Typically the best deals for Business and First Class seats are through redeeming frequent flyer points. But there are situations where a paid Business Class fare is good value.
Here is where FlyerTalk and its 755,000 members come in to play.
In this post:
FlyerTalk Premium Fare Deals
The Premium Fare Deals section of FlyerTalk is a goldmine of good value Business and First Class fares from all over the world. It’s so well regarded that there is even an article in Forbes.
When I’ve shown this forum to friends and colleagues, they sometimes say it’s like another language with the two-character airline code and three letter airport codes set by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Tip: The IATA provide a search function for any of these codes you may not familiar with.
Find Focus Cities
Airlines price their flights based on the originating city, with some cities being significantly cheaper than others.
Some of these are logical, such as Manila and Jakarta in Asia for lower fares to Europe. Others, such as Stockholm in Sweden, are counterintuitive.
If you look closely at the screenshot below, you can see the Stockholm, Sweden (ARN) appears three times in the top six posts. Oslo, Norway (OSL) and Helsinki, Finland (HEL) also feature.
Yes, despite the high cost of living in these Scandinavian countries, they are currently one of the hotspots for good value premium fares!
Tip: If there isn’t a fare deal that works for your travel plans or dates, you can then use Google Flights to find other similar deals from these focus cities.
A Worked Example – Stockholm To Sydney
Singapore Airlines, consistently voted one of the world’s top airlines, offers return Business Class fares from Stockholm to Sydney for A$3,900 (or approximately SEK 26,000).
The same trip in reverse, originating in Sydney, starts at A$6,500.
These are on planes with their latest full flat seats in a 1-2-1 configuration, so each person has direct aisle access.
Depending on where you credit your miles you can get up to 200% of miles flown on this ticket, which would be around 39,000 points in the Alaska Mileage Plan program.
These points would cost around A$1,200 to purchase from Alaska Airlines directly during one of their bonus point sales.
Used for flights, the 39,000 points are more than enough for a one way Business Class flight from Australia to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific.
Or almost enough for a roundtrip Business Class redemption anywhere in Australia.
When you add the price of the Economy ticket to Europe you’d need to buy (e.g. A$1,500) and the value of the miles you earn (A$1,200), the premium paid for the Business Class experience is surprisingly modest.
Tip: These fares are great for travellers who will visit a region twice in a year. Drew used his Qantas frequent flyer points to fly to Europe and this Singapore Airlines deal to come home.
