It’s that time of year again for Black Friday sales, and there are currently some outstanding flight deals available. For example, a Star Alliance airline is currently offering lie-flat Business Class flights from Europe to Australia for as little as $2,400 round-trip!
That’s less than a third of the usual price, and significantly cheaper than any advertised Business Class airfare we’ve ever seen from Australia to Europe.
The cheap Business Class flights from Europe to Australia are with Air China via Beijing. If you’re flying from Frankfurt to Sydney, you also have the possibility to connect through Chengdu.
Air China offers fully lie-flat beds in Business Class on its long-haul aircraft, so it’s a comfortable way to fly. Air China’s long-haul fleet includes Boeing 777s and Airbus A330s, and the airline also uses new Boeing 747-8s on some flights between Frankfurt and Beijing. The main downside is that some itineraries have long layovers in Beijing. However, Air China may provide a complimentary transit hotel and airport transfers.
The cheapest flights are available from the German cities of Frankfurt, Munich or Dusseldorf to Melbourne, Sydney or Auckland. Flights on these routes are starting at just €1,477 (~AU$2,400) return. It is possible to book an open-jaw ticket, meaning you can return to a different airport to where you started your journey.
Brisbane is also listed as an Air China Business Class sale destination, although Air China does not fly to Brisbane.
The Air China Black Friday sale is running from 29 November until 2 December 2019. Fares are expected to go on sale at 10am (AEDT) today. Various travel dates in December 2019 and January, March, April, June, July and August 2020 are available.
As Air China is a Star Alliance member, you can earn miles with any Star Alliance frequent flyer program with these flights. These fares book into “R” class. With Asiana Club, for example, you would earn 110% of flown miles. On a round-trip booking from Frankfurt to Sydney, that equates to 22,887 Asiana Club miles – which puts you well on your way to earning Star Alliance Gold status.
See the Air China website for more information about this sale.
Similar sale fares are also available on Air China Business Class flights departing from London, Stockholm and Copenhagen to both Australia and New Zealand. Flights from Stockholm to Sydney, for example, start at SEK19,400 (~$2,996) return. Flights from London to Auckland are available for around $3,500 return.
Unfortunately, this deal is not available in the other direction – i.e. for round-trip tickets from Australia to Europe. Nonetheless, if you live in Australia, you could still take advantage of this deal if you travel to Europe more than once per year by “nesting” return tickets that originate in Europe.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: (Cheap) Air China: Business Europe to Australia & SE Asia (limited availability)
sadly I’m finding that not only is Air China’s website neither highly usable or functional – but the prices I am seeing are roughly double what is stated above. cant find much below 3000 Euro
It’s true that the Air China website isn’t great, but also keep in mind that this sale starts on 29 November, European time. It’s possible that the sale fares haven’t been loaded yet, so you might need to check again later.
Perth Paris and Manchester to Perth injune
I can not book the business class fare spoken of either.
There are now some dates available, although availability is limited. An example of a date/route that works has been posted in the AFF thread linked at the bottom of the article: https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/threads/cheap-air-china-business-europe-to-australia-se-asia-limited-availability.97126/page-2#post-2033654