Think of your dream destination. Got it? Great! Because booking award travel can take months of planning. This tutorial can teach you how to get nearly free business class airfare. I know you want to travel in luxury so let me teach you how! If you haven’t experienced lay-flat business class you are missing out! So how does one book these prestige lay-flat seats on flights across the globe? You might be wondering how do I find flights, and more specifically, business class flights, for so few points? Let’s talk about the basics.

When to plan your free business class flight?

Most airlines open their calendars 9-12 months in advance. You should start searching for airfare 9-12 months before your trip. Most airlines only release 2-8 “award” seats per flight. Once these seats are taken the points price only goes up. If the place you want to travel is a popular destination, give yourself extra time. Start looking around the 12 month mark. Being prepared will score you your dream flight!

“start searching for airfare 9-12 months before your trip”

-ANOTHER STAMP TRAVEL

Pricing for Cheap Business Class Flights

Business class for 60,000 points? You got it! Never seen it before? That’s probably because you’ve been searching in the wrong places. Searching on United Airlines for United business class won’t get you your free business class airfare. Why? Because airline pricing is dynamic. Airlines charge whatever they want to charge based on demand. Their prices change. This isn’t just United Airlines. This is almost ALL airlines. So to find these unicorn airfares, we need to search differently. We need to search the partner airlines. Partner airlines pricing is set (meaning it doesn’t change), usually in the form of an award chart. So basically what we need to do is look for partner airlines (flights operated by another airline) on our favorite airline’s website. Notice how in this picture below it says “operated by Qatar Airways”, on American Airlines website. This example is flying Q suites from Dallas to Doha.

According to the screenshot, you can fly on Qatar Airways business class (this is their Q Suites product), booked through American Airlines for 70,000 points and $7.65! What a steal! If you search yourself and only find higher priced flights, it’s because the flight isn’t nonstop or operated by Qatar. It’s probably operated by American Airlines. American Airlines (and many other airlines) have award charts based on distance . Below you can see an award chart taken from AirCanada website.

Notice how it is cheaper to book a partner airline rather than AirCanada’s product on their own website. Also notice how the partner airline has a set point rate that is charged, where AirCanada flights have a range of point costs. This is a prime example of dynamic pricing.

Airline Alliances

Behold, partner airlines! You might have noticed each airline is apart of an alliance. If you haven’t noticed this, maybe you’ve seen a logo that reads “star alliance” on the side of the plane or on your drink menu. If you still have no idea what I’m talking about I’ll just tell you now, there are 3 major airline alliances. One World, SkyTeam and Star Alliance.

Look familiar?

You’d be surprised how many airlines are aligned with each other! Airlines in the same alliance share loyaly programs, and even better, airport lounges! The beauty in this is that you can book any airline that is aligned with another on their respective website. You can book United on AirCanada’s website. You can book Delta on AirFrance’s website. You can book American Airlines on British Airway’s website! The options are endless! This is how you will maximize your points and this is the key to getting your free business class airfare!

The Search for Cheap Business Class Airfare

Next, you’re ready to start searching! We all want free business class airfare but it can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. Start by searching one way flights. Hint: You will find more reward space if searching from a larger airport. We all know that large airports like LAX, DFW, JFK etc. will have more flights than an airport in say Austin, TX *cough cough* (Get with the program Austin Bergstrom Intl!). The cheap flights will usually be the nonstop flights. That goes to say that if your home airport does not fly nonstop to whatever destination you want to go to, you won’t find a “cheap points” airfare. You will need to get yourself to whatever airport you do find cheap airfare from. This is called a positioning flight.

Another tip: BE FLEXIBLE. If you have a hard date you have to travel on, this further eliminates your chances of finding reward space on a flight. Utilize the calendar and check for what dates will be cheapest. Not all airlines have a calendar though which can make this process more time consuming.

Good luck with your travel searches! As always, contact me if you need help or book a consultation with me here. If you want me to book your trip for you, I’m in the process of getting this set up, but you can contact me for pricing here.