Double Avios flying with BA to selected destinations

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British Airways and American airlines are offering double reward Avios points for return bookings and travel before 30th April 2013

But the offer only applies to “premium classes” i.e. First and Business Class. And the double points only apply to the higher fare types, for example, with British Airways, in F, A, J, C, D class

You need to register here, before making your booking.

The offer applies to the following destinations:

USA

Chicago O’Hare
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Philadelphia
San Diego
Seattle

OTHER

Bangkok
Beijing
Cairo
Delhi
Dubai
Hong Kong
Johannesburg
Rio de Janeiro
Sao Paulo
Sydney
Tel Aviv

British Airways to charge for check-in baggage?

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Within a week of KLM announcing that customers are to be given “more choice”, by charging separately for check-in bags, British Airways launches “hand baggage only” fares.

This is a different way of introducing a charge for baggage. It’s promoted as a saving, because hand baggage only fare is lower than their normal price by approximately £10 to £12

So we now have two-tier pricing, ‘with bags’ and ‘without bags’ which, after the introductory period amounts to paying more for taking baggage on your trip.

Which we think is a shame. Up to now, you could trust the BA fare to include everything whilst you knew that the easyJet and other no-frills airlines would charge extra fees.

The BA hand baggage fares apply only to Gatwick departures, for departures from 26th February.

To begin with, baggage only fares are available to the following destinations: Amsterdam, Dubrovnik, Jersey, Tunis and Turin.

The carry on allowance on BA is relatively generous: 56cm x 45cm x 25cm plus a handbag or laptop bag

Remember that the lowest BA fares are only available directly from ba.com

Please visit the British Airways tab above.

How to avoid KLM new baggage fees

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How to avoid KLM new baggage fees

The airline has just announced, as an enhancement, “providing more choice to passengers”, “the option to travel with just carry-on baggage or to check in baggage at a fee”

This applies to KLM European flights from 22nd April 2013

Of course, passengers have always had the choice! It’s just that they’ll now be charged for check-in bags, following the low cost or no frills airline model.

The charge is €15 each way – that’s around £26 extra per person per return journey for the first checked in baggage.

However, the following passengers will be exempt

NGO’s
All Flying Blue & BlueBiz members
Sky Team Elite Plus members
Corporate Contract holders

Simply become a Flying Blue member and avoid the baggage fees altogether. A one-page form asks for minimal information, takes just a minute to complete, and you’ll be instantly given a Flying Blue membership number. Apply via the KLM registration page here

And remember to use our flight search page to ensure that find the lowest KLM fares

Why do we recommend Skyscanner?

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Our recommended search engine has today been featured by the BBC due to the phenomenal growth of the company.

Skyscanner, a company based in Edinburgh, receives 30 million visitors per month and the search engine facilitates £2.3 billion annual air travel.

But, our reason for hosting Skyscanner is that for booking and researching business travel, the company provides the most accurate fares and schedules of all comparison sites.

This is due to the use of information provided directly from, for example, Ryanair, easyJet and British Airways. Many other comparison sites provide information from third party travel agents with hidden mark-ups and inaccurate information. They do this by “screen-scraping” the airline websites. But Skyscanner receives live flight and price information via XML and is one of very few companies authorised to do so.

Visit our Flight Search Page to use Skyscanner, or try our “Who flies Where” widget to the right of this article.

Earn Miles for your Company bookings with Emirates Business Rewards

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Here’s an overview of the corporate reward scheme from Emirate Airlines.

Emirates has a rewards programme, “Business rewards” which accrues points for your company in addition to your traveller’s existing personal “Skywards” accounts.

Previously, only “online-direct” bookings were eligible but Emirates has now made the programme available for bookings made via agents too.

The standard earning rate is 1 mile or point per US$ spent.

Through February and March 2013 the airline is offering double points and a 10,000 bonus for registrations before 31st January 2013

London to Dubai return economy class costs 45,000 miles and business class costs 90,000 miles. An upgrade on the same route costs from 50-65,000 miles. So you’ll need to have booked approximately £30,000 of tickets for an economy flight and £60,000 for business. The business class redemption is by far the better deal, and equates to approximately 4% in cashback terms

This scheme is one of the most difficult to administer. Emirates seem to be paranoid about misuse so they have controls in place that limit you. For example:

  • Only employees of the company (i.e. not guests etc) are eligible. This is verified by email – the traveller has to have a company domain email address
  • You have to first be a Skywards member
  • You need to “invite” individual members to join the scheme via an online form and those members have to respond, online.

