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ITA Airways extends status again!
One reader spotted this and reminded me last night – it seems that ITA Airways has quietly extended elite status once again this year!
If you log in to your account, your tier should have a new expiry 01/25, which is an extension by one year. I earned the top Executive status through status match in 2021, used it not even once since, and still just got it extended over and over again. ITA is being really generous here.
I’m suspicious that their IT system hasn’t implemented tier downgrade yet. Given that they haven’t even finished integration with all Skyteam partners, that might be possible :p
If you are also an Executive member, you have the privilege of gifting one Premium card, which is also Skyteam Elite Plus. The benefit should reset next month.
Business class deal: £500 Europe-China o/w
[Air Serbia]
Air Serbia has very few routes outside Europe, whereas Tianjin, a Chinese city just next to Beijing, is one of them. Air Serbia operates two weekly flights from Belgrade to Tianjin.
If you are looking for a business class flight from Europe to China, the best sweet spot is Berlin to Tianjin, which costs only £564.
Even better:
- This is Business Freedom fare, which implies free cancellation and change
- One free stopover is permitted
The ticket is issued in C class, accruing 175% miles in Etihad Guest. You can book a return ticket for around £1,200. Other cities than Berlin are available too but they are more expensive.
[Xiamen Air]
Xiamen Air, a Skyteam member, has some equally attractive fares between China and Europe as well.
- Valid for many European cities, including London, Barcelona, Rome and Athens
- You need to depart from / arrive at Xiamen in China
- Can be booked as one-way or return, valid at both directions
- XMN-AMS is operated by Xiamen Air, whereas the European leg is by KLM
As far as I know the trip must origin from or end in Xiamen, although this post on Flyertalk has a contradictory statement.
Your chances are the best for January departures, but there’s scattered availability in February too.
Remember that you can get a further £10 discount by booking on Trip.com’s app.
If you have a French, German, Italian, Spanish or Dutch passport you can now visit China visa-free for up to 15 days. Failing that you could always do transit-without-visa as long as you are flying to a third country afterwards.
Black Friday Flight & Hotel deals roundup
Etihad
- Book by November 27th
- Travel between January 15th and June 12th
- Use promo code WHITEFRIDAY20 or BLACKFRIDAY20
- Save 20% on economy and business class fares
Note that the 20% discount applies to the base fare only, which means in reality the savings will be much less.
Aegean
- Book by November 27th
- Travel between January 15th and October 26th
- No promo code needed
- Save up to 50% on all tickets across the network
The actual discount depends on your travel date.
ITA Airways
- Book by November 27th
- Travel between December 1st and December 31st
- Use promo code BLACK
- Save 30% on all tickets except Economy Lite
The offer is available to many markets including UK, Europe and US (20% off).
Cathay Pacific
- Book by November 26th
- Travel between December 1st and June 28th
- Use promo code UKBLACKFRI for flights departing from the UK
- £100 off business class and £75 off economy / premium economy
Similar deals are available for France and Germany etc.
Air China
£100 discount on UK flights to China / Asia. Claim your voucher on Trip.com – they have other Black Friday offers as explained in this blog post.
TAP Portugal
London – Boston in business class for ~£1000 return, and the cost can be further reduced if you add a stopover (>24 hours) in Lisbon to avoid the UK APD. Example:
Use Google Flights and Skyscanner to find cheap date combinations. Book by November 28th.
Virgin Atlantic
- Book by November 27th
- Travel by September 30th
- Pay 30% fewer points for all reward flights
This is an incredible deal for flying to/from Shanghai:
Redemptions for US destinations are unfortunately bundled with outrageous fees, so they might not be a great deal even with the 30% discount.
Melia
- Book by November 26th
- Stay by December 20th, 2024 (hotel dependant)
- Save up to 50%
Remember to stack the Gold 20% off and App 5% off. The discount is genuine although not necessarily at 50% at most properties, and many of the rates are flexible.
Accor
20% bonus on digital gift card purchases. Gift cards are valid for 5 years, and can be used at participating hotels in the UK, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece and Poland.
Kimpton Hotels
The following UK Kimpton hotels are offering 20% discount of gift vouchers:
- Kimpton London Fitzroy
- Kimpton Manchester Clocktower
- Kimpton Edinburgh Charlotte Square
- Kimtpon Glasgow Blythswood Square
Gift vouchers are valid for 12 months and can be used upon hotel checkout. They work well with pay-at-hotel rates, including Amex FHR and IHG Luxury & Lifestyle.
Malmaison / Hotel Du Vin
Malmaison – rate starts at £100, including £50 dinner credit
Hotel Du Vin – rate starts at £145 for two nights, including £50 dinner credit
Virgin Atlantic – China Eastern partnership starts (sort of)
Virgin Atlantic joined Skyteam earlier this year with immediate effect. However, there was one team member, China Eastern, that was excluded from the launch and it was deferred to “a later date”. Well, that later date turned out to be November 10th.
As you can see from Virgin’s page. From now on you can earn Virgin points and tier points when flying China Eastern. However the most sought-after feature – redeeming Virgin points on MU – is still not active.
Chinese airlines are sometimes notorious for playing dirty games especially when it comes to their loyalty program. Xiamen Airlines, also a Skyteam member, rarely releases ANY reward ticket to partner airlines, and I’m not sure how they get away from it lightly.
If these problems can finally be resolved, Virgin points will open up new redemption opportunities in China and Asia. Even if you don’t want to visit China, remember that reward availability to China tends to be excellent, and you can use China Eastern etc for onward connection to another country.
Earn Skyteam Elite Plus after two China flights
China made a drastic response in cutting almost all its international flights during the pandemic, and the recovery didn’t really start until the end of 2022. Although most of its international routes have resumed some level of service, there are still very few flights to/from the U.S. as a consequence of political wrestles.
