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Save £££ on your airfare with rail / bus hidden-city ticketing
You might have heard of “hidden-city ticketing”, a trick to purchase cheaper air tickets by adding one or more segments to your desired itinerary. For example, Flying New York – London – Paris could be cheaper than New York – London due to its indirect nature, so in this case it saves money to book the first route and drop the second leg if you only intend to travel to London.
There are complications of course, which I will discuss later in this article. There is an advanced and safer approach though which is less-known, that takes advantage of the interlining agreement between airlines and rail / bus companies.
Actually I’ve been aware of it since a long time ago. I was studying in Switzerland and my Mum was coming to visit me. When looking for an air ticket Swiss’s website offered the following route: PEK-ZRH on Swiss, and then Zurich-Basel on a SBB train. It’s cheaper than flying to Zurich only!
Similar arrangements can be found on Lufthansa’s website between them and DB:
Apparently it’s not necessarily cheaper so you need to do your research.
Most practically, the trick works best if you are looking for a one-way flight to the UAE. A direct flight from London to Abu Dhabi on Etihad costs around £500:
Whereas adding a leg to Dubai reduces the price by more than half!
The trip from Abu Dhabi airport to Dubai is undertaken by a coach. If Dubai is your final destination, you could take the coach or make your own travel arrangement; otherwise just leave the airport and enjoy Abu Dhabi!
Traditionally there are two complications with hidden-city, but they are very unlikely to hinder the novel approach:
- Luggage check-through to the final destination – your luggage won’t check through onto the train or bus so you’ll have to collect them yourself anyway
- Airline blacklisting you for the behaviour – contrary to a flight, it’s technically very difficult for the airline to know if you’ve taken the train / bus journey or not, which prevents them from taking any actions against you
Cathay Pacific 1,500 miles sign-up bonus
Cathay Pacific has joined Aegean in giving away free miles, although it’s available to new sign-ups only.
You can view the offer details here. Simply create your account between December 14 and 31 to earn the 1,500 welcome miles, no flight required. It’s limited to the first 15,000 sign-ups but I don’t expect it to fill up anytime soon.
If you travel to Asia from time to time you have a decent chance of flying Cathay, although my recent trip with them in business class failed to impress. They are a conversion partner of American Express Membership Rewards.
Compared to booking an award ticket with Avios, Cathay’s inventory is much better and pricing also a lot lower.
Aegean giving away up to 2 million free miles!
Aegean Airlines is the national carrier of Greece, best known for their easy-to-maintain Star Alliance Gold status. Additionally, they’ve also run a lot of promotions to give away free miles in the past.
- Ends December 23
- All Aegean Miles+Bonus members can participate
- Win an instant of prize of between 500 and 2,000,000 miles
It’s very simple to participate. Just pick one new-year resolution and a city to win the prize. My first three attempts ended up in IT errors though, but at the fourth time it paid out. I won 3,000 miles which is not bad.
Aegean miles never expire. A domestic flight in Greece costs 5,000 miles, and partner redemption starts from 12,500 miles. You can transfer miles between accounts at the cost of €15, the annual limit being 50,000 miles.
You can also convert Aegean miles into Accor points at the ratio of 2,000 : 500 (worth €10). It’s probably easier to redeem than flight tickets, although I’m not totally sure if there’s any restriction on new accounts.
My review of Virgin Atlantic’s A350 Upper Class Suite
I made Los Angeles the first stop of my U.S. trip, as it’s one the few routes that feature Virgin A350’s new Upper Class Suite. In terms of similar suite products, I’ve tried Qatar Airways’ Qsuite and was truly impressed, but I’m not expecting Virgin to match that experience.
With the upgrade voucher I paid only 27,500 points for LHR-LAX, and there was a promotion going on to get half of the points back. It may come across as being cheap, if you dismiss the fact that taxes and charges amount to more than £600…
I’ve reviewed Heathrow’s Upper Class Wing and Clubhouse recently. I didn’t bother with the Upper Class Wing this time but spent considerable time at the Clubhouse. Menu of the day is surprisingly good including Chicken Katsu Curry, Kimchi Fried Rice and Thai Curry. I attempted to visit the Amex Centurion Lounge as well, but unfortunately it already suffers serious overcrowding issue.
Time to board the plane! If you’ve flown with them before you must be familiar with the club lighting.