For more information and to sign up, visit the Emirates page here

Buy your Euros here before 31 March to earn a bonus 1,000 Avios

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British Airways has teamed up with American Express foreign exchange service with this offer; Spend over £300 before 31 March 2012 and they’ll reward you with a bonus 1,000 Avios

We’ve compared the rates offered and if you only spend approximately £300 they appear to be marginally better than the Post office and Travelex. If you are spending in the region of £1,000 you may benefit from an extra 10 Euros from alternatives such as Travelex

For more information visit the BA American Express site here

Remember that it’s usually cheaper to purchase currency online rather than directly at UK airports. You can still benefit from lower rates even if you order for airport collection.

easyJet new route and fares to Moscow from under £120 return

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easyJet begin their daily Gatwick to Moscow services on Monday March 18 with fares of less than £120 return.

The airline is filling the gap left by BMI who used to fly the route and were taken over by British Airways, with prices of £47.49 outbound and £62.49 inbound, on sale from today.

British Airways return fares are in the region of £238

Flights depart early, from Gatwick at 07:00 arriving at 13:50 but from Monday 15th April there are two flights to choose between. The second departure is at 14:10 arriving 21:00

Return flights depart at 15:30 and from the 15th an additional 21:40 from Moscow

Moscow is only 3 hours 50 minutes flying time from London.

Unfortunately, visas still take considerably longer (allow several weeks). More information on visas is available on the VISA tab, above.

Starwood Guest Discounts European 72hr Sale

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Starwood group, comprising Sheraton, Westin and Le Meridien amongst others, has a sale of European city stays, at over 250 hotels, for up to 72 hours at www.beatthetimer.com/

The prices are approximately 30% off their normal rates and appear to be available to everyone, not just Starwood Preferred Guest members.

For example, the Munich Westin Grand, normally EUR139 per night is reduced to EUR99.
The Hotel Kämp, Helsinki is priced at EUR145 and the lowest rate, prepaid and non refundable, is usually EUR179

Annoyingly, the prices do not include VAT so you may have to add typically 7 – 10 & to the above rates. The additional tax amounts are only displayed after you select the hotel and click on ‘Terms and Details’ or ‘Book’. Nevertheless, the rates still represent good value.

Here is the link to go direct to BeatTheTimer.com.

Where to find the best Travelodge prices

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We’ve researched this question for a UK company that books several hundred room nights for their staff.

To date, they’ve used a travel agent but inefficiencies of booking procedures coupled with high agency fees have required that we review their purchasing habits.

Travelodge do not currently feature in our recommended hotel comparison and search engine.

They are bookable through travel agents reservation systems (GDSs) – and at the same price as priced online. But Travelodge do not pay travel agency commission, so you will probably pay a booking fee to the travel agent for the reservation and payment service.

Booking direct with Travelodge on their website will provide several advantages:

  • ·         Quick and easy to use
  • ·         No travel agent booking fee
  • ·         Option to pre-book breakfast with an online discount
  • ·         Option to request an early check-in of 1200 noon rather than 3pm if required, or
    a late check-out of 2pm instead of 1200 at a cost of £10 extra
  • ·         WiFi voucher purchase

Booking for someone else:

After choosing a property (“book”) immediately under the Room Price you’ll need to tick the “I am booking on behalf of someone else and will not be staying”

If you book Travelodge frequently, you should open a business account and save 5% on all your bookings with centralised business account management and up to 6 weeks credit

 

British Airways Sale – Book by Tuesday 22nd January

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The economy airfare sale started around Christmas time but the First and Business Class sale begins today. Bookings must be made and ticketed by midnight on Tuesday.

Is the British Airways Sale applicable to business travel-bookings?

If you’re looking for economy fares within Europe then the answer is most certainly yes, providing that you can adhere to the airfare restrictions.

Sale fares are priced based on one way tickets rather than return. The airline has to do this in order to compete with the no-frills airlines who nearly always offer one way fares instead of return.

For all long haul travel in any class, and Club Europe, the sale fares require a Saturday Night stay. Most business travellers do not want to stay over a Saturday Night and the airline knows this.

Our suggestion; Ask the traveller if he’d like to stay longer. Throw in a decent hotel and the total price should still save your company money!

Looking for a holiday suggestion?

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Here at Booking Business Travel we focus on helping you to book business travel online.

But we all like to holiday too, and I am frequently asked for inspirational holiday ideas.

