Anyone Can Travel Upper Class
We often hear stories in which wily travellers wangle first class travel at a fraction of the cost, but usually that means taking out a load of cards and spending a fortune to earn points.
But few of us actually have the time, patience, or ability to do this – so is it still possible to fly at the front of the plane without so much as owning a credit card?
Yes, according to professional flight hacker Gilbert Ott, based in New York, who shares his tricks with MailOnline Travel – everything from buying air miles cheaply without actually flying anywhere, to missing flights on purpose.
Buy points, don’t earn them
‘Paying for tickets in loyalty points is often cheaper than with actual money, and there are two ways to amass points: by spending money on credit cards, or flying with a certain airline,’ explains Mr Ott, the man behind the blog God Save The Points.
‘But there’s a third way – and that’s to just buy them directly from the carrier. Every few months, airlines sell off their points in promotional sales which means you can purchase air miles without actually flying anywhere. You can then use them to book trips in upper class for significantly less.’
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For example, a deal with United Airlines at the moment means you can fly from Hong Kong to Sydney in first class, sipping Dom Perignon all the way, using just 40,000 miles – which you can purchase for £839. Booking the traditional way, it would cost £4,689.
Earlier this year, a similar deal with Alaska Airlines meant you could fly from the US to Australia in first class for only £1,185 – a trip which should cost £8,000. In economy, it’s £800.
The trick simply meant buying points from Alaska – which has a little-known but very generous frequent flier program – then applying them to a Qantas flight, one of its partners.
Booking a first class flight from the US to Australia directly with Qantas using miles would require 144,000 of them.
But booking through Alaska only costs you 70,000 for the same journey – and they’d put you on a Qantas plane anyway, thanks to their partnership.
Purchasing the 70,000 miles you’d need from Alaska cost £1,185 – so there’s your first class plane ticket.
Set price trackers
‘Many flash sales or crazy promotional fares like this expire within hours’, Mr Ott says.
‘But you can set alerts for them for free using Google Flights or Kayak, so if there’s a sudden drop on a route you’re interested in, you’ll be the first to know about it.
‘And don’t be afraid to set trackers for premium or business class too, since sometimes premium or business class seats will randomly be cheaper than economy ones, especially over peak summer travel periods.’
Additionally, follow deal sites and travel blogs manned by people who trawl the web day-in, day-out to find bizarre deals.
‘Our site, and others like Secret Flying, highlight deals you won’t find unless you’re looking hard. For example, we recently found a round-trip business class deal from Amsterdam to Tokyo on Qatar Airways for for £560.
‘That deal lasted three hours.’
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