The ice seems to have started breaking finally, and China Eastern, a member of Skyteam, launched an interesting promotion.
- Book by November 15
- Travel by December 1
- Buy one return flight from Los Angeles to Shanghai and earn Gold or Platinum status
- The upgrade take effect immediately after your first flight
- Both Economy and Business Class tickets are eligible
Like most of the promotions you see in China, the terms and conditions are very ambiguous. My assumption is that if you travel in economy then you get Gold, or Platinum if you fly business. Both statuses are Skyteam Elite Plus though so there isn’t much difference. Lounge access is granted even on domestic flights when you fly China Eastern or Xiamen Airlines.
It’s restricted to certain fare buckets though, which isn’t specified. If you are interested, call their customer service line 1-626-583-1500 for more details.
My ITA Volare Executive card finally arrived
ITA Airways is the Italian national carrier that was reborn a couple of years ago after its former entity Alitalia dissolved. They ran a status match campaign which, in theory, would give you Skyteam status right away.
My British Airways Gold status matched to their top tier Executive (Skyteam Elite Plus). In March 2022 ITA sent me an email reminding me of updating my address, because a surprise was waiting for me. Well one year and four months later the wait is finally over…
To give them some credit, very few airlines or hotel groups nowadays still mail physical membership cards. It’s thoughtful of them to include a gift box as well, instead of just attaching the card to a letter. Although frankly it is not nearly as nice as what Starlux sent me.
Earlier this year ITA Volare decided to extend all membership status to January 2024. Then in May Lufthansa agreed to buy 41% stake at ITA Airways – it seems very likely that ITA Airways will leave Skyteam to join Star Alliance soon, and let’s hope that means another status extension…
(Gone) Saudia Business class: Cairo – Seoul £400 return
Saudia, a Skyteam member, has an amazing deal for travelling to South Korea in business class if you don’t mind positioning to Cairo first.
You could search and book on Saudia’s website directly. The first available travel date is April 10th. You can only depart in April, but there’s good availability across the month and you can return later.
Basic (I) and Semi-Flex (D) tickets are available. Semi-Flex ticket is slightly more expensive, but accrues more miles and costs a bit less when you need to change or cancel.
You can credit your flights to any Skyteam partners, and potentially Virgin Atlantic as they are set to join the family today.
It’s possible to add a stopover (>24 hours) but the cost will be higher. If you book with Saudia directly, you can apply for a free e-visa to enter Saudi Arabia as well as a complimentary hotel night.
My review of Delta Premium Select on Boeing 767
I’m booked on Premium Select with Delta for coming back to London from Seattle. I don’t really collect Delta miles, and although they’ve partnered heavily with Virgin Atlantic you can’t use VS miles to upgrade Delta flights, so I’m stuck with no upgrade 😛
VS Gold is given Sky Priority status on Delta flights, which entitles me to the fast track lane at Seattle airport. But the airport is very quiet on this Tuesday so I didn’t take advantage of it.
Having spent some time in the Sky Club and Centurion Lounge, I take the shuttle train to terminal S to board my flight. Compared to many other airlines Delta appears to value premium passengers more, at least when it comes to boarding: Premium Select passengers board after Delta One and Diamond, but before Platinum and Sky Priority.
Pretty nice logo:
Turn right and it’s our destination: the Premium Select cabin.
Premium Select, or in more common terminology Premium Economy is a relatively new concept to Delta. If I remember correctly many of their long haul planes don’t even feature this cabin yet, but a so-called Comfort Plus which is essentially still Economy.
Premium Select is generally well regarded by the aviation enthusiasts, and some even call it Business Minus instead. My colleague was also quite jealous that I’ve got the chance to try it out, so I had high expectations.
The first impression is indeed quite positive. Boeing 767 is narrower than other wide-body planes, which means there are fewer seats in a row. In the case of Premium Select, there are two seats on the left, right and in the middle respectively, so only six seats in a row.
Although the seats are not necessarily wider, it does feel much nicer and more relaxed than the eight-seat across Premium Economy cabin on other aircrafts.
My first-row seat has two windows and HUGE legroom.
Cushion, blanket and headphone are available which is pretty standard. There’s also a very basic travel kit which is the same as what’s offered in the Main Cabin (Economy). The earbuds and eye mask look very cheap and you may prefer to bring your own.
A moment later we are up in the sky.
The dining tray pops up automatically from the left armrest with a button pressed. The control panel below the right armrest is used to adjust the seat and footrest. USB sockets are also available. The seat looks very new.
The IFE doesn’t contain that many latest blockbusters, but is super abundant and diverse. For example, all episodes of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and The Matrix are included. Usually IFEs are lacking in horrors and thrillers, but they’ve got Malignant, Old and Last Night in Soho here. I’m genuinely impressed by their offer.
Unfortunately the dinner is a U-turn. It is basically a “chicken or fish” situation with no dedicated menu, and I believe it’s the same food as in Main Cabin. The only difference is free alcohol drinks.
Breakfast is a bagel and fruit bowl.
This is how the seat looks like with max inclination.
I’m bad at taking photos, and the picture above doesn’t do the seat justice. One objective fact is, I slept for full five hours after taking a melatonin pill, which is probably a personal record.
Going to the bathroom is the worst experience of this trip. There are only four bathrooms in the middle of the aircraft which are shared by all Premium Select and many Main Cabin passengers. You can imagine how the queue is like after dinner.
I think very highly of the cabin, seat and IFE of Premium Select, but they could definitely make more effort in improving the food and other soft amenities. My overall experience is better than when I flew with BA or Virgin, so I’d recommend it if it falls within your budget.