And what used to take hours of search can now be offered immediately.

For example;

You want to fly no more than 6 hours, to a destination with a temperature of between 21-25 degrees, are content to fly out on Christmas Day and to stay for 6 nights.
And you prefer a 4* hotel.

Enter this information on the new British Airways Holiday Finder and you’ll be surprised by the last-minute options available.

You can also tailor the results by your budget range.

There are two ways to search:

British Airways Holiday Finder provides concise details

And British Airways Trip Seeker offers a more graphical view with a world map

Stansted Express Discount November December 2012

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A new offer has just been launched by Stansted Express which is only available for bookings made online for two people travelling together and is available for travel any time!

The price is just £10 each way, per person, for Liverpool Street and £9 per person for Tottenham Hale.

The Tottenham Hale reduction is especially nice as I have always resented paying the same price for Tottenham to Stansted as for Liverpool Street to Stansted.

Use the following promo code:
For Liverpool Street: DuoL
For Tottenham Hale: DuoT

Click on the Web Duo train link here: Stansted Express Website

The normal return fare for individual travellers is still £31.50 but this can be reduced by as much as £8.25 simply by booking through the Ryanair link below. The return fare is priced at € 29.03 so it may fluctuate due to exchange rates. I’ve always achieved the best fare by visiting Ryan Air here

Suprisingly – there are no extras!

Please come back and see how much you could save on hotels by trying our recommended hotel search comparison site – thank you!

Heathrow Express Discount November 2012

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Every month we research the discounts available on Heathrow Express and this month the best discount we’ve found is 10%

The normal online fare for comparison is £34 return and £18 single

Two travelling together:

Up to 31 January 2013

Two travel together for £25 per person. You need to use this code DUO12 in the promotion box to get the discount Full details from the Heathrow Express Site  here

Individual traveller discounts

For some bizarre reason, ANA – the Japanese Airline continues to offer the best November 2012 discount on Heathrow Express, as first announced by us nearly two years ago!

The return fare is £30.60 and the single is £16.20

Book directly on the Heathrow Express website below to get the discount

If you appreciate my impartial advice, do try the fantastic hotel comparison site on my Hotel Search page as I promise you the lowest hotel prices too.

Here’s the link to Heathrow Express with a saving of £3.40 or 10%

The end of BMI diamond club

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I received a letter from BMI today, announcing the end of the vestiges of BMI Airlines.

BMI  were taken over by British Airways – or IAG (international Airline Group), earlier this year although BMI Regional still operate a network of flights

The BMI Diamond club scheme is now, to all intents and purposes, dead.

However, if you hold the BMI American Express Card, you will continue to earn BMI destination miles which you can convert to British Airways Avios at a rate of 1 for 1

This is good news because the BMI credit card rewards miles at a rate of 1.5 per £1 spend which is pretty generous.

So I, for one, will continue to put everything I can on my BMI Amex card for the foreseeable future.

Avios Sale 25% off flight costs

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Starting today, Wednesday 14th November, the “miles” or Avios points required for bookings is being reduced by 25%

This does not apply to short-haul European flights which still cost 9,000 15,000 and 20,000 Avios

But for other longer flights e.g. to Tel Aviv, the cost is reduced from 25,000 Avios to 18,750 !

This is an excellent deal so book a.s.a.p. to find availability.

Bookings must be made by Monday 19th November

Travel up to 31 May

Only for departures from London airports

Go to British Airways via our link above

 

British Airways Sale ends Midnight Tuesday 13 November

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The British Airways sale is advertised as the “Luxury” seat sale but you’d be wrong to dismiss it as being the same as some previous sales.

This time the fares include European routes and some offer club Europe business class seats at less than economy prices!

Bookings must be made before midnight Tuesday.

Valid for travel as follows:

Europe, from City airport for travel 15 December 2012 to 31 January 2013
Most other worldwide destinations are for travel 14 December 2012 and 4 January 2012 (except Orlando, Tampa and Caribbean through most of 2013)

I’ve seen Amsterdam at £139 return, Zagreb £159, Dubai at £999 including tax

Use this Lowest Fare Finder find the best fares.

How to extend Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles expiry date

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A traveller friend of mine has some 36,000 miles and a silver status about to expire because she hasn’t flown recently.

I telephoned Virgin Atlantic yesterday to check, because their website isn’t 100% clear regarding extension of miles.

Please note that we’re discussing miles here, not status. There’s nothing you can do about your status.

