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Right now there are a number of very good Business Class fares on offer between various European cities and Asia and, for a change, not all of the fares are for travel on Qatar Airways.
British Airways, Finnair and Qatar Airways are all offering discounted Business Class fares to cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore and Bangkok and, as these are all oneworld carriers, you can earn a LOT of Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM)/Tier Points and Redeemable Miles/Avios when you credit these flights to AAdvantage of the British Airways Executive Club.
Below are just a few examples of the deals that are on right now but, if you look around, you’ll almost certainly find great fares to other Asian cities too.
Finnair
Scandinavia to Beijing from $1,863 Roundtrip
- Travel by 30 September 2018
- Book by 31 January 2018
- Saturday night stay required
- Maximum stay is 1 month
- 2 free stopovers available – 1 in each direction
This fare is extremely easy to find from now through the end of September and, just to give you an idea of how easily the fare can be found, here’s an example of March availability:
What makes this fare interesting isn’t the sub $2,000 fare (which in itself isn’t all that incredible) but it’s the fact that, because you’re flying Finnair and connecting in Helsinki, the travel time is a lot shorter than we normally see when we get fare sales to Asia.
As you’ll see from the example below, you may need to arrive back into a different city from the one you departed if you’re to get the lowest possible fare.
Also, it’s worth noting that you can book the excellent Finnair A350 Business Class cabin in both directions (be careful because you’ll be offered the less fantastic A330 cabin too) and that should make for a very good trip.
Link to my Finnair A350 Business Class cabin review
British Airways
- Travel by 10 December (some fares may permit travel into 2019)
- Book by 4 February 2018
- Reservations must be made a minimum of 14 days in advance
- Saturday night stay required
- Maximum stay is 12 months
- Unlimited stopovers available – 2 at €100 each and the rest at €200 each
Brussels to Shanghai from $1,786 Roundtrip
The fare is readily available as this screenshot of May’s availability shows:
The better fares that I’ve seen require a departure from Brussels and a connection in London Heathrow:
Yes, you’ll be traveling in Club World and on a British Airways 777 and I’m not about to tell you that either of those is a great option….but the fare is pretty good and even British Airways Business Class is better than Economy Class so the fare is definitely worth considering.
Amsterdam to Bangkok from $1,666 Roundtrip
I’ll tell you now that this isn’t the cheapest Business Class fare between Europe and Bangkok (that available through Qatar Airways as I’ll show a little later) but the routing my work well for you.
The fare is, once again, easy to find as this example of November availability shows:
The better fares I’ve found are for departures from Amsterdam and, importantly, it’s possible to book a departure out of Amsterdam which is late enough that you can fly into Amsterdam on the same day (if you have to position to catch the flight) and so save on overnight hotel accommodation.
As with the fare to Bangkok this requires a routing through London Heathrow and the long-haul flights are on BA’s flying dorms 777 aircraft…but this can still be a good deal.
Here’s an example of this priced up on BA.com:
Sorry this is in Euros but that’s how BA prices things up (and I forgot to change my settings when using ITA Matrix and all my searched returned fares in USD).
Qatar Airways
- Travel by 10 December
- Blackout dates ate 9 June – 10 September 2018
- Book by 31 January 2018
- Reservations must be made a minimum of 30 days in advance
- Minimum stay is 3 days
- Maximum stay is 6 months
Stockholm to Kuala Lumpur from $1,670 Roundtrip
The ITA Matrix shows how easy this fare is to find but it also suggests that the fare is a little lower than I’ve found it to really be:
The best fare I’ve found is the $1,670 fare mentioned above….
…and the truly great news here is that you can configure your trip so that most (if not all) of your flights are on Qatar Airways 787 and A350 aircraft. Both have a very Business Class similar cabin and both are fantastic.
Qatar Airways 787 Business Class
In case you’re not sure if you’ll actually find this fare on QatarAirways.com here it is priced up (albeit in Swedish Krone):
Helsinki to Bangkok from $1,471 Roundtrip
This fare isn’t quite as easy to find as all the others I’ve mentioned so far but it’s definitely available:
Once again ITA Matrix shows the fares to be a bit lower than they actually are…but not by much:
In the example posted above the flights to/from Bangkok are on the Qatar Airways 777 (reviewed here) and the Qatar Airways 787 (reviewed here) but, speaking as some one who has just done this exact trip with Qatar Airways, I can tell you that the excellent Qatar Airways A380 is also available on this route (review coming soon!).
Scandinavia to Singapore from $1,635 Roundtrip
On this occasion the ITA Matrix search tends to show the fares as being a little more expensive than they actually are….but this screenshot should at least give you an idea of how readily available the cheapest fares are:
The best fares I found require you to fly out of Oslo and fly back into Stockholm…
…but I certainly haven’t checked all possible dates so there;s every chance you can fly in and out of the same city and still get a good fare.
Once again this is a fare that allows you to fly in some best Business Class cabins that Qatar Airways offers (the A350 and the 787) so that’s an added bonus on top of the good Business Class fare.
You’ll find all the Qatar Airways fares I’ve listed on QatarAirways.com (via this link)
Bottom Line
If you’re looking to rack up some tier points or Elite qualifying miles or if you’re just looking for a good value Business Class trip to Asia then these fares are well worth considering.
Yes, we have seen cheaper fares than these in the past but there no knowing when they’ll appear again and some of these fares (like the fare to Bangkok) are pretty close to as low as we’ve ever seen.
Anyone tempted to book any of these?…better still, has anyone found any cheaper fares than these? Let me know in the comments below.
