Bits: Etihad ex-Dublin deals, 10% off Etihad code and half-price Priority Pass

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

Three quick deals in one article today:

Etihad ex-Dublin deals

Etihad is currently running a number of aggressive deals out of Dublin in both economy and business class.

You need to book by August 4th for travel by 30 June 2015 – although I’m pretty sure there are black out dates on particular routes at particular times.

The headline business class fares are pretty aggressive. These are in Euros, remember, so knock off 20% to get to £ figures:

Bangkok €1,765

Abu Dhabi €1,920 (cheaper to add on a side trip to Bangkok!)

Beijing €2,180

Male €2,280

…. plus many others.

From Dublin, Etihad flies a Boeing 777W and an A330-200 which both appear to offer fully flat seats in business.

Full details can be found here.

And a 10% discount code

Etihad is also currently promoting a 10% discount code for travel in September – you may have seen the ad pop up on HfP. Code GRIP002 gives you a 10% saving on the base fare, excluding taxes, on ANY Etihad flight.

It will combine with the special deals above. However, you need to book via the Etihad home page here instead of via the special offers page, as the latter does not give you a box to enter the discount code.

The Bangkok fare comes down to €1,642 return, which is excellent. I have no idea how long you can book with the GRIP002 code but travel dates must be in September.

Half-price Priority Pass

Amazon Local has brought back their ‘half price Priority Pass’ deal for a few days.

The link to buy is here.

Priority Pass is a network of 600 airport lounges across the globe. Some are run independently whilst others are ‘official’ airport lounges which are happy to sell seats to the general public.

In the UK, the lounges run from dire (Servisair Terminal 1 at Heathrow) through to fantastic (the No 1 Traveller lounge at Heathrow Terminal 3 and Gatwick North and South, and the new United Club in Heathrow Terminal 2).

If you are an American Express Platinum member, you receive 2 Priority Pass cards – each admitting two people – for free. These cards also allow unlimited lounge visits.

For everyone else, there is the option of buying a Priority Pass card and then paying for individual lounge visits. The standard cost of a 1-year Priority Pass is £69, but via this Amazon Local deal you pay just £34.

This does not include the cost of your lounge visits, of course. You will still need to pay your £15 per visit, per person.

(Amazon is also offering a £49 version of the deal which includes one free lounge visit. This is absolutely no different in total cost to buying the £34 version with no visits!)

Whether this makes sense for you depends entirely on what airlines and airports you use. The biggest users of Priority Pass, I think, are companies who gives passes to their employees as a trade-off for having to fly economy.

For an individual, it might make sense if you did – say – 15 visits over a year. This would amortise the cost per visit, including the card fee, down to £17. Only a small number of lounges would be worth that, however – and the more stays you do, the more sense it makes to get an Amex Platinum to get a free Priority Pass. It is also worth remembering that the No 1 Traveller lounges at Heathrow and Gatwick are ‘pay to enter’ for anyone, albeit for more than £15.

Category

Etihad and Etihad Guest

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Geoggy says:

31 Jul31 July 07:17

So am I an idiot?

Have used my Amex Plat Priority Pass twice in last week for lounge access for 3 of us and I’ve been charged 15 quid each time.

You seem to suggest I should get 4 people in free or have I misread?
- Andrew says:
  
  31 Jul31 July 07:30
  
  You can get a second PP with a supplementary Plat card, so if your partner had that, then you could have got the three of you in for free.
  
  With just your card, you got 1 free guest and 1 @ £15, as you have found.
- Adam W says:
  
  31 Jul31 July 07:32
  
  Raffles’ post is not quite as accurate as it could be. You and your Amex Plat supplementary cardholder both receive one Priority Pass card. Each card entitles complimentary admission for two people. So if one of the other two that you were travelling with was your Amex Plat supplementary cardholder and had their Priority Pass card with them, you should not have paid the additional £15. However, if you were the only PP cardholder, they were correct in charging the £15.
Richie says:

31 Jul31 July 07:27

A couple of years Argo I had the priority pass, I paid £107 and this included 10visits in a year..
- sandgrounder says:
  
  31 Jul31 July 08:01
  
  I got 15 months with 10 visits via a Marriott Rewards promotion for £127 earlier this year.
Adam W says:

31 Jul31 July 07:35

I’m delighted to see that the EY discount is only for September flights after I booked my November flights with them last night! Although I can’t complain about the value (BKK-AUH return in Business for £680), I’d have been annoyed to realise I’d missed an extra discount!
nick says:

31 Jul31 July 08:58

I seem to have endless free lounge passes for various things. The best one I find is the Airport angels card I get through my barclays current account. I pay for their travel pack which includes European roadside assistance and worldwide travel insurance for me and my girlfriend- two things I’d buy anyway and basically cover the annual cost of the travel pack so the 6 free lounge entries are pretty much free.
tony says:

31 Jul31 July 09:25

There are some similar fares on offer from across other European starting points to BKK too, as I understand it, with Oman Air ex Paris being the stand-out for me.

Re the lounge access, if you just need it occasionally, it’s worth pricing up against people like Holiday Extras, too. We’re booked into a lounge in the summer – Holiday Extras don’t charge for the kids at that specific venue, whereas the PP list says they need to pay. So the five of us get somewhere comfy to sit with free drinks for around £8pp. In all reality that’s a couple of glasses of juice, never mind before I tuck into the G&Ts
Peter says:

31 Jul31 July 10:10

Is the priority pass one of the lasting benefits you get when you cancel Amex platinum or should I use the two complimentary Lounge Club tickets I got with my wife’s Amex Gold?

Also can anyone recommend either of The Escape or Styal Lounges at Manchester Terminal 2?
- Rob says:
  
  31 Jul31 July 10:31
  
  PPass dies when you cancel Plat.
  
  Annoyingly Lounge Pass is not accepted at United Club in Terminal 2.
  - Jy says:
    
    31 Jul31 July 16:10
    
    Does anyone know if lounge pass tickets are cancelled once we cancel our gold card? Thanks
    - Rob says:
      
      31 Jul31 July 21:03
      
      Someone posted recently that they were still able to use their two free visits even after cancelling Gold. It would be good to have further proof this was possible if you are volunteering!