Travelling in style: eight ways to get cheap business class flights!

Travelling in style: eight ways to get cheap business class flights! Written by Alex. Published on 15th March, 2021. Category: Travel Guides, Travel News

Image above: Emerites Business Class Cabin

There is only one thing better than grabbing bargain business class tickets on a plane, which is sitting back in your cut-price business class seat, smug in the knowledge that the person next to you paid a much higher price!

Your reasons to search for cheap business class tickets are obvious. It means travelling in luxury, enjoying advantages such as whizzing past the queues and relaxing in fabulous lounges in airports. Best of all, you arrive at your destination energised and refreshed thanks to superb seats, excellent refreshments, advanced entertainment systems and attentive cabin service.

If you’re thoroughly sold on the idea of benefiting from all that – for a much lower price – then you need our insider’s guide to getting reduced-priced business class tickets. Whether you’re flying for holidays, business trips or family visits.

Get in quick with The Sales!

The old saying ‘You Snooze, You Loose”, couldn’t be more true than with airline tickets. If there’s a sale on, and you know you’re going to travel, dont hang about! Airline companies regularly launch sales for air travel tickets, when the cost of some business class flights goes much lower. This is especially true of the major airlines and the most popular travel routes.

To grab an amazing business class flight, holiday or corporate travel deal, you need to jump in quickly when these air travel sales are announced. Likely times of year include immediately after Christmas and continuing thoughout January. Then September followed by Black Friday. Finally there is often a specific busines class flight or ‘Luxury Travel’ sale around late April.

(We get alerted when these airline sales happen, so we can help you find luxury flight tickets at low prices!)

How to get upgrades at check in

Some highly fortunate travellers grab last minutes upgrades to business class seats without paying the full price, just by asking!

The airlines don’t like empty seats. They also want to maximise the investment they’ve made in the best airport lounges and luxurious business class cabins. So, if you make a request at check-in, there are occasions when companies are happy to accept a nominal extra payment to bump you from an Economy seat to a super-comfortable business class chair.

One quick tip on getting check-in upgrades is to dress reasonably smartly for your trip and be super polite…

How to get cheap business class flights pre-check in

This is similar to the above way to get cheaper business class tickets. You can sometimes secure a cut prize upgrade on an existing ticket before you arrive at the airport. The trick is to use the ‘Manage My Booking’ feature on your airline’s app or website. Close to your travel date you may be offered the opportunity to upgrade to Business Class for a highly favourable price.

Be prepared to fly any time or duration

If you don’t want to ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ and wait for a last-minute business class bargain, it is possible to find some unmissable prices in advance. This goes back to the fact that airlines want to fill seats. When they have poor ticket sales for certain flights, they are happy to discount ticket prices for business class cabins.
Flights with longer connections can cost much less and have the luxurys of lounge access!

This works especially well if your holiday or business trip travel dates are flexible, as you can book tickets based on the lowest price. Alternatively, you can sometimes get a lower than expected ticket cost by being open to landing in a different airport than previously planned.

To get the best bargains on business class, your flights may be at unsociable times or take longer to reach your destination due to a stop-over or two. Give us a shout if you want us to use our partnerships to track down the best way to travel business class on a tight budget.

Go solo

Being a solo traveller makes it easier to grab a cheap business class ticket in advance. You could well be offered an upgrade at a low cost, as there could be just one seat unsold!

Cash in on airline oversights

There are occasions when the big airline companies slip up and price tickets incorrectly, making it possible to scoop cut-price Business Class tickets. This is most likely to happen when you add together two separate flights. The cost is a fraction of flying direct, but also much lower than one ticket with a stop-over!

However, what is more common these days is overbooked flights. To make sure they optimise on ticket sales, some companies inadvertently oversell Economy tickets. Then, when travellers get to the airport, they hope for some no-shows.

If that doesn’t happen, they sometimes give a few travellers free upgrades to Business class seats, on a first-come, first-served basis. Alternatively, if the whole plane is booked out, they incentivise customers to move to a different one with a voucher for a Business Class ticket on the next available flight.

If you do find ways to get bumped on flights at the last minute, check the detail carefully. You don’t want to find your ‘free’ Business Class ticket is for a date that’s weeks away, or it has impractical terms and conditions!

Cash in on loyalty schemes

This trick for getting cheap business class travel takes patience. However, the rewards make it worthwhile.

There are airlines with loyalty points systems, and credit cards that offer air miles as incentives. Look for Avios credit cards too, to save up points for reduced cost business class air tickets with British Airways.

Other credit cards linked to cheap air travel include a Flying Club Miles card for Virgin Atlantic flights, and the AAdvantage Miles credit card, which gets you reduced-price travel with American Airlines.

How to get cheap business class flights using an industry insider!

All the above ways to grab cheaper business class airline tickets are rather ‘hit and miss’ or they involve playing the ‘long-game’. So how can you confidently book cheaper business class fares, for an imminent luxury holiday or vital business trip? Genuinely, the best way, is to speak with us first. Of course you dont have to book through us, but at least let us prove what we say we can do. So give us a call on 020 8417 1366 today.

We have industry contacts, buying power and unique insights. All of which ensures that we can always get you deals on business class seats. So, you can contently smile throughout your journey, safe in the knowledge you paid less than many other passengers!