Flights to Belfast

DBarrack

I am having to travel to Belfast from England many times in a year. I was wondering if anybody knew of any cheap airlines with loyalty programmes or anything like that? anything to keep prices down.

Doshwaster

DBarrack wrote: »

I am having to travel to Belfast from England many times in a year. I was wondering if anybody knew of any cheap airlines with loyalty programmes or anything like that? anything to keep prices down.

In the airline industry "cheap" and "loyalty" don't tend to go together. The likes of Ryanair and Easyjet don't have reward programs.

Where are you going to be flying from in England? What kind of loyalty rewards are you looking for - free flights, upgrades, lounge access...?

Until recently I would have said the best reward scheme on the route was with BMI from Heathrow but following their recently announced acquisition by BA the loyalty scheme will be moving the BA's Executive Club. Of all the ex-BMI routes, the Belfast one is probably the safest post-takeover as it would be politically impossible to cancel it.

DBarrack

Thanks for the reply,

I can be travelling from either Birmingham, Luton or East Midlands airports preferably the latter. Discounts on flights would be preferable as a frequent flyer. I was wondering if there is possibly any discount scheme out there for flying similar to rail cards for rail travel. Anything to lower my costs really.

Buzby

There are good deals of the ferry (to Belfast from Heysham and Scotland) and if you travel enough you can save 50%. However, with limited competition there's no requirement to be competitive in flying there, so the price you see is the price you pay - just book as far ahead as possible.

Doshwaster

DBarrack wrote: »

Thanks for the reply,

I can be travelling from either Birmingham, Luton or East Midlands airports preferably the latter. Discounts on flights would be preferable as a frequent flyer. I was wondering if there is possibly any discount scheme out there for flying similar to rail cards for rail travel. Anything to lower my costs really.

Birmingham and East Midlands are BMIBaby routes but it's uncertain what will happen once the BMI sale goes through to BA. BMIBaby wasn't part of the deal but Lufthansa (the current owner) are having trouble finding a buyer.

Also, bear in mind that there are two airports in Belfast - Belfast International and Belfast City (George Best).

DBarrack

Thanks for replies guys.

The ferry is a bit out of my reach as it would be at least a 3 hour drive to the nearest port thus negating any savings I would make in time and petrol costs. I have been using a combination of either easyjet or BMIbaby depending on which has been cheaper at the time. I will continue to book as far ahead as possible. Thank you all.