by Lufthansa Flyer | Oct 6, 2015 | Austrian, Featured, Miles & More |
After being away for over a week on an African Safari trip, I come back to a bit of a backlog of deals and opportunities that have come from the LH Group.
Perhaps the most exciting one is news of the availability of Mileage Bargain deals for Business Class award redemption on Austrian through Miles & More.
Typically, Miles & More offers great deals each month that allow for Business Class award bookings for nearly 50% less miles than the normal schedule. This translates into booking a Biz Class seat for only 55,000 miles instead of 105,000 miles.
But this deal is a bit different from the others….
For the rest of the year, Miles & More members can redeem their miles on Austrian for Business Class travel between the USA and a variety of Austrian destinations for only 55,000 miles. The deal seems to be available in both directions: Ex-USA and Ex-Austria and is available for travel between mid-October and end of December. Inventory is fairly good and widely available throughout the next 3 months.
You won’t find this deal on the Meilenschnappchen website.
Just log into your Miles & More account and search for travel between US and Austrian destinations and you’ll see the 55k deal come up in the search results.
H/T: FlyerTalk’s Oliver2002
by Lufthansa Flyer | Aug 19, 2015 | Austrian, Eurowings, Featured, LCC |
Earlier this month Lufthansa’s LCC subsidiary, Eurowings, announced the addition of new routes to their timetable. The flights will actually be operated by AUSTRIAN aircraft and Austrian will also codeshare these flights with ‘EW’. The new routes are as follows:
Beginning on November 9, daily service will begin between Vienna and Barcelona and will be flown by A320 aircraft:
Flight EW5922 will depart Vienna at 12:10p, arriving in Barcelona at 2:30p.
Flight EW5923 will depart Barcelona at 3:10p and arrive in Vienna at 5:30p.
On November 9, 6x/week service will begin between Vienna and London Stansted. The route will be flown once a day except Saturdays and will be operated with A320 aircraft:
Flight EW5832 will depart Vienna at 6:15p, arriving in Stansted at 7:25p.
Flight EW5833 will depart Stansted at 8:05p, arriving in Vienna at 11:10p.
On November 9, 3x/week service will begin between Vienna and Palma Mallorca. The route will be flown on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. A320 aircraft will fly on the route:
Flight EW4912 will depart Vienna at 6:00a, arriving in Palma at 8:25a.
Flight EW4913 will depart Palma at 9:05a, arriving in Vienna at 11:30a.
On November 9, 3x/week service will begin between Vienna and Rome. The route will be flown on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. A320 aircraft will fly on the route:
Flight EW5880 will depart Vienna at 7:25a, arriving in Rome at 9:05a.
Flight EW 5881 will depart Rome at 9:45a, arriving in Vienna at 11:30a.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Aug 14, 2015 | Austrian, Featured, United |
AUSTRIAN has announced the addition of several routes to its existing codeshare agreement with United Airlines.
Beginning on August 19 the codeshare relationship will expand to cover all United’s flights between the US and London’s Heathrow Airport. The US cities included are Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, San Francisco and Washington Dulles.
Further expansion of the codeshare arrangement takes place on October 25 when the codeshare will expand to cover flights between:
Newark and Los Angeles
Newark and San Francisco
The codeshare arrangements will help Austrians passengers book streamlined tickets between Vienna and the US via London Heathrow as well as onward travel to the west coast from Austrians service between Vienna and Newark.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Jul 21, 2015 | Austrian, Business Class, Economy Class, Fare Sale, Featured |
Austrian is running a fare sale for travel between NYC (JFK and Newark) and Budapest during late this year and early next. Fares are as low as $760! Here are the terms:
Valid travel periods are between October 26 and December 11 and again between December 24 and March 26.
Fares can be booked until December 10 (based on availability).
Minimum stay is one Saturday Night.
This fare on its own is a fantastic deal, but I have a better idea.
Use Austrian’s SmartUpgrade program!
For those of you unfamiliar with SmartUpgrade, it is OS’ way of allowing you to bid for a Business Class seat regardless of the economy class that you book. If your bid is accepted, you’ll even earn Business Class miles (P fare levels) and get the other perks of Biz class travel such as lounge access and increased baggage allowances.
How it works:
Book your Economy Class ticket. As part of your booking process you’ll be asked if you would like to submit a SmartUpgrade bid. Do it! You can place a bid anywhere between $350 and $800 per Business Class segment. The higher your bid, the better your chance of getting the biz seat. I have gotten all of my bids filled and never had to go over $500.
Why do I suggest doing this?
Well for starters, you are dealing with a $760 base economy fare which is already a good deal. But you can turn a good deal to a great deal with SmartUpgrade. Even if you submit a max bid of $800 for both directions you will have an Austrian Business class seat for only $2360. A fare that you typically do not find every day for OS Business. Imagine if you bid $500 each way and you’re ‘approved’, you’ll fly roundtrip for only $1760 in Business. Hard to beat that deal.
Not sure about bidding at the time of booking? Thats OK. You can still book your Economy fare now and go back and add your bid later as long as you place it at least 72 hours before departure.
The one BIG BIG caveat (actually 2):
1. You must book your ticket through Austrian.com to be able to place a SmartUpgrade bid.
2. Make certain that the credit card that you use to bid will still be valid 24 hours prior to your departure. You will be billed for the upgrade approximately 48-72 hours prior to departure. I screwed up my ticket one time because my CC expired and my bid was cancelled when they went to charge me. Lesson learned!
Aside from the Budapest offer, most OS destinations in Europe seem to be attractively priced as well, Vienna for example is around $800 as are many other cities in Europe.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Jul 21, 2015 | Austrian, Featured, Route Announcements |
AUSTRIAN announced that Dubai is being removed from their timetable.
After 19 years of continuous service, Vienna-Dubai will end on September 13, 2015 (the last return flight from Dubai will be on September 14).
Citing competition and the fact that nearly 800 seats a day were available between VIE and DXB, Austrian has decided to focus its capacity on opportunities with new Miami, Colombo and Mauritius routes.
