If you’re an active traveler, you’ll know that the Thanksgiving holiday weekend offers the lowest premium class fares that you’ll ever find during the year. Its a time when airlines typically try to entice travelers to leave the Turkey and Pumpkin Pie behind and head to Europe for a long weekend. Typically most of us Americans travel domestically visiting friends and family so that’s why Airlines offer great incentives to travel abroad during the holiday.
Lufthansa has discounted their typical Business Class fares by 50-70% (click to go to LH website) for travel during Thanksgiving and some of the fares are as low as I’ve ever seen them. For example, JFK to Frankfurt for about $1700! Thats only $200-500 more than what an economy fare costs during the summer!
The fare sale extends to all US and Canadian gateway cities served by LH so there are virtually hundreds of combinations for travel to cities between the US and Europe. Fares from the east coast start in the low $1700 range while fares from the west coast start in the $2100 range. There really is no excuse to not take advantage of these deals. Keep in mind that many cities launch their Christmas Markets during this time, so there’s another reason to travel to Europe over Thanksgiving.
Remember that discount business fares typically earn 150% of miles flown so not only are they great fares, they put more miles into your Frequent Flyer accounts!
My advice you ask? Book AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! Especially if you want to take advantage of flying Lufthansa’s 747-8i out of Washington DC or experience the new business class cabin on the A330. Cabins book up fast so decide if you’re going to visit Vienna, Munich, Prague, Rome, Dresden or (insert your favorite European city here) and book your tickets!
Before you start packing, please note that this contest is NOT open to residents of the USA, Canada and mega-power Italy…..BUT is still a fantastic opportunity if you have the proper citizenship.
To celebrate their 20th Anniversary Miles & More has launched a fantastic contest that runs through the end of September which will award a very LUCKY WINNER (and an even luckier guest) a trip around the world consisting of 20 BUSINESS CLASS segments on any combination of Miles & More member airlines including Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss, germanwings, LOT Polish, Croatia Airlines, Adria, Luxair and Air Dolomiti. Additionally, United Airlines is part of the group as well for the purposes of this contest (or did United join Miles & More when no one was looking??).
Anywho, the contest is actually entertaining and requires a little bit of effort to be eligible for the fantastic prize. To become eligible for the drawing, you must answer 20 questions based on 20 different destinations. You have to use the contest’s “Departure Board” to gain access to the questions and you can only answer a question on a destination if a flight to/from that destination is currently taking place. In other words, it will take you a bit of time to get through all 20 questions and you’ll need to check the contest entry page often to see which flights are active. This is what the departure board looks like:
You use this board to gain access to the 20 questions that you need to answer. You can only answer questions if a flight is active.
For each of the 20 destination related questions, you’ll have 4 answer options to choose from. Once you correctly answer each question you will gain a boarding pass. Once you have collected all 20 boarding passes you will entered into the Grand Prize Drawing.
The contest runs from 2 September to 30 September. The winner must begin their trip by 31 December 2014 but the trip can be completed in stages so long as the first stage takes place by 31 December 2014.
The winner will also receive 2 nights accomodation at 4-star Marriott or equivalent hotel in each city along their journey. Should the winner wish to spend extra time in a given destination, the additional night’s lodging will be at the winner’s expense.
SWISS is holding a sale until 2 September that will let you upgrade to Business Class for half of the usual cost. The sale covers travel on SWISS that originates in Switzerland and takes place between 17 September and 16 December. The prices of the upgrade are dependent on the specific destination, starting from CHF 75 for a one-way upgrade and going as high CHF 125. A round-trip upgrade is double the price of a one-way upgrade.
For those passengers that take advantage of the Upgrade Sale, they will receive the following benefits:
– Dedicated Business Class Check-In
– Increased baggage allowance (2 checked bags at 32kg each + 2 carry-on pieces at 8kg each) and priority baggage handling.
– Business Lounge access.
– Enhanced in-flight dining.
– Miles And More members will earn Business Class bonus miles.
The Business Upgrade Sale covers all of SWISS’ European network except for the following destinations/routes: Dublin, Lisbon, Moscow, Basel-London, Geneva-Barcelona and intra-Switzerland travel.
The contest is easy. Simply provide Lufthansa with your best tip for getting your ZZZZZZ’s during a long haul flight. If your suggestion is one of 10 picked during a public voting session and is then picked by a Lufthansa Jury, you WIN! Easy Peasy.
You’ll need to hurry, entries must be submitted by midnight on Saturday, June 22. The public voting period will last from June 24 to July 5 to select the finalists and then a Lufthansa Jury will decide the GRAND PRIZE WINNER between July 8 and July 12. The winner will be announced on or about July 19, 2013.
The contest is open to legal US residents age 18 and over. According to the rules you can enter 5 times. Additional rules can be found here.
Over the last few weeks, Lufthansa has begun to refine it’s already excellent onboard dining experience with upgrades to Cutlery, China and other related items. You’ll notice onboard that the cabin crew will have completely new serving utensils; including new pitchers for beverages, pepper grinders, coffee dispensers etc. The changes aim to make the dining experience on board more like the experience that you would have in a high quality restaurant.
Passenger China, Glassware and Silverware have been updated as well. For First Class passengers, gone are the wire towers that held your appetizers. They have been replaced with a serving platter that will contain all 3 appetizers that are typically availabe. Additional the Caviar Service will be it’s own course and no longer combined with appetizers. Business Class passengers will also notice obvious improvements to dining hardware and menus.
These changes apply to First and Business Class international routes as well as in Business Class on short and medium-haul flights within Germany and Europe.
2 days ago, Lufthansa released a video highlighting the changes that you can expect going forward:
