5 top tips to find business class flights
These days, I fly business class if we go long haul, as there are now just the two of us (kids grown up) and we are getting older. Doing a bit of work upfront can make a real difference in terms of pricing—often saving us hundreds of pounds each. This is more or less what I do to ensure I get a good result.
1. Do your research through the right sites
I start looking at business class fares a good few months out from a long-haul trip to get an idea of the options. My go-to sites are Google Flights and Skyscanner initially, as they are easy to use and have lots of tools that can help.
When I have narrowed down date ranges and potential carriers, I then go to ITA Matrix, which is a great flight search tool. Although it looks complicated and is a bit clunky, it’s worth the effort. Here, you can look at multiple departure cities, fare class availability, aircraft types, and much more—the limitation being that you can’t book flights directly through it. By now, things are coming together, and you have insight and information on your options, which leads me nicely to the next point …
2. Don’t always think about flying from the UK
I live in London. I live in West London. I live 20 minutes away (on a good day) from Heathrow Airport. Of course, I would like to fly from there on my long-haul flight to Bangkok. However, I am also searching for value, and boarding my flight from the UK doesn’t always deliver this. I realized a few years back that being flexible and starting my trip from other cities could pay off. So, Paris, Rome, and Amsterdam, to name a few—here we come!
To start my return flight to Bangkok from London Heathrow on Qatar Airways would have cost hundreds of pounds more than starting in Rome. Of course, it’s not for everyone; it makes the journey even longer, and you have to pay for a ticket to the starting destination. I used Avios to get to Rome, so little cost was incurred.
3.Understand the different business class fares
Not all business class fares are the same. Some airlines now have a variety of fares and offer ‘business class lite’ fares. In recent years, Air France, KLM, Qatar Airways, and others have launched these discounted fares. These can be great, but they also have some restrictions that may or may not be important to you. Typical examples are access to business class lounges, advance seat selection, and reduced points earned (such as Avios) on these bookings.
To give an example: I flew Qatar Airways to Bangkok from Rome. There are four fare classes—Lite, Classic, Comfort, and Elite—and the Lite fare means that you have to pay extra for both seat selection and lounge access. I kept looking at various options on ITA Matrix until I finally found a Classic fare, which was near enough the same price but included lounge access and an upgrade in points earned.
4. Be clear on what’s important to you
It’s really important to understand what is important to you before you start looking at flights. For me, I am a member of the BA Executive Club and would ideally like to collect Avios points. That doesn’t necessarily mean I have to fly BA, as I can earn Avios with other airlines in the Oneworld alliance.
I am also a member of both Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines Executive Clubs, and they are both in Star Alliance, so that’s a secondary option. I would like to have lounge access as part of my business class ticket, as experience has shown that you can spend an awful lot of money eating and drinking in the airport without it.
Do you want to get there as quickly as possible, or are you more relaxed about one or even two stops? How much transfer time can you cope with? Bear in mind that usually, the cheapest fares have the longest transfers. So, decide upfront what’s important to you, and that will guide your search when you start it. It may also mean trade-offs, but that’s part of getting the flight that’s right for you.
5. Don’t hang about when you find the right fare
You’ve done all the research and tracked flights, and then you see something that seems pretty much what you are looking for. Now isn’t the time to dither—if you wait, it will go, and there’s no guarantee that you will see it again. So, be bold and snap it up. And there you go—all the planning has paid off, and you are on your way!