Business class sales: Virgin ex EU from £1048 to US + Finnair to Asia from £1449

Yesterday BA launched their latest sale but there may be some better bargains to be had if you take a more indirect routeing.

Virgin Atlantic ex EU from Dublin

If you are willing to do a bit of extra travelling there are more bargains available with ex EU flights from Dublin via London or Manchester with Virgin Atlantic. I have done some of these myself and although I now hate the site of Dublin airport it can be a good way to pick up some BA tier points/flights and also get a good deal to the US.

Upper Class

The connecting flights from Dublin can either be on BA, Aer Lingus or Flybe. Personally, I would pick BA since there is no business class on the other 2 and you don’t get any discount for picking the others. If you are considering the deal you may want to read my guide to ex EU flights or my guide to ex EU flights from Dublin. Remember that there are a lot of aircraft swaps out of Manchester with the B787s out of service. You will probably want to avoid Manchester and head for Heathrow where you can enjoy the Clubhouse lounge too. You can read my reviews of Virgin Atlantic Upper Class and the Heathrow Clubhouse here.

If you are flying through Heathrow on Virgin before the 14th January you will be able to see the igloo installed on the Virgin Clubhouse terrace. There is still some last minute availability if you fancy booking something.

Virgin Igloo

Prices flying Dublin via Manchester or London to the USA per person in Upper Class start from:

Miami £1048
New York £1035
Boston £1051
Los Angeles £1156
San Francisco £1154
Seattle £1112
Las Vegas £1116
Orlando £1055
Washington £1051

The rules for these fares are for travel 25 December to 31 March 18 for the transatlantic sectors. Even after these dates, there are still some excellent fares so it is well worth a look. You can stopover for £75 although less than 24 hours is normally free. There is 7-day minimum stay requirement as well.

You can’t book these direct with Virgin Atlantic. I normally book mine through Expedia or Ebookers.

Finnair

Finnair A330

Finnair usually have the best offers for flying to Asia if you don’t want to do an ex EU. They also have the advantage of a good business class product with all aisle access seats on the A350 plus you earn more tier points and Avios than flying direct! The A350 has the same reverse herringbone seats as Qatar. Their other long haul aircraft, the A330 (pictured above), has nearly all aisle access seats in a 1-2-1, 2-2-1 configuration. You can read my Finnair A350 business class review here.

Prices return from London Heathrow via Helsinki in business class start from: