5 Travel Tips

If you are reading this, you are probably either interested in travel or planning a trip abroad. Here are some tips to enhance your experience whilst flying.

1) Priority Pass

You may have heard of a Priority Pass, which allows you into airport lounges all over the world. There are three membership levels, which can be bought here: Standard (£69), which allows you into any of their lounges for an extra fee of £20; Standard Plus (£189), which allows you into any of their lounges for an extra fee of £20, plus 10 free visits; and Prestige (£339), which allows you into any of their lounges for free. Obviously, you should decide which one is best depending on how often you travel, but this could save you some money on duty-free and guarantee you a place to sit.

2) Look at prices for multiple airports

I sort of spoke about this one in my last article. If you use a site such as Kayak, Google Flights or Skyscanner to find your flights, you may be able to find a cheaper airport to fly from. For example, if you live in London, it may be cheaper to drive or get the train to Charles De Gaulle than travelling from your closest airport. If you travel First Class with a certain airline, say British Airways, it could be cheaper if you get the train to Charles De Gaulle, then got a Business seat to Heathrow and then changed there for first class, as you are travelling part of your journey in a lower class. If that didn't make sense, just check my previous post, you may understand this concept better. I should also add that this doesn't always work, but it's worth a shot.

3) Never buy Economy Standard

If your airline lets you choose Economy Basic, Economy Standard or sometimes, on longer flights, Premium Economy, choose Basic or Premium. Economy Standard usually just means you can take a checked baggage and book your seat in advance, which, for how much extra it costs, isn't really worth it. I suggest paying a bit more for the extra benefits of Premium Economy, or just travelling with Economy Basic and trying to fit as much into the overhead bins and your handbag as possible. Economy Standard may just end up putting your trip price unnecessarily high for a small benefit that wastes time and makes it harder to get around.

4) DON'T pay for Wi-Fi

If you are told that you can pay, for example, $30 for 200MB of Wi-Fi, ignore it. This is way too high for such little internet. If, for example, you do a work call with it, you may even run out within 30 minutes! I suggest that yo check the entertainment before leaving, and download some movies onto your phone or laptop before leaving to watch offline.

5) If you eat/drink on an aeroplane, make sure that it is free with the flight.

While you are on your plane, you may feel hungry or thirsty. A flight attendant will probably come through at some point and ask you if you want food. If it isn't included, say no. It is way too overpriced. For example, a Ryanair meal will cost you €10, even though it only includes three items. It is much better if you either don't eat at all or buy food from duty-free or a newsstand. This is also expensive, but  is usually way cheaper.

Why is this FIRST CLASS FLIGHT so cheap?

 Yesterday I was looking through Google Flights to see how much a Swiss Air flight to Hong Kong costs in first class, as I had seen a video about one. I noticed that it brought up a return British Airways First Class flight from Zurich via Heathrow for £3109. That was weird, because at the moment, a British Airways flight from Heathrow costs £3680. I thought that I'd see if there was anything cheaper, and found that a first class flight from Paris CDG to Hong Kong  cost £2886. That's about a thousand US dollars cheaper than a flight that is the same, except there is an extra flight before it. I know, you actually need to get to Paris, but £800 can certainly pay for a return train from London to Paris.

Why is this? Well, I have two simple reasons.

1) Tax - flying out of the UK is extremely expensive, as it has one of the highest taxes on flights in the world. If you fly from CDG or Zurich, I don't know for sure, but I think it avoids paying as much tax, as you don't actually enter the country.

2) Business Class - Before writing this article, I realised that most airlines don't have first class on European flights, so I checked, and, sure enough, the leg from CDG to LHR was in business class. I wouldn't be surprised if the reason the flights are so cheap is because you get a discount for flying partially in Business Class. By the way, if you thought you'd use the first class lounge at Heathrow, the layover is usually over four hours, so you'd definitely have time.

Of course, £2886 isn't cheap, but it's still way, way cheaper than an Etihad or Emirates Suite with more stops, probably because part of the journey is in Business Class, so you get a discount on First Class.

Even if you fly from Heathrow, £3680 is still cheap for First Class. The other company that does nonstop flights to Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific, charge £9449 for a first class ticket. British Airways First Class is cheap but good if you're going on a long haul flight.