Virgin Atlantic Reward and Reward+ Credit Cards

The airline loyalty scheme with the most members in the UK, is undoubtably the British Airways Executive Club. BA's loyalty scheme is followed closely behind by the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. Both loyalty schemes offer co-branded credit cards (such as BA-Amex Premium Plus card) in order to collect miles faster and more efficiently. The focus of this article will be the Virgin Atlantic Reward and Reward Plus cards issued by Virgin Money in partnership with Mastercard. Contrary to the BA American Express cards, you won't have any problem finding a place to shop or eat that accepts Mastercard. Indeed, not all retail outlets are equipped with the possibility to pay with American Express cards. So, should you apply for the free card, or the Plus card with a £160 annual fee? Let's find out!

Virgin 787 landing at Heathrow. Picture by @josephtakingpics on Instagram

BA Amex UK Blue and Premium Plus cards Review

Having an American Express credit card in your wallet for purchases is one of the best ways to earn points towards flights. In this article, we will take a look at the co-branded Amex UK and British Airways credit cards. In the UK, three different cards exist : a business card (upcoming review) and two personal cards. Here, we will compare the British Airways-American Express credit card (free), with the BA Amex UK Premium Plus card (£195 annual fee). So is the Premium Plus Card with an annual fee of £195 worth it over the free card? Let's take a look.

British Airways 747 by @josephtakingpics on Instagram

Swiss A gates Business Lounge Zurich

Zurich Airport is Swiss's largest hub. Swiss offer an extensive list of destinations to choose from departing from Zurich. The Swiss national carrier does not have its own terminal in Zurich, which means that it needs to have facilities for business class passengers all around the airport. This is why Swiss has 3 lounges at Zurich; one near the A gates, one near the D gates (also used for B gates) and one for the satellite E gates. Most Swiss and Edelweiss (Swiss subsidiary) long-haul flights depart from the E gates. Therefore, the best business class lounge is located here. Unfortunately, I wasn't travelling on a long-haul business class flight. However, I visited the A gates lounge rather than the D gates lounge, due to the A gates lounge being renovated a few months ago; I only had one hour between flights, so unfortunately not enough time to visit both lounges. Let's now look at how this lounge accommodates for Business Class passengers' needs.

Conference room in the Swiss Business Lounge

EasyJet Carbon Offsetting Announcement - Can we now fly carbon neutral ?

"We’re the first major airline to offset the carbon emissions from the fuel used for every single flight"
This was the announcement made by EasyJet, on the 20th of November 2019, but why would a budget carrier spend £15million on such an ambitious project? Is it too good to be true? Can you now fly without worrying about the impact of your CO2 emissions? All will be explained here.

EasyJet A319 on final; by @josephtakingpics on instagram

Swiss Business Class GVA-ZRH

On the 21st October, as part of a two segment flight to London, I flew business class from Geneva to Zurich. However, European business class is not always regarded as such a big upgrade from economy class... On long-haul flights, the difference is much more significant with lie flat seats in business class. Let's take a look at what Swiss' business class product looks like and if it is worth the extra money/miles.

Headrest of seat 4F (Businessa Class seat) on HB-JCL

Swiss Business Class Lounge Geneva

A few months ago, I found a great deal for business class flights to London from Geneva. This special offer was to celebrate Valentine's day (40% off two people travelling in business class). The flights were just about the same price with a stop in Zurich as direct flights. Swiss has 3 lounges available to business class passengers travelling through Zurich airport, so why not go in two lounges for the price of 1, in addition to 2 business class flights instead of just one. Here is my review of the first lounge I visited.

Swiss Business Class Lounge at Geneva Airport

British Airways Reward Flight Saver

British Airways Executive Club is the most used Air Miles scheme in the UK. British Airways offers very reasonable redemptions for premium classes on long haul routes, even though in most cases taxes are extremely high. There are a handful of ways to get around the high taxes, but that’s not the subject of today’s article… Today, we are looking at how you could fly to some amazing destinations in Europe for only 8,000 Avios + £35 return! Let’s have a look at how booking with this scheme (British Airways Reward Flight Saver), could be a smart use of Avios.

British Airways 787 by @josephtakingpics on Instagram

Fly-In Prangins 2019

On the 24th August, La Côte Airport opened its doors for the 6th edition of the "fly-in CASG"; a free event where about 4000 visitors from mostly Switzerland, meet up to watch a load of planes flyby or even pay for a short flight experience in an aircraft over the lake (Leman). I didn't have anything planned that day so a friend and I decided to travel to the air show and meet some of our spotter friends at the event.

Grumman/Eastern TBM-3R Avenger HB-RDG