I didn’t anticipate angled seats, but the upper class cabin is still configured the reverse herringbone style. As usual middle seats are ideal if you are travelling with a companion, but window seats offer better privacy.
I pre-selected 2A (window seat), but for operational reasons the seat is no longer available when I check in, and I’m assigned 8D (middle seat) instead.
I start to feel uncomfortable the moment sitting down. There’s nowhere to rest my head or neck, and the foot rest is much lower than the seat. At 6′ my legs are just about to reaching the foot rest, and I don’t know whether to put my legs down or on it.
There are five buttons to adjust the seat position. It’s a puzzle and I can’t find a comfortable position after all.
After converting into a bed, the lie-flat seat looks like this:
I’m finally starting to get comfortable, then another anti-pattern design hits me. As you can see from the picture, because of the installation of the IFE, I cannot lift my right leg at all. It may not be a problem when you are sleeping, but I like to roll around when lying down.
What’s more, I’m shocked to learn the “door” doesn’t pull out for more than 10 inches – it doesn’t go beyond what the picture shows. The partition between two middle seats is quite short too. To be honest I don’t think it has the qualification of being called a suite.
The amenity kit is made from recycled materials.
The IFE pops out, and I find its angle awkward as well. The system is very new but movie selection is quite limited.
Menu:
The menu fails to whet my appetite, nor does the food. The chicken parfait is fine.
I ordered a sandwich before landing, which is… a cold sandwich as you’ll find in Tesco.
The bar is replaced by The Loft on A350. I didn’t notice it when I got on the plane and didn’t look for it so have no idea how it actually looks like.
I’m not a fan of Virgin’s old Upper Class, and the only motivation for me to fly with them again was to try out the new suite. Sadly it turned out to be a near-disaster and the Upper Class Suite feels worse than the older product. I’m not looking forward to flying Virgin again in the near future, but hopefully I’ll be able to redeem some Virgin points on ANA soon!
My review of Air Serbia Premium Lounge, Belgrade
My flight back to London departs at 10.20am, but I wanna review the Air Serbia Premium Lounge so got in quite early.
As you can imagine, Belgrade airport is fairly small and it has only two lounges: the Business Club which is used by the majority of the airlines except Air Serbia, and accepts Priority Pass.
The Air Serbia Premium Lounge is about 10 metres away. admitting the following passengers:
- Business class
- Etihad Guest elites
- Priority Pass
- Economy Comfort, under a current promotion
Economy class booked using miles falls into the Comfort category and thus is eligible for complimentary access to the lounge. As they accept Priority Pass however, gaining access shouldn’t be a problem anyway.
The lounge is separated by a wall with the business area on the left:
And dining area on the right:
There’s a fancy VIP room which is by reservation only.
In terms of food options there’s a decent breakfast spread:
There’s only bottled water in the fridge though. For anything else including soft drinks you’ll need to request it from the bar.
The bathroom is posher than the rest of the lounge. There is a shower room you could use to refresh yourself.
As it’s the flagship (and only) lounge of Serbia’s national carrier, I had high expectations and can’t lie about being disappointed. It’s so tiny to start with and has no natural light, and I’ve been to many independent airport lounges (especially the Plaza Premium lounges) that are better. Anyhow the food is decent and they’ve got a shower room, so feel free to stop by for a bit before your flight but it’s not worth too much of your time.
Batch search Cathay Pacific’s award availability
Cathay Pacific is a reputable airline and Hong Kong is an important hub when people visit Asia from Europe or the States. As Cathay is an Oneworld member, you can book their award tickets using BA Avios or Alaska miles, but as with most airlines the availability is much thinner compared to booking with Cathay directly.
Having been laid off by Twitter, I suddenly have a lot of free time to kill, and decided to go back to China despite the still ongoing quarantine policy. Transiting via Hong Kong is the most economical choice, and in terms of direct flight only Cathay Pacific is operating at the moment.
I still have 200k+ Avios surplus in my account but finding Cathay availability especially in business class is very difficult. Therefore I’m switching to Cathay instead, as they are an American Express Membership Rewards transfer partner and I have a lot of points to spend too!
Cathay Pacific upgraded their website recently and searching for award availability is no longer trivial, as there isn’t a straightforward calendar view of some sort. To facilitate your search, I recommend using a Chrome add-on developed by @jaytw from Taiwan, as it has helped me a lot for booking my flight ticket.
