Bits: I’m flying a Boeing 747-8i today, Lufthansa UK deals, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and miles

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News in brief:

The future of the Boeing 747-8i

Today I will be flying a Boeing 747-8i via Lufthansa for the first and possibly last time, on my way to New York.

The 747-8i – a stretched version of the 747-4 with a longer upper deck – has been a huge commercial failure with only three airlines ordering the passenger version. Given that the other two are Air China and Korean Air, Lufthansa seemed the best chance of giving it a go.

At almost six metres longer than the Airbus A340-600, it is the longest passenger airline in operation. The failure of the programme is part of the general trend away from larger aircraft which has also hit the A380, but the latter has sold better due to having a modern design rather than being based on a 40-year old lineage.

There have only been 47 orders for the 747-8 passenger version. Lufthansa has taken 19 (all delivered), Korean Air has 10 (nine delivered) and Air China 7 (all delivered). The rest are destined for the business jet / VIP market.

If you are very lucky, you may get to spot a Boeing 747-8 at Heathrow. From 26th March, one of the two daily Heathrow services operated by Korean Air has switched to a 747-8i. This is the first time that the aircraft has been used at Heathrow.

I found this article from Routes News interesting and worth a read if you have five minutes. It looks at the future – or not – of both the A380 and B747-8 programmes. This Wikipedia article gives you a decent rundown on the whole Boeing 747-8 programme.

Special Lufthansa deals from UK to Japan

Speaking of Lufthansa ….. if our recent Japan coverage has encouraged you to visit this summer, Lufthansa has launched a good business class sale for UK departures. Click here for details.

These prices are not as low as, say a Qatar Airways sale but you are do get to fly from the UK without positioning in Europe. Lufthansa has connections from many regional airports to Frankfurt so you may also get to avoid Heathrow.

The headline prices is £1799 return to Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo or Nagoya.

There are also similar deals around £1799 to Dubai, Seoul and various cities in India. Other Asian destinations are a touch over £2000 return.

You must book by 23rd June for travel between 23rd July and 31st August. Full terms are on the Lufthansa website here.

Miles & More partners with Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Car rental groups have generally been strong partners with frequent flyer schemes, but for some reason Enterprise Rent-A-Car has never fully embraced this.

The Enterprise Rent-A-Car UK website only shows Flying Blue (KLM, Air France) and – oddly – airberlin – as mileage earning partners.

Enterprise has recently launched a deal with Lufthansa Miles & More, however. You will usually earn 500 miles per rental but, until the end of July, this is tripled to 1,500 Miles & More miles per rental.

Details are on the Miles & More website here.

Category

Air France KLM and Flying Blue, Lufthansa and Miles & More, oneworld alliance partners

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

Wally1976 says:

13 Jun13 June 10:56

OT – anyone know if Avro Energy accept payment by Amex? It’s energy switch time for me and trying to decide the best option. My current provider, EDF, do take it :-). Obviously taking Amex is not the most important factor when selecting energy provider but it is a small factor and one that’s difficult to find out!
- Genghis says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 11:03
  
  Or find if you can get a paypoint card and pay at Co Op?
  - Wally1976 says:
    
    13 Jun13 June 11:29
    
    Yes that would be a suitable alternative if anyone has any information that that’s possible.
Andrew H says:

13 Jun13 June 11:28

O/T

A warning to everyone

Back on August 7th 2016 Rob published an article for a 4500 avios bonus if you subscribed to the Sunday Times Travel magazine (link https://headforpoints.com/2016/09/29/4500-avios-for-a-30-subscription-to-the-sunday-times-travel-magazine/)

I was thinking that I’m coming to the end of the 12 month subscription and wondered how many issues I had left. I checked my account and noticed it said ‘Your subscription will renew automatically’!!! (which I don’t want it to, as I only signed up for the avios). I just called the Sunday Times customer service and cancelled the Direct Debit. If you signed up as well, make sure you call them to cancel, or just cancel it direct with your bank. Should be listed as ‘NEWS UK’ or ‘NEWS INTERNATIONAL’ on your bank account apparently.

To log in to your Sunday Times account you’ll need your account number which should have been emailed to you at the time.
- terry silver says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 11:31
  
  I cancelled my direct debit 10 seconds after the points posted.
  
  I do actually like the magazine though!
  - Genghis says:
    
    13 Jun13 June 11:51
    
    Good for ideas but some of the prices noted in the STTM seem wild.
  - Andrew H says:
    
    13 Jun13 June 12:10
    
    I posted this just in case some had forgotten to cancel. Like me! 🙂
    - AVM says:
      
      13 Jun13 June 13:57
      
      I do like you, Andrew (even though I have no STTM subscription!).
  - Alex W says:
    
    13 Jun13 June 13:33
    
    I just paid 12 months up front with no direct debit. Magazine is ok but i was hoping for handy vouchers inside offering free points etc but no such luck!
  - Alan says:
    
    14 Jun14 June 01:14
    
    I cancelled after points posted too 😉 Content is OK – some lovely photos although I find there’s not a massive amount of content to it. Their quick tear-out guides can be handy though.
- Rob says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 13:17
  
  There were 2 options – £32 if you paid a one off sum and £30 if you agreed a direct debit which autorenewed. I paid the extra £2, just to be sure!
- John W says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 19:10
  
  Thanks Andrew , good reminder
  Just logged onto my account and I have 3 issues left and it is set to renew automatically
  Just cancelled the direct debit with bank .
  That’s a saving which I would have missed – appreciated !
  - Andrew H says:
    
    14 Jun14 June 00:08
    
    You’re welcome. Suspect this may catch a few people out.
Oh! Matron! says:

13 Jun13 June 11:33

Was in JFK at the weekend. Counted at least 10 380s (Etihad, Emirates, Air France, BA (I think)).

