but the selection of drinks seemed better even if the wine was a bit down-market. I still think the food could be better, particuarly at breakfast. You can read about the new Club Europe catering in my Club Europe review here.

There is more information about British Airways’ lounges here.

You can see more on my YouTube channel:

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On the way to pick up our ex EU flights to Auckland from Stockholm, I had a fantastic flight in Club Europe which I thought I would share with you. Stockholm is classed as a long route so gets the full 3-course meal service which is an improvement from the previous Club Europe food. The medium and short routes don’t get anything like this, unfortunately. You can work out what you will receive in Club Europe using my Guide to new Club Europe Catering.

Roving Reporter travelled on the same flight in economy so I was also mention some of his experience as comparison.

Check-in and lounge

As usual, I used the First Wing check in and was in the First lounge in just a few minutes.

The First lounge is for Gold card holders and those travelling in Forst but if you are actually travelling in First you would be better off in the Concorde Room. On this day the lounge was very crowded and a complete mess. Every table and even one chair was piled up with used glasses, plates and general rubbish. The staff appeared harrassed and fed up. We eventually managed to find a seat on the terrace to be faced with a dry January display of soft drinks everywhere. Given that I was travelling most of January, dry January was definitely not happening for me or Roving Reporter! Fortunately, we managed to find some Rose Henriot champagne to drink instead!

Since Roving Reporter was going to be slumming it in economy, we decided to have something more substantial to eat in the lounge and had a look at the current menu.

We both decided to try the duck bao buns as they are one of my favourite things to eat. The buns were tasty although not the best I have had (Virgin’s clubhouse ones were better). The kettle chips with them was a strange choice though even if they were chilli flavoured!

If you have travelled through Heathrow I am sure that you will have had the text survey asking about your lounge experience. I filled this in with my honest reaction to the lounge which was not at its best. I was truly surprised when upon landing in Stockholm I received a call from one of Heathrow’s BA Managers to discuss my comments. He was genuinely apologetic and explained they were short staffed due to illness and offered to credit me some Avios without any prompting. Sure enough 2 days later 3000 Avios were credited to my account. Whilst the lounge experience wasn’t great, the fact that this service recovery was done makes a huge difference in my eyes.

You can see more in-depth reviews of the BA Heathrow lounges for Club and First here.

Boarding

The new boarding process has started but since we were going to be bussed to the aircraft it was completely pointless getting there too early as we would simply spend even longer standing on a bus waiting for all the other groups. I will report back on the group boarding experience after my flights over the next couple of weeks.

Onboard service

I was in my usual seat, 1F which has loads of leg room unless the rest of Club Europe which has the same legroom as economy. In fact, Roving Reporter had more leg room than most of Club Europe as he was in the exit row!

I was served by a wonderful cabin crew called Gary. Not only did he look after me extremely well he took the time to have a chat and a bit of a laugh. This is why I still enjoy flying BA even with the ups and downs. When you get a good cabin crew member they can’t be beaten by many airlines. Whilst a lot of airlines have a more consistently good service, when you get one of the great BA crew, I always enjoy the banter which you don’t get elsewhere.

We were given a hot towel and a printed menu to have a look at.

The menu looked pretty good to me and I had trouble choosing which main course I wanted as they both sounded tasty. I decided to give me a bit of challenge and go for the lobster pasta. Pasta on a plane is always tricky as it is usually very overlooked or dried out.

Before dinner I decided to have a G&T for a change as I am a bit fed up with Castel-no champagne now. There was a choice of Gordon’s or Tanqueray. Naturally I went for the Tanqueray. Gary, bless him, seemed to be on a mission to get me drunk and kept offering me extra gins! Normally I would have been delighted but on this occasion I was trying to get an article done before RR and I started our journey to New Zealand the following day.

The tray was presented as usual with the starter, cheese and dessert. BA use very small square trays in Club now which I find very irritating. They don’t actually fit on the tables properly as it overhangs the end and everything is squeezed in really tightly. The prawn salad was OK though the prawns were a bit dull and I’m not a huge fan of wakame. BA seem to have gone a bit ‘wakame’ recently as it seems to appear on very menu.

I stuck with my G&T during dinner as I still had some work to do. If I had wanted wine, there was a choice of 2 red and 2 white from large bottles. I have tried the wines a few times and always find them disappointing. They are generally pretty cheap Spanish or Italian wines and the white is rarely at the right temperature, most usually being lukewarm.

The main course was more successful.  It was a very generous portion and although I am sure a lobster did not go anywhere near the dish unless the chef waved one of the pot, it was still tasty. The sauce tasted more like a creamy tomato sauce than anything. The chicken was moist and flecked with herbs and the pasta was actually not too overdone or mushy. The generous amount of sauce meant that it was not too dry either. Overall a decent dish.

I was glad to see BA had finally changed from cheddar although it didn’t really help me as I can’t eat Brie! The pudding didn’t taste much like hazelnut which is good as I don’t really like them. It tasted more like a tropical cheesecake and was not too heavy or cloying.

Roving Reporter, of course, did not get anything in economy. Unsurprisingly he had come well prepared with a Fortnum and Mason hamper from T5. These give you a full meal in a lovely blue Fortnum’s cool bag. You can read more about the Hamperlings in this article. Overall RR had saved around £50 on his journey compared to me and ended up with a similar amount of space around him with 2 seats free next to him and a decent meal he bought himself. Obviously he only got 5 tier points versus my 40.

After dinner I finished my article and decided to have a Brandy as they serve the Camus VSOP cognac in Club Europe which I enjoy. All throughout the flight Gary had worked his socks off up and down the aisle making sure everyone was topped up and chatting away with the passengers.  Still worried by lack of alcohol consumption (perhaps I had flown with him before?!) Gary bought me not 1 but 3 cognacs! I was very restrained and just drank one and took the other 2 with me.

Conclusion

Apart from a slightly odd starter this was a great flight and for me worth the extra money. I only ever buy Club Europe in a sale where you can normally get seats around £200-250 which is not ridiculous.

Having the extra middle table allows me to work and have a drink at the same time. It may not be a great seat compared to the US domestic First but for Europe it is fairly standard apart from the legroom beyond row 1.

Gary was a delight and made my flight for me. If only BA could achieve a consistent level of service it would make a huge difference.

For me it was worth the extra money but Roving Reporter was also happy with his exit seat. At the end of the day it’s down to personal preference and whether you need the tier points.

You can find more information about British Airways Club Europe here and find more of my Club Europe reviews here.

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British Airways cheap Club World fares to US

As usual, these fares were available at the time of going to press but there is no knowing how long they will last for…. so don’t hang around!  On the back of the great companion fares to China from £1009 (ends tomorrow), there is now another good offer from London this time to the US.

The basic fare rules are:

• Minimum 6 months advance purchase
• Travel dates:
  • 09Feb 18 Through 21Mar 18
  • 28Oct 18 Through 11Dec 18
  • 24Dec 18 Through 31Dec 18
  • 01Jan 19 Through 02Jan 19
  • 15Feb 19 Through 29Mar 19
• Travel must be on BA for the transatlantic sectors
• Minimum stay 7 days
• You can have 2 transfers in Europe and 2 in the US in each direction but stopovers greater than 24 hours cost £300 each. This means you could build in extra stops of less than 24 hours to add extra flights for tier points. For example, if instead of flying direct to LA or Hawaii you flew to New York then Los Angeles and onto Hawaii, you would get 140 tier points extra.
• Although the fare rules don’t seem to state it, I can only see availability departing on Tuesday, Wednesday and returning on Sunday to Wednesday

The fares start from:

• New York £1318
• Boston £1344
• Miami £1344
• Chicago £1411
• Orlando £1419
• Denver £1465
• San Francisco £1453
• Honolulu £1583
• San Francisco £1453
• Los Angeles £1451
• Phoenix £1525
• Las Vegas £1446

The fares must be booked as British Airways tickets. You book on ba.com here.

Emirates new route to Auckland

Having just come back from New Zealand, I can vouch for the fact that relaxing places to stop off on the way are a little limited depending on who you fly with. Emirates has now announced that they will fly Bali to Auckland in what is known as a fifth freedom route. The route will be operated daily by a 3-class B777-300ER, from 14 June. This means you can fly from the UK to Bali via Dubai and stop off for a break on the way to or from Auckland.

You can, of course, earn Avios and BA tier points with Emirates on routes which are marketed as a codeshare with Qantas tickets but this is probably not going to be one of them. They do appear to do a codeshare to Auckland if you fly via Melbourne and connect to Qantas to New Zealand. You can find more information on flying with Emirates here.

Double Avios this weekend

From Friday 23 February 2018 to 23:59 Sunday 25 February 2018 you will receive double the standard Avios on any purchases made through the BA Avios e-store. The BA e-store works like cashback – you click on a link on the BA e-store for your usual online shop, get taken to the normal shopping website and then receive Avios on your purchase. The Avios e-store offers different merchants and has far more travel and hotel options. At the moment it does not appear they will be participating in the offer, but previously both sites normally have had the same promotion.

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One of the most annoying things for me is paying for business class and then finding out there is no lounge or priority security if those facilities are available for other airline’s customers. BA has a surprising number of these with compensation varying from a reasonable amount in vouchers to spend in the airport to nothing.

You can find a full (rather long) list of BA European airports without lounges in this list on Flyertalk. There are some surprising ones on the list such as Tallin, Corfu and Lanzarote. You can look up whether your airport has a BA lounge or other lounge on the oneworld page here.

So I was pleased to see that BA are starting to add more lounges with Innsbruck, Ibiza and Seville lounge access starting from now. The lounges will be available as usual for customers in Club Europe and those with BA silver status or above.

In Seville the lounge is nothing to get excited by with the rather small and only AENA Sala Azahar lounge.

In Innsbruck the lounge is the impressive looking Tyrol lounge. Gold Guest Cardholders are also entitled to take 2 guests here which is not always the case with 3rd party. The lounge includes an area with hot and cold snacks, three workspaces designed for business travellers, a relaxation zone with panoramic views of the Tyrolean mountains, a living room area for unwinding and a floor-to-ceiling library.

Ibiza now has the new AENA Cap del Falco lounge.

BA are planning to invest in more 3rd party lounges at airports where there is currently no lounge.

In recent years BA have opened new lounges in Boston and Gatwick South Terminal and revamped spaces in Edinburgh, Cape Town, Amsterdam, Belfast, Washington, Singapore and Dubai with more to come.

British Airways is currently refreshing its lounges in New York’s JFK Terminal 7, (BA First Lounge has been shut) along with improvements being made to the customer experience at check-in including a First Wing. Later this year new lounges in Aberdeen and Rome will open. Further investment is then planned in San Francisco, Johannesburg and Chicago and Heathrow’s other lounges will be refurbished over the next few years.

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Since I have been featuring an awful lot of ex EU flights recently, I thought it was worth updating this post and adding some extra information based on reader questions.

So what is an Ex Eu and why would you want to do one? Ex EU flights are flights where you deliberately start your ticket outside the UK. This means that you will also have to purchase a separate ticket to get to and from your starting point. This is known as your feeder or positioning flight. Ex EU flights are usually only worth doing for long-haul flights in premium classes. For example, you want to fly to Los Angeles but instead of flying direct you fly LHR-DUB on the first ticket and then DUB -LHR-LAX on the main ticket.

What are the advantages of an Ex-EU flight?

The main advantage is often a substantially reduced price. This is for 3 reasons. Firstly you won’t be paying the UK APD tax which can make a big difference on premium classes. Secondly, the airline in question will be tailoring prices to the market of the country of departure. Therefore many countries will have substantially different pricing to the UK. Thirdly, they will have to offer a reduced price if they don’t fly direct to the destination as they are competing against carriers which do. For example, if you were to fly to New York with British Airways and start your journey in Dublin, they would be competing against Aer Lingus who would fly direct.

The other advantage is that if you are collecting miles or chasing status this gives an opportunity to maximize your earnings with the extra flights. With Qatar, you could earn 560 tier points versus BA’s 280 tier points for a business class flight to Asia.

What are the disadvantages?

The biggest disadvantage is risk. As your feeder flights will be on a separate ticket if something were to go wrong with your feeder flights, the next flights would be lost including your return. You can minimize the risk of this by following the tips for success below.

The other main disadvantage is time. You will need to factor in additional time not only to get to your starting point but to allow for any delays. One way to reduce the time needed is to fly from a closer and quieter local airport to the start point which can save several hours.

What are the best places to start my journey?

British Airways

For the USA, Dublin is nearly always cheaper, particularity during sales. Prices to Hawaii in Club World have been historically as low as £980-1400. Prices to the West Coast of America tend to be similar around the £1000-1400 in sale periods, even during the peak summer holidays. You can find out more with my guide to ex EU flights from Dublin.

Other options to look at are:

• Prague
• Amsterdam
• Oslo
• Stockholm
• Gothenburg
• Bucharest
• Warsaw
• Inverness (not really ex EU but cheap)

For the Far East, Berlin, Prague or Amsterdam are often substantially cheaper with prices seen around £1100-1400 during sale periods.

The fares can be booked at www.britishairways.com but you will be charged in the local currency so make sure you factor in whether your credit card charges commission for non-sterling transactions.

Virgin Atlantic

Virgin are similar to British Airways with the best prices from Dublin. If you fly to the USA prices are usually in the region of £950-1400 for Upper Class. Note these fares do not qualify the chauffeur service. I recently got flights to Vegas with Virgin for around £1250 from Dublin.

One difference with these fares is that you will need to book them through Expedia or a travel agent online or otherwise as Virgin do not have flights to Dublin. You will have a choice of connecting flights on either British Airways or Aer Lingus. The better option is British Airways as you will fly in business class. Aer Lingus operates an economy only service to Dublin.

It is often worth looking at Manchester too although not strictly ex EU. Be aware that by doing this you miss out on the fantastic Clubhouse lounge at Heathrow even though there have been some great prices at Manchester in the last year.

Qatar Airways

There are several key places to look for Qatar flights to the Far East. All usually offer fares in the £900-1400 price range for business class during sales.

• Scandinavia – these are usually the cheapest, particularly Stockholm, but involve a longer flight to get there at around 2.5  hours. Stockholm is handy as there are 2 decent hotels (Clarion and Radisson) in the airport building itself to stay overnight and it is a relatively easy airport to navigate. You can sometimes find cheaper fares by flying into and out of different airports such as Oslo and Stockholm.
• Amsterdam – one of the easiest places to get to for starting your flights, although changing can involve long walks and you need to allow plenty of time.
• Italy – mainly Pisa but also now Venice. These involve longer travel time to get to but you could combine it with a mini break to some sightseeing.
• Sofia – not that easy/cheap to get to and short-haul aircraft to Doha
• Germany – easy to get to. Look at Frankfurt, Berlin and Munich
• Prague – easy to get to and also offers the opportunity to see Prague itself which is worthwhile.

Tips for Success

Building in time for disruption

I can’t emphasis enough the importance of allowing for disruption in your plans. The easier way to do this is to build in an overnight stop after your feeder flight and don’t book the last flight of the day as your feeder flight. Most tickets will allow you a break of up to 24 hours in your journey, but check your ticket’s specific conditions. Once you are on the main ticket the airline is obliged to protect you if you suffer any disruption and should be able to re-book you if necessary.

The other option is to do a ‘back to back’ from your feeder flight. This means getting the same aircraft back to Heathrow that you just flew in on. You should only attempt this once you have done adequate research about the airport in question to ensure you would have enough time to get through security and back onto the flight. There is lots of advice on specific airports on this Flyertalk thread.

Not flying all the legs

You may be tempted to drop the last leg of flights on ex EU itineraries to spare the extra flying. There are several issues to be aware of with this. Most airlines will now no longer allow you to ‘short check’ luggage. This means that your luggage will be checked through to the final destination whether you like it or not. The only way to get your luggage back at Heathrow is to have your connecting flight to your original starting point from another London airport or build in an overnight stop. You can usually build in a stopover providing it is less than 24 hours.

Secondly, the airlines are gradually trying to crack down on people skipping their last legs. BA recently went after a travel agency that was selling Ex-EU tickets as some people had dropped legs. Technically they could also go after an individual traveller and demand that you pay the difference in fare for the literary you actually flew or suspend you from the Frequent Flyer club if you are a member. This is unlikely to happen if you only do it very occasionally but who knows how airlines may behave in the future?

Finally, another option is to use the final leg to do another trip in the future. For example, on my next ex Dublin trip to I need to fly to Dublin again at a later date. I have therefore booked the following:

• London to Dublin – ticket 1
• Dublin to London – ticket 2
• London to US to London ticket 2

1 week after my return:

• London to Dublin – ticket 2
• Dublin to London – ticket 1

This is known as nesting tickets which airlines don’t really like to encourage but it is unlikely they would do anything about it. It does usually add extra to the fare (around £100 in this case) but is often cheaper than buying another ticket or a useful way to get the tier points with a short break.

A bit like everything with ex EUs, you need to be aware of the risk and accept it or mitigate it as best you can!

Do you do ex EU fares regularly? What are your favourite departure points and watch outs? Let me know in the comments below or on social media.

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Malaysia A350 new business class seats for London revealed

Malaysia Airlines are due to launch their A350 services from London in January 2018. This is good news in some ways as the A380 business class seats were a bit dated. However, the downside is that this will reduce capacity on the London – Kuala Lumpur route by around 400 seats a day which is never good news for fares or Avios redemptions. You can find out more about using your Avios on other airlines in my article.

We had been seeing some great fares on the KL route earlier this year but recently they have been quite uncompetitive. The best bet is usually with Qatar via one of the Scandinavian countries which saw fares of around £1000 return in business class in the last sale.

As expected the new A350 features an almost identical business class to that of the A330. The seats are arranged in an alternating 1-2-1 or 2-2-1 pattern. This means that all of the seats in business class bar 3 will have direct aisle access, so avoid rows 3,6 and 10K if you want aisle access. This configuration results in 4 of the so-called throne seats which have a large amount of personal space with the additional shelf space on both sides.  These are all K seats in rows 1,5, 9 and 11.

The seats are very similar to the Malaysia A330 seats with the only difference being that they are slightly wider at 22″ versus 20″ on the A330 and 3″ longer at 78″ when in flatbed mode. Malaysia have also upgraded the in-flight entertainment with a 16″ HD TV and a touchscreen control for it too.

The special Malaysia Airlines A350 page is here.

Finnair business class

Finnair have a great business class seat and service on the A350 which you can read about in my Finnair A350 business class review. The fares from London are usually some of the cheapest you can get for Asia on oneworld for a UK departure.

Finnair are adding a few new touches to their business class with a new menu from Swedish chef  Tommy Myllymäki. Tommy Myllymäki has been nominated chef of the year in Sweden and is the creative director for five Stockholm restaurants. His winter menu will be served on all Finnair long-haul flights departing from Helsinki as of February 7.

The winter menu features Nordic flavours like Jerusalem artichoke with cep mushrooms and pear, and braised ox with celeriac and kale. The summer menu will have more emphasis on seasonal, crisp fresh vegetables.

Finnair is also introducing a classic Finnish tradition in business class on long-haul flights from Asia in the morning – coffee with seven different treats. The coffee service allows customers to enjoy traditional Finnish treats like Carelian pies, cinnamon buns, coffee cake and traditional Finnish chocolates between the two meal services.

There is also a new dining concept in general for business class which will offer a wider range of dining and wine options, served on-demand at your preferred time. The new business class service will start on 27 February 2018, on flights to Seoul, Tokyo and Shanghai, with a gradual roll-out of the remaining long-haul destinations during the spring and summer.

Finnair will also update the cabin with new seat covers, pillows, blankets and chinaware with prints from the iconic Finnish design house Marimekko. These will be rolled out in 2018 in phases.

Unless you are set on flying directly to Asia, Finnair are the perfect choice if you don’t want the hassle of an ex EU. They are keenly priced during promotions from Heathrow with flights to Bangkok at around £1450 in business class. Not only do you get extra tier points and miles versus flying with BA but you also get a modern seat on the A350 with lots of great touches on board. I particularly love the glasses from Iittala which were inspired by melting ice.

Finnair’s current offers including Bangkok from £1589 can be found on the Finnair offer page.

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