@jaytw has explained his work in this flyertalk post. If it’s still unclear, here are the steps:
- Download the Tampermonkey Chrome plugin which allows you to run client-side scripts
- Install Cathay Award Search Fixer
- Visit Cathay’s award search page and log in
- You’ll see an Unelevated Award Search box
Using this new tool, you can batch search award availability for a 20-day window, and different cabin / transit options are all displayed.
It is a lot easier than having to click through various dates or even perform multiple searches.
I found my LHR-HKG flight and transferred my US Amex MR points to Cathay which arrived instantly. UK Amex MR is also a partner but if I remember correctly the transfer takes a few days.
Here’s a reminder how much Cathay’s LHR-HKG in business class costs:
- Cathay Pacific: 65,000 miles + £360
- BA Avios: 92,500 Avios + £360
- Alaska Mileage Plan: 42,500 miles + $298
Alaska’s cost is the lowest, but it’s not an Amex MR transfer partner, and its access to Cathay’s award inventory is limited just like BA.
My review of Air Serbia A319 business class
After almost ten phone calls to Air Serbia’s call centre, I finally managed to book my business class ticket from Heathrow to Belgrade using Etihad Guest miles. I don’t think many people have ever travelled with them, so it’s worth writing a brief trip review.
(more…)Aeroplan: the best flight redemption between UK / Europe and Middle East
I’ve been in the miles and points game for like eight years now, and my international background / connections mean that I dip into loyalty programs of countries besides the UK. Yet Air Canada’s Aeroplan never entered my horizons until very recently, and it turned out to be an excellent redemption program for people living in the UK or Europe.
My friend told me about Aeroplan when he booked Bangkok – London in Oman Air’s first class for only 100k points. I will only focus on the Middle East redemption today however, as I think that’s where Aeroplan’s biggest edge lies.
[The Advantages]
Aeroplan has the the following advantages when it comes to flight redemptions:
- Extensive partner network, including many non Star Alliance carriers
- Easy to book online
- No carrier-imposed surcharges
- Adding a stopover for only 5,000 points
I don’t want to expand too much here, but not charging YQ alone can save you at least £300 for a long-haul return flight compared to British Airways and Etihad Guest etc.
[Getting Points]
I have the US Amex Platinum card through global transfer, and Aeroplan is a Membership Rewards conversion partner in the United States. I can transfer my MR points to Aeroplan at 1:1 ratio and it’s instant.
Aeroplan is not a MR conversion partner in the UK. However, it is with Marriott Bonvoy (60,000 Marriott points = 25,000 Aeroplan points) which is accessible globally.
[Pricing]
You can find Aeroplan’s redemption chart here. Europe and the Middle East both fall into the Atlantic Zone, so the following pricing applies:
Depart from UK or Europe, you are most likely looking at the 2,001 – 4,000 miles range, which means a one-way business class redemption costs only 45,000 points.
Most importantly, you can book the following carries on Aeroplan’s website, and availability is usually pretty good:
- Etihad
- Oman Air
- Gulf Air
- Egypt Air
Obviously Star Alliance carriers such as Lufthansa and Swiss are also available, but they are probably less exciting and availability is worse.
For a LHR – DXB / AUH business class return redemption, here’s roughly what each program wants:
- Aeroplan: 90k points + £313
- British Airways: 100k Avios + £717
- Etihad Guest: 125k miles + £687
- Emirates Skywards: 117.5k miles + £931
Assuming that 1 Avios / point = 1p, two people travelling together on BA’s 2-for-1 voucher is still no better deal than Aeroplan. It contrasts even more sharply if you look at the one-way UK inbound flight only.
I booked my Dubai flight on Egypt Air departing right before Christmas. There’s one Etihad flight with empty business class seats left but unfortunately the arrival time is inconvenient. I’m still quite happy though to find any available for the festive period.
You can also redeem in first class for 60,000 points per way, but availability is much harder to find.
[The Catch]
Aeroplan charges up to C$100 (£64) for changing your ticket, and C$150 (£96) for cancellation. It is much more expensive than Avios tickets with British Airways, although still manageable. Flexible Rewards are possible at the time of booking which can be changed / cancelled for free, however they are at least 20% more expensive which kind of defeats the purpose.
You can cancel your booking for free within 24 hours, which is inline with the other programs.