5 flights I’m looking forward to taking after lockdown

I’m eager to fly as soon as it’s safe to do so, and these are the flights on my radar right now:

ANA new first class, The Suite

Booking flights in ANA’s top cabins with Virgin Atlantic points has long been a favourite tip of frequent flyers, and I was recently able to book a roundtrip first class ticket between London and Tokyo for just 120,000 Flying Club miles (plus £353/ USD 430) – a great deal!

Better yet, ANA introduced new first class and business class cabins last year, and both look incredible.

The new first cabin, The Suite, is modelled on Japan’s luxury hotels and features dark wood finishes, privacy doors and a huge, crystal-clear 43-inch monitor. I can’t wait to fly it.

My trip is planned for November, which I’m hoping is far enough away that it might still be possible’

In the meantime, I’ll have to make do with watching this video of ANA’s new luxury cabins:

Vistara’s new Dreamliner business class

ANA isn’t the only airline with an impressive new product, and India’s own Vistara has just taken delivery of its first long-haul aircraft, a Boeing 787-9.

The Dreamliner features fully-flat seats in business class, as well as on-board wifi and 18-inch monitors.

There’s no word yet on the destinations Vistara will fly to using its 787 but, very soon, Air India will once again have some competition on international routes, which has to be a good thing.

We’ve had a great experience flying the airline’s premium economy and business class cabins on short-haul routes, and we’re excited to see what Vistara has in store for us with its wide-body aircraft.

Saudia, and their amazing business class fares to Asia!

Ordinarily, Saudia wouldn’t be my first choice of airline, but the airline is offering business class tickets that are too cheap to pass up.

These ridiculous fares are from Athens, Greece to a number of Asia cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Jakarta, Manila and Kuala Lumpur, with return tickets costing around £630 (USD 780).

Flights to Malaysia seem the most attractive to me as the connections are reasonable and the flights from Jeddah to Kuala Lumpur are scheduled to be operated by Saudia’s 787 Dreamliners, which look pretty good in business class.

There are a couple of big catches – most itineraries feature really long connections in Saudi Arabia, and Saudia is a dry airline, so no champagne or gin and tonics onboard!

But for that price, I’m in!

Air India business class

Though I’ve flown to India many times over the years, I’ve never flown Air India, so it’s time to put that right.

To be honest, I’ve read a few troubling things, what with fights in the cockpit and over-the-limit pilots.

And after frying my brain with Air India’s famously complicated award chart, I think I’ll skip signing up to their frequent flyer scheme’

Still, I like an adventure, and it will be good to fly the state-owned airline before it’s sold off and changes forever.

Air France (maybe!)

We recently wrote about an incredibly low Air France deal that saw one-way flights to the USA in first class for just over USD 500.

I had to bite at that price but my ticket was sadly downgraded to business class after Air France said the bit about first class was a mistake after all.

I’m booked to fly Algiers-Paris-San Francisco-Portland in December, and business class on Air France’s 777 (the plane due to fly the Paris-San Fran leg) doesn’t look bad, so I’m now debating whether to cancel the ticket or take the trip.

La Premiere, Air France’s first class, would have been so much sweeter, though…

What flights are you looking forward to taking after lockdown?