News & offers: BA First from £1697, CW from £1286, Hilton status match & 50% off Sundays

British Airways First Class UK to US from £1697

Inverness and London are fast overtaking Dublin as the places to find the best British Airways business class fares to the US. The BA London to US fares that I talked about in this article are still available at the time of publishing and offer Club World fares from £1320 providing you book 6 months in advance. These are available from Inverness for around £100 cheaper too. The easiest way to find cheap fares from London is with BA’s low fare finder which shows the lowest fares to each city by date.

Some good First and business class fares have now appeared from Inverness with only a 28-day advance purchase requirement. Obviously, you need to get to Inverness first but at least it is an easy option if you are based in the London area. You should be able to incorporate a night in Inverness on the ticket providing you have less than 24 hours stopover.

The fares start from:

First

• New York £1787
• Boston £1747
• Chicago £1697
• Miami £2094

Club World

These fares are not the lowest available all year, just until the 6-month advance fares start at the end of September.

• New York £1387
• Boston £1337
• Chicago £1286
• Miami £1664

The First fares are changeable and refundable for a fee but the Club World fares are non-refundable and non-changeable. Both require a minimum stay of a Saturday night.

If you are looking for a Hawaii holiday or tier point run there are some reasonable deals for £1781 from Amsterdam although this is poor compared to the deals we have before with London to Honolulu for around £1560 earlier this year.

You can book the tickets with British Airways here.

Hilton Honors status match

Status matching is a wonderful idea where if you have status with a hotel or airline, another one will give you the same level of status in their scheme. Hilton are usually pretty good at this although the very easy year-long matches of a few years ago have gone. Hilton’s latest status match may be of interest if you have status with another hotel chain, perhaps through your American Express Platnimum or SPG card. You will need to provide proof of your status and show that you have actually stayed at that chain.

The status match lasts for 90 days so make sure you time it for when you have some Hilton stays! You can then get full status if you complete a number of stays within the 90 days. This will extend your Hilton status match until 31 March 2019. If you’re matched to Hilton Gold status, you’ll need to complete 4 stays. If you’re matched to Diamond, you’ll need 8 stays.

Hilton offers some great benefits at Diamond and Gold. For example, at Gold, you get free breakfast, water and wi-fi and an upgrade subject to availability, at Diamond you get the same plus guaranteed access to the executive lounge. As a Diamond member I get upgraded around 90% of the time and get a suite around 70-80% of the time. Combine that with spending virtually nothing on food and drink during my stays as I often get enough to eat in the lounge in the evening, and this makes it a very valuable benefit to have.

The Hilton status match page is here.

Hilton 50% off Sundays

Hilton have a promotion on currently if you are thinking of booking a few nights at a Hilton or one of their brands such as Conrad or Waldorf Astoria at a weekend. The offer is available across US, Canada, Latin America, Caribbean, Europe, Middle East and Africa. You need to be a Hilton Honors member but it is free to sign up here.  The requirements for a minimum stay vary by location:

• USA offer requires Thursday, Friday or Saturday arrival. Thursday arrivals require a minimum stay of four (4) nights and a maximum stay of five (5) nights. Friday arrivals require a minimum stay of three (3) nights and a maximum of four (4) nights. Saturday arrivals require a three (3) night length of stay.
• In Europe, the Middle East and Africa, offer requires a minimum stay two (2) nights, and must include Sunday night (or Saturday night in certain regions).

In London, quite a few of the hotels that I have reviewed are included including the Waldorf Hilton, the Conrad and my favourite the Hilton Bankside. One of my other favourite hotels for a relaxing spa, sunshine or gourmet break, the Conrad Algarve is also included. You can read all my hotel reviews here.

The Hilton promotion page is here.