Well well well, it seems superb long-haul sales are not the exclusive territory of Etihad and Qatar Airways! Pretty much out of nowhere, SWISS has launched some terrific prices out of London in what they are calling a ‘Companion Special’ sale.

For those of you who haven’t heard much about the SWISS business class offering before, it has an excellent reputation. I haven’t flown with them on a long-haul routing but if their short-haul business class is anything to go by, you will be well looked after.

What makes this offer all the more worthy of your attention is the rarity of such an extensive SWISS sale – the ability to start from London is also particularly unusual!

Here is the full list of participating cities – I have highlighted those prices that are exceptionally good:

Tel Aviv (TLV) from GBP 578

Cairo (CAI) from GBP 672

Muscat (MCT) from GBP 978

Dubai (DXB) from GBP 1028

Delhi (DEL) from GBP 1079

Mumbai (BOM) from GBP 1128

Beijing (PEK) from GBP 1179

Shanghai (PVG) from GBP 1179

Nairobi (NBO) from GBP 1279

Singapore (SIN) from GBP 1379

Johannesburg (JNB) from GBP 1398

Dar es Salaam (DAR) from GBP 1527

Bangkok (BKK) from GBP 1529

Hong Kong (HKG) from GBP 1579

Just how good are these deals?

In a word, excellent. In fact, they beat the current BA sale prices, which I covered in a separate article today, by a considerable distance.

Availability generally is excellent. A notable exception is Johannesburg which seems to have dried up fairly quickly – not surprising really given just how good the price they are offering is. There does still seem to be some availability around March and June next year, so definitely worth a quick search.

Let’s take Singapore as an example, here is the total price for two people travelling on direct business class flights from London in October:

Google flights screenshot of alternative direct flights to Singapore

And here is the price on the same dates using the current SWISS sale (click to enlarge):

Final price page of SWISS companion sale

As you can see, by booking during this promotion you would be saving just almost £2,000 on your flights!

It is also worth remembering that unlike some other airlines (looking at you BA!) SWISS offer free seat selection at time of booking for business class passengers.

For a couple wishing to ensure they are seated together, that benefit could easily be worth £250 considering the prices that you have to pay on the likes of BA if you wish to pre-select seats but have no elite status.

Anything else?

I have focussed so far on the best of the business class deals, but it is worth noting that there are also some superb First Class deals available in this sale.

SWISS First is one of the best in the business (no pun intended!) and tends to elude many of those in the miles and points world given that only those with top-tier status in their loyalty program; Miles and More, can book First Class seats using miles.

Standout deals can be found to the likes of Beijing, Shanghai and Singapore, where prices are quite literally 50% cheaper than the alternative non-stop services!

There is a separate page with the First Class deals here. 

How to book

The easiest way to book these business class deals is via this special offer page on swiss.com

Details of the First Class offers can be found here

At the bottom of both pages is an easy-to-use calendar function that allows you to see dates where the promotional prices are available without having to search for a specific date each time. 

  • Book by 3rd July 2017
  • As this is a ‘Companion Special’ you must be booking for 2 passengers to achieve the above pricing.
  • Travel between 1st July 2017 and 31st March 2018
  • Minimum stay requirement = 3 days
  • No changes/refunds possible

Verdict

I am thoroughly impressed with this sale – I would go as far as to say, for many people this will even beat the very best Qatar Airways deals!

Unlike the Qatar offers,  you don’t have to start from somewhere like Oslo/Copenhagen with a further stop in Doha. I know that those sort of ‘two-stop’ itineraries are sometimes just too much for those not blessed with unlimited annual leave!

This sale is definitely worth a look.  

 

 

Header image credit:  Fedor Selivanov / Shutterstock.com