Fly to Europe in Business Class for $89 Less than Premium Economy over the Holidays.
This trend is low-cost Business Class Holiday Season fares, and by all accounts, it looks like they’re sticking around for a while with dates into 2020. In some cases, we’re even seeing fares on Business Class flights lower than Premium Economy—can you say “free upgrade?” This is because during holiday seasons, more leisure travelers fly (and business travelers stay home), so economy and Premium Economy fares are often higher, typically ranging from $1,000 to $1,800.
Low-Cost and Free Upgrades from the East Coast
Example: Fly Business Class to Shannon, Ireland, from New York and Boston on British Airways for just $1,695 in December and April.
Travel in Premium Economy during the same window (say, December 22 to December 30) and you’ll pay $1,784. Yes—that’s $89 more to travel a lot less comfortably.
Seasonal Opportunity Travelers Wanted
We love Destination Opportunity Travelers soooo much that we wrote all about them here. We base a lot of what we do on the very simple idea that smart travelers have a broad bucket list of destinations on their list, rather than becoming too attached to one particular location. So rather than saying “I’m going to Paris in December, gee I hope I don’t have to pay too much!” a Destination Opportunity Traveler has Paris, Barcelona, Budapest, and Sydney on their bucket list and will pick them off one by one depending on what the best deals are at any given time. They’ll get to Paris when the price is right, it just may be next December, not this December.
The same goes for being a Seasonal Opportunity Traveler. If you’re at all open to shifting the time of year you travel, you open yourself up to more opportunities.
For example, Dallas to Copenhagen is as low as $1,895 in Business Class next Easter (April), while it normally ranges between $3,095 and $3,245.
Think of a Reason to Go to Europe. Any Reason.
Other great deals can be found from all over the U.S., such as:
- $1,884 from Miami to Dublin, $1,895 to Copenhagen, $1,910 to Milan, and more.
- $1,900 from Los Angeles to Madrid, $1,986 to Dublin.
- $1,900 from San Francisco to Madrid, $1,923 to Helsinki.
- $1,911 from Chicago to Madrid, $1,923 to Helsinki, $1,928 toVenice, and more.
- $1,925 from Boston to Valencia.
- $1,925 from Dallas to Copenhagen, $2,005 to Nice.
- $2,018 from Atlanta to Milan or Amsterdam.
- $2,023 from Houston to Zürich.
- $2,031 from Las Vegas to Prague.
See a Great Fare? Freeze Right There.
If you spot one of these trendy seasonal fares but aren’t sure if the dates are right, many airlines offer a hold option for locking in your fare so you have time to decide to buy the ticket. It means you lock in, or “freeze,” the fare before it disappears without notice.
Take the British Airways fare from New York to Shannon for $1,695, mentioned above. For only $10 per ticket you can hold your flights and the price for up to 72 hours. So even if BA’s published fare disappears, your locked-in price won’t increase. Plus, once you pay for your ticket, BA will refund your $10.
Goodbye Anomaly; Hello Trend.
We wrote about this a couple of months ago, noting that fares can change very quickly. Airlines were discounting destinations and then suddenly they were discounting seasonally. But we were not sure that these holiday fares would stay.
But “low” and behold, those seasonal fares seem to have settled in for a comfy stay.
Many of the holiday fares we’ve found are offered by British Airways, but there are a few ways to make the deals even sweeter.
- Get an additional 10% off on British Airways when using the BA Visa card, and/or
- Get $200 off through AARP for Business