The cheapest and most effective way to extend the life of your Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles is to logon to your account and DONATE 1,000 miles to “Free the Children”

Yes, that’s correct, not “save” the children but “free” the children!

Such activity will renew your account for another 3 years.

There are alternatives. You can buy miles but at £30 for 1,000 that’s very poor value. Or you can spend miles at Virgin Wine for example – 12,500 miles provides a £50 voucher

But we believe that the donation avenue is the most cost effective.

STOP PRESS!
If you travel Premium economy or Upper class with Virgin we have access to fares that may be cheaper than online. Contact us.

Single fare Milan-London £500. Is this the most expensive easyJet fare ever?

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A company has contacted us to ask to verify the unbelievable.

Yes, it’s Friday and they’re arranging flights for travel on Monday so it’s at short notice.

London to Venice on Monday and Milan to London on Wednesday

The cheapest outbound flight is with British Airways, at £340 which is high, but not ludicrously high, unlike the only option on the return, which is with easyJet at £500! Or EUR591 plus a booking fee plus a checked in baggage fee of 15 Euros for 20kg

Two suggestions from this rant!

1. ALWAYS book as far in advance as you can – I have never seen a “last-minute” bargain on any of the no-frills or full service airlines.

2. Don’t call no-frills airlines or web-airlines “low-cost” airlines, because they’re not low-cost when you need them. They’ll charge as much as they can. They’re in business to make a profit. Yes they may dump some seats at £9.99 in advance but that shouldn’t earn them the “low-cost” badge.

How to find the lowest fares on British Airways

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We have provided booking tips on the British Airways booking page that will help you to find the lowest air fares when booking specific dates.

But if you are flexible with your travel dates, British Airways has an excellent calendar display that will help you find the cheapest dates at a glance.

Although this function is aimed at leisure travellers, bookers of business travel may find it useful when planning meetings well in advance

Visit the We have provided booking tips on the British Airways booking page that will help you to find the lowest air fares when booking specific dates.

But if you are flexible with your travel dates, British Airways has an excellent calendar display that will help you find the cheapest dates at a glance.

Although this function is aimed at leisure travellers, bookers of business travel may find it useful when planning meetings well in advance

Visit the Lowest Fare Finder here

We also recommend that you price flight+hotel and compare against the hotel prices offered on our hotel comparison page

Ramada Hotels just £20 per night Book by Sunday 21 October

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The Independent newspaper is offering a promotion at 35 Ramada hotels including the Docklands in London.

See the article here

Stay anytime between 8 November 2012 and 7 November 2013

You’ll need to print out a token to present upon arrival.

A dropdown list of hotels and the availability is available here

www.ramada.co.uk/£20

Maximum 3 bookings per person!

Hilton Sale – Book by Midnight Wednesday 17th October

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A flash sale by Hilton group including Waldorf Astoria and Conrad has been announced

For Europe, it is only available for weekend stays (Friday, Saturday, Sunday nights) but for other destinations, any day of the week.

Valid for dates up to 29th December, discounts of up to 40%

Book directly through Hilton.com but remember to also compare rates via our comparison site.

Roomkey hotel booking site

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Roomkey is an online hotel booking engine.

It has been created by a collaboration of the following hotel chains:

Hilton
Hyatt
Intercontinental
Wyndham
Marriott
Choice hotels

And Roomkey recently signed up agreements with:
La Quinta
Millenium Hotels & Resorts
Leading Hotels of the World

It’s important to recognise that Roomkey is not a hotel comparison site. All it does is drive visitors to the above hotel’s websites.

It attracts visitors by popping up if you close your browser on one of the above hotels without having made or completed the booking

And it tries to entice you back, to one of the above properties

So whilst Roomkey is an innovative produce we do not recommend using it for hotel price search as you’ll only be provided with the rates as advertised on the hotel’s own websites.

Our hotel comparison site however, compares these rates with hundreds of others so you can rest assured that you’ve got the best deal.

Heathrow Express Discount October 2012

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We compare the lowest prices on Heathrow Express every month.

The normal online price is a steep £34 return and £18 single.

ANA All Nippon Airlines has the best discounted fare:

£30.60 return and £16.20 single.

… beating the price offered by Virgin and British Airways (£32.30 return and £17.10 single) !

Use the ANA link here. You’ll still be booking direct with Heathrow Express – simply at a discount.

We earn nothing from providing this advice.

We also help with flights and hotels, using the best search technology available, so please peruse or come back and visit when you next need to arrange travel.