Super cheap flights to New York or Boston with Virgin Atlantic/British Airways
Fare wars. Don’t we love them. When airlines get competitive with each other in terms of pricing on a particular route, that can only be good news for us travellers.
None more so than this cracking offer flagged by God Save The Points that allows you to book return flights from London to New York or Boston for under £250!
You can choose between Virgin Atlantic or British Airways and availability seems pretty good.
For New York:
Large chunks of September, November, January, much of February and March 2020.
For Boston:
November, early December, chunks of January, much of February and March 2020.
How to book
You can book directly via the British Airways or Virgin Atlantic websites, but you’ll likely overpay unnecessarily.
Having had a quick scan of the likes of Opodo, Kayak and eBookers, I can tell you Gilbert was spot on when he suggested Skyscanner was the place for the very cheapest prices on this one. Do let me know in the comments though if you’ve found it cheaper elsewhere.
Here’s a £247 New York example that I priced up on British Airways, as well as a Boston trip for £246 on Virgin Atlantic.
Marriott offering 25% off when you buy points
Marriott is currently offering 25% off when you buy Marriott Bonvoy points. This is the first such sale that we’ve seen since the completion of the Marriott/Starwood merger and the new Marriott Bonvoy program launched.
To receive the bonus, you need to buy at least 5,000 points. At the top end, you can buy a maximum of 50,000 points for $468 (normally $625) which is about £358 at today’s exchange rates.
Considering, top category St. Regis, Ritz-Carlton and Luxury Collection properties can cost as much as 85,000 points per night, this isn’t an especially good deal. However, elsewhere on the scale, buying points can make sense.
For example, I’ve got a reservation at The Langley – a new Luxury Collection property due to open in Buckinghamshire next month. A free night at this hotel costs 35,000 Marriott points per night. Cash rates on my dates are £400+ per night. In this sale, you can buy those 35,000 points for £250 – clearly, a better deal than paying cash!
Key points you should bear in mind:
- You can buy a maximum of 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per account, per calendar year.
- New Marriott members are eligible to buy points after either 30 days (if they have some sort of ‘qualifying activity’ on their account) or 90 days of enrollment irrespective of account activity.
- Members can transfer points to each other for free – a maximum of 50,000 points can be transferred in a calendar year.
Offer ends 15th May 2019
The link to buy Marriott points with a 25% bonus is here
Marriott changes Points Advance feature
A few months back, I highlighted Marriott’s excellent Points Advance feature that allows you to make reward night reservations even if you don’t have sufficient points in your account at the time of booking. Provided you accumulate enough points 14 days prior to your stay, the booking remains valid. If you don’t, it’ll automatically be cancelled.
Traditionally, the Marriott website offered the opportunity to use Points Advance, even if you DID have enough points at the time of booking. This was useful if you wanted to lock in a number of bookings without tying up all of your Marriott points.
However, that has now changed. Marriott Points Advance is only available to those without enough points at the booking of booking. If you don’t have/care about Marriott status benefits, you can still get around this by making reservations via an ’empty’ Marriott account. Of course, you’ll need to have a way of getting enough points to it in the event you actually decide to keep your Points Advance reservation.
HT: Jeffsetter