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And you can upgrade to business class using points…

How do you know a good deal when you see it? Well, for starters, finding flights and hotels for far lower than you’d expect just to pay for flights. That’s a fair barometer, but when the price for both is hundreds less than you’d expect to pay for just one or the other, you pounce. Today there’s a simply outstanding deal which allows premium economy round trips to NYC from £560 round trip, or just £580 for the same flights with three nights of hotel included.

Virgin or BA? That’s all you gotta choose!

The Premium Economy Deals

Premium Economy to New York is hardly ever, ever under £750 between London and NYC- and that’s when it’s on sale. But right now, you can snag it for £560 round trip, or if you travel with a companion you can take an entire NYC trip for just £580 per person. Basically, solo travellers can pay record low premium prices, and those travelling in pairs can effectively pay £30 extra for three nights of hotel.

BA and Virgin have matched each others prices, which makes this one heck of a fare war.

That’s freaking bonkers. Better yet, if you book a flight + hotel package, you can put down just a £300 deposit and pay over time via British Airways Holidays, which makes the purchase even easier to plan for. If you have Avios, or credit card points which can become Avios, you can even upgrade for around £100 and 20,000 points each way. Here’s a full guide to upgrading these flights, if you book with BA.

The Dates You Can Travel

These incredible premium economy deals are available starting in January 2020 for travel through March 2020. To get the lowest prices, you’ll need to depart between Wednesday and Saturday.

Continuing the “holy crap, these are incredible” theme, the only requirement is a Friday night stay, which means you could leave on a Thursday night and come back on a Sunday for just a great long weekend getaway. Virgin is offering the same date range.

How To Book These Deals

Premium Economy for £560 round trip with a low minimum stay and no two person drama is almost unheard of, and these deals will sell out fast. So too will the £580 flights with hotels deals for just around £20 more. Here’s a link which takes you directly to the British Airways flight + hotel deals, and also one that takes you to the £560 British Airways solo travel deals.

Virgin Atlantic has matched on price, and all those deals can be found here. For the Virgin Atlantic deals, simply use the search tools to select Heathrow, New York and Premium, which will bring up the lowest prices and easy booking steps. It could be said that Virgin Atlantic offers a superior premium economy experience, but both are great.

Simply change dates to work for you, search on the dates noted above and book something great. Manhattan is always a blast, and in late March you can even enjoy a slice of spring weather – maybe. Here’s a bunch of restaurant and travel recommendations for New York, and a guide to getting from JFK into the city.

Gilbert Ott

Gilbert Ott is an ever curious traveler and one of the world's leading travel experts. His adventures take him all over the globe, often spanning over 200,000 miles a year and his travel exploits are regularly...

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12 Comments

  1. Thanks for posting this!
    I just booked a trip for two in March and will be staying at the Hyatt Centric Times Square.
    All in cost was £1327…that’s a pretty sweet deal I think!
    Oh…and I hope upgrade the flight to J on the return flight using Avios.

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  2. So I was able to secure an upgrade on my return flight (from World Traveller Plus; T class to Club World; U class) for 24,000 Avios (not 20,000 Avios). I was told by the BA rep that this is because almost all dates in Jan-Mar fall into off-peak season and the upgrade cost of 20,000 Avios only applies for dates during peak season. Seems somewhat counter-intuitive.
    Does this make sense or did I get a wrong info from the BA rep?

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  4. A mileage run in BA Premium Economy before the end of the year would certainly get me where I need to end the year as Executive Platinum. Would be nice to go over and see the X-mas markets in Europe or see Spurs.

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  5. Hi Gilbert – longtime follower here but I dont post. A couple of questions if you dont mind. Is it possible to upgrade using points for just the return (Virgin or BA). Also is it possible to upgrade virgin if the return is operated by Delta?

    Thanks so much

    Reply

    1. Hey Jeremy,

      You can use points to upgrade one way to Upper Class. Generally speaking, there shouldn’t be much difference in surcharges but the one caveat is that “K” premium economy fares aren’t upgradeable. You could always ask them to upsell you to the next highest fare, if they are only selling K in Premium. Booking direct with Virgin, it can actually be good value to book Upper one way and premium back, or vice versa. The fares are interchangeable when you book direct.

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        1. actually scrap that -i managed to find the fare code on ita matrix so i need to call them to see what an upsell would cost.

          i will also check the cash cost of premium outbound (which is a day flight so i dont need a flat bed) with upper on the return.

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  6. hi gilbert

    update – all of the premium economy fares with virgin to boston are in K class – anything above k class looks very expensive so it won’t make much sense (for me) to use miles to upgrade.

    thanks for flagging these fares though

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