Whilst it’s not cheap to run, I don’t understand why more airlines run this out of JFK. Virgin, for example have two flights (VS4 and VS46) within 30 mins of each other. Surely this would free up two slots (Land / take off) and LHR where Virgin could launch another flight somewhere else?

Paul
- Lumma says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 16:01
  
  Is it not the point with New York-London that, due to its business heavy customer base, extra frequencies are better for the airlines as more high paying people are on flexible tickets so the more departures the better or someone night change to a rival airline with more frequent options.
AndrewS says:

13 Jun13 June 12:36

O/T Hilton Barclaycard.
Have just hit the 10k calendar year spend requirement on the card to trigger Gold status.
Any idea how quickly Barclaycard communicate this to HH and how soon the HH status change takes effect? I’m not getting a clear response on this from Barclaycard themselves.
Got 2 redemption stays booked 2nd week of July and hoping it’ll be in place by then….
Thanks.
- Jon says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 13:19
  
  Hi Andrew. I got my Gold Status upgrade within a week of hitting the trigger- so I’m sure even if they are a bit slower than that, you should still be fine for early-mid July!
  - AndrewS says:
    
    13 Jun13 June 16:30
    
    Thanks Jon, fingers crossed then!
Gareth says:

13 Jun13 June 12:43

Novotel related
From 5.50pm on Wed 14 Jun, hotel chain Novotel is offering 100,000 £50 standard rooms – but you’ll have to be quick as the offer ends after only 50 minutes, at 6.40pm.
- Gareth says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 12:43
  
  From money saving expert
- Rob says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 13:14
  
  100k is a huge number of rooms for a small chain – you won’t struggle for availability anyway!
- David says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 16:52
  
  Hi Gareth – I can’t find details of this. Do you have a link? It’d be really useful for a few weekends where I was planning on a happy mondays deal! Many thanks!
  - David says:
    
    13 Jun13 June 16:54
    
    And then I googled it. Sorry for being an idiot – found it of course!
Johnt says:

13 Jun13 June 12:58

Another offer from Lufthansa
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/lufthansa-surprise-cheap-flights-unknown-destination/amp/
Only from 2 german airports. Probably ok if happy to gamble on finding a hotel as well. Like the idea though. Come on uk airlines?
Nicky says:

13 Jun13 June 13:16

O/T: I live in the North of England, so normally use BA domestic to get to Heathrow. This weekend I flew from Newcastle to Amsterdam on KLM. I have to admit to being impressed. The flight was roughly an hour and like in the BA good old days we were served with a drink, sandwich and biscuit shortly after take off: all at no charge. The initial ticket price was very reasonable. It makes me question IAG’s motive to allow such a steep decline to our ‘national carrier’, It’s crazy. I now question whether I should be looking into flying KLM via Amsterdam to the USA in future.
- Fenny says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 13:24
  
  If I lived near one of the regional airports, I’d fly via Amsterdam instead of BA. I haven’t flown KLM / Northwestern for more than 20 years, but they were always pretty good.
- Anna says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 16:46
  
  Two years ago we used KLM/AirFrance/Delta to fly from Manchester to the Caribbean in economy as they were charging £2200 for 3 of us, as opposed to the £3500 BA wanted! They were absolutely fine (apart from having to go via the US but you have to do that unless you use BA, hence BA’s eye-watering prices), and definitely worth saving £1300 as there was no discernible difference in the level of service.
- RussellH says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 20:38
  
  Also live in the North of England; just back from an all M+M miles trip from Manchester to Dresden. LH are still offering beer and sandwiches on the UK->D leg.
  
  The last time I flew LH was 2012 and back then LH were providing müsli bars and beer. The müsli bars were disgusting – they tasted like 1d chews from when I was in lower primary! The sandwiches, though small, were a definite **improvement**. BA please take notice!
  
  The domestic legs, being less than 60 mins still offered beer, but the sandwich was replaced by a Tschoko-Leibnitz handed out on boarding. There must have been a few spares on the DRS-FRA leg, as a large group of little girls walked past us with big smiles and a Tschoko-Leibnitz in each hand. I would hazard a guess that they will want to fly LH again.
  
  Just a little thing, but it does make BA look like skinflints.
n says:

13 Jun13 June 14:38

O/T – Does holding an Amex Plat as a supp stop me from earning sign-up bonuses from the PRGC?
- Genghis says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 14:44
  
  No
- Rob says:
  
  13 Jun13 June 15:17
  
  No
  - N says:
    
    13 Jun13 June 20:30
    
    Wonderful news, thanks.