Business Class Fares & Offers

[T-T-T]

Hope you enjoyed the flight ... how did you find the seat ? Did they give you an extra mattress for sleeping ? 

[Hamchang]

Must say I found nothing wrong with Gulf air BC when I used them a couple of years ago and cheapest of the lot as well. The lounge at half way is convenient as well. 

[davidge]

New Gulf Air baggage policy.

By piece not just by weight.

https://www.gulfair.com/baggage/baggage-allowances

 

[thinkingallowed]

On 13/10/2018 at 12:18, davidge said:

New Gulf Air baggage policy.

By piece not just by weight.

https://www.gulfair.com/baggage/baggage-allowances

 

Falcon Gold baggage allowance has risen from 40kg to 64kg but now restricted to two bags. I'm silver so now get an extra bag up to 15kg.

[T-T-T]

that is quite an increase ... bit wasted on me this next trip as I don't need to take my portable office... wonder if I can get away with a large quantity of good quality wine instead    

But 32 KG that is quite a weight per bag.  thought the limit for baggage handlers safety was a lot less than that. 

 

 

Edited October 19, 2018 by T-T-T

[davidge]

4 minutes ago, T-T-T said:

that is quite an increase ... bit wasted on me this next trip as I don't need to take my portable office... wonder if I can get away with a large quantity of good quality wine instead    

But 32 KG that is quite a weight per bag.  thought the limit for baggage handlers safety was a lot less than that. 

 

 

32kg is the limit. Anything over 23 is labelled ‘heavy’.

I usually check 3 bags, with each under 20kg. Prefer it to 2 heavier bags.

[davidge]

Malaysia have announced they’re getting rid of First Classand re-classifying it as Business Class. It won’t be the same price as ‘normal’ Biz but will be significantly cheaper than the previous First Class fares. Service, meals, baggage are to remain unchanged from FC. Can’t say they’ve really shown up as a possibility for me for some time, but it gives the chance to try FC for less if anybody fancies it.

[The Serpent]

I was wondering if someone could explain the following price difference 

From what I've read on threads relating to business class, if you're flying from Europe to Asia return, its around 1200 to 1500 pound, but going the other way its 1500 to 2000 pound

Please advise

[davidge]

Just now, The Serpent said:

I was wondering if someone could explain the following price difference 

From what I've read on threads relating to business class, if you're flying from Europe to Asia return, its around 1200 to 1500 pound, but going the other way its 1500 to 2000 pound

Please advise

Not just Biz. Economy similar. Sister moved to Oz  years ago. Always costs her about 25-35% more to fly BNE-LHR-BNE than it cost my parents to fly LHR-BNE-LHR with the same airline at a similar time of year.

Only thing I can think of is the competition as LHR is served by so many airlines. It is often cheaper to fly from one of the European airports, such as AMS, than it is from LHR as well. I think tax is part of this. 

Sadly though, the days of £1200-1500 fares in biz from LHR to BKK are largely gone. I’m looking at next July and most options are over £2000  There’s the odd one a little cheaper but no decent options for me under £1800 really.

[gmingot]

Just now, The Serpent said:

I was wondering if someone could explain the following price difference 

From what I've read on threads relating to business class, if you're flying from Europe to Asia return, its around 1200 to 1500 pound, but going the other way its 1500 to 2000 pound

Please advise

..because they can  . Other than charging what they think the market will stand at any one tine or in any one place there isnt a great deal of logic in airline prices. 

Edited December 18, 2018 by gmingot
typo

[The Serpent]

Thanks for your quick responses davidge & gmingot

What I have done previously in the last 5 years

• SIN/AMS/BKK - with Swiss Air for around 1700 pound
• BKK/AMS/BKK - with Lufthansa for around 1600 pound
• CRK/AMS/BKK - with Qatar for around 1500 pound

All trips have been in Feb/Mar/Apr and not included are the separate trips from Melbourne/Asia/Melbourne

Quote

Only thing I can think of is the competition as LHR is served by so many airlines. 

I  would have thought the same for Bangkok & Singapore... 

 

[davidge]

Those fares really aren’t bad. It’s getting increasingly difficult to find half decent biz fares. I’ve seen a significant increase just in the last 2 years for the flights & dates I usually look for. For example, my first choice Eva has gone from around £1700 standard fare to about £2200. I just don’t want to pay that much!

[KittenKong]

8 minutes ago, davidge said:

Sadly though, the days of £1200-1500 fares in biz from LHR to BKK are largely gone. I’m looking at next July and most options are over £2000  There’s the odd one a little cheaper but no decent options for me under £1800 really.

It's true that prices have risen over the last couple of years, especially to/from Bangkok, but LHR>BKK>LHR is quite often available for around £1000-1200, and I have a ticket for BKK>LHR>BKK next summer with Oman that cost me just £1350 a couple of months ago in their sale. And that's all in new planes and with very short layovers.

I expect the current collapse of the oil price (and the global economy generally) will have a downwards effect on prices also.

[davidcraig]

I usually do Premium Economy non-stop LHR-BKK for £950 with EVA Air. It's not business class, but much better than monkey class and there are no stopovers so 11.00 hours LHR-bkk and 13 hours BKK-LHR.

Edited December 18, 2018 by davidcraig

[The Serpent]

Quote

I usually do Premium Economy non-stop LHR-BKK for £950 with EVA Air. It's not business class, but much better than monkey class 

Monkey class...hahahahahahaha

That's why I fly biz class, can't take the $$$ with you, so might as well enjoy it

When I fly Melbourne/Asia/Melbourne, i use Air Asia and I purchase their "flatbed" seats, which would be equivalent to premium economy, i can usually get these for around 6/700 pound return 

@davidge

The prices are good, but why not try to get them a little cheaper and pocket the extra 3/400 pound, which I would spend on the ladies 

 

[davidge]

Just now, KittenKong said:

It's true that prices have risen over the last couple of years, especially to/from Bangkok, but LHR>BKK>LHR is quite often available for around £1000-1200, and I have a ticket for BKK>LHR>BKK next summer with Oman that cost me just £1350 a couple of months ago in their sale. And that's all in new planes and with very short layovers.

I expect the current collapse of the oil price (and the global economy generally) will have a downwards effect on prices also.

My dates are fixed so I’m struggling to find something. I’m hoping some fares will start to fall from January when I’m within 6 months. I still don’t have my exact dates anyway (waiting for sister to book her flights then I have to fit in ) but about 29 June for a month in all probability.

Gulf are still doing the cheap fare occasionally, but not usually July, and Thai never drop fares early so that’s possible (though they’re not very good). I’d be delighted with Oman for £1350 but unlikely now I think.

I won’t fly with a European airline (except Turkish) and won’t use BA even though I much prefer direct. I also won’t fly via India, China or Russia. So I’m really looking at Eva or Thai, or one of the Middle Eastern airlines.

I would be happy to book Eva every time but for my dates I can’t find them under £2200 anymore. I’m not paying that.

[KittenKong]

18 hours ago, davidge said:

My dates are fixed so I’m struggling to find something.

Yes, you are always going to struggle if you dont have much flexibility on dates. Thankfully that's not an issue for me and I can choose from pretty much any dates over any 3-month period for the flights I make.

The Oman fare was a global sale and they did have availability in early July when I bought mine, though late July and all of August were blacked out. Previously they had another sale that came in a few hundred pounds cheaper from Bangkok, but that only covered up to March which was too early for me.

I would consider Finnair again (albeit with the likelihood of one short sector in an old Airbus with no real business class) as they also have fairly decent sales from time to time. The other three sectors were fine when I used them two years ago. And if the price was right I would also consider KLM/AF or even BA. Unlikely to get any decent prices with them though. Malaysian is worth looking at also (they are scrapping first and rebranding it as business, so there may be more availability and lower prices), and Vietnam has been known to do good discounts from Bangkok to London. ME carriers are the obvious choice though, and most of them do sales from time to time though the discounts ex-BKK are not as good as they used to be.

[The Serpent]

@kittenkong

Have you flown with Oman a bit???

I'm looking to buy my parent's the following Biz class ticket, for the Northern summer

Melbourne/Europe/Melbourne (haven't decided on the Europe stop yet)

At the moment, they are the cheapest at around 2500 pound 

 

Edited December 19, 2018 by The Serpent

[KittenKong]

14 minutes ago, The Serpent said:

Have you flown with Oman a bit???

Not yet. Ask me next summer.

Reviews seem fine to me.

[KittenKong]

31 minutes ago, The Serpent said:

I'm looking to buy my parent's the following Biz class ticket, for the Northern summer

Melbourne/Europe/Melbourne (haven't decided on the Europe stop yet)

At the moment, they are the cheapest at around 2500 pound 

I've not looked in great detail but to London the £2500 fare seems to be a codeshare with Malaysian, with a long layover in Muscat (13 hrs). The layover could be turned to your advantage as Oman have some sort of offer on to encourage those on layover to spend a day or two there, and that usually means discounted hotels etc. Might be worth looking at.

But on the dates I checked one of the Malaysian sectors is in economy and the ticket shows as mixed, so I would not want that. Better would be Vietnam's offer which is business in all sectors, and all lie-flat seats. They do have long layovers also though, but again that could possibly be combined with a short stay in Vietnam. Also around £2500.

That's all to LHR by the way. Prices to the rest of Europe should be cheaper due to the lack of UK APD. Routing and schedules would also be different.

[davidge]

3 hours ago, The Serpent said:

@kittenkong

Have you flown with Oman a bit???

I'm looking to buy my parent's the following Biz class ticket, for the Northern summer

Melbourne/Europe/Melbourne (haven't decided on the Europe stop yet)

At the moment, they are the cheapest at around 2500 pound 

 

Having looked for flights to/from Oz for my parents for many years you need to think whether your parents want to break the journey by stopping on the way or just connecting straight through. My parents tried a stopover once but preferred to just go straight through after that. It’s a hell of a journey anyway so look for 1 change of plane rather than 2 IMO and also avoid very long connection times if possible. These are decisions to make first.

Edit: having said that, cost is obviously a factor as well. As KK said, that cheap Oman/Malaysia ticket is Economy on one leg each way. I found it for £1950 mid-July to mid-August. Garuda is about £2900 for 1 stop and short connections, Emirates is £3400. Unless MEL is very different to BNE, you’ll be lucky to find a decent Biz fare much under £3k.

[Czmate]

Generally KLM seems to always have the options when looking but out of LHR. 

AF is ok but doesn’t seem to be the same as KLM.

i do like those little Vodka filled houses they give as well.

[davidge]

Just now, Czmate said:

Generally KLM seems to always have the options when looking but out of LHR. 

AF is ok but doesn’t seem to be the same as KLM.

i do like those little Vodka filled houses they give as well.

The problem with the KLM fares is that a lot of the flights are actually operated by China Southern. Personally, I’d avoid them (CS) like the plague.

[Czmate]

Personally never flown out of Birmingham on anything other than a KLM flight.

Just come back AF and was put on Flybe to and from Paris

[davidge]

Just now, Czmate said:

Personally never flown out of Birmingham on anything other than a KLM flight.

Just come back AF and was put on Flybe to and from Paris

Sorry, I was talking about the flights between Melbourne and Heathrow as that was the conversation before your post  I didn’t realise you were talking about going to BKK, which is the main purpose of the thread. Yes, I used to fly KLM a lot as I could fly out of Cardiff. I have to go to LHR now in any case, so prefer to look for ‘big’ planes rather than the small plane hop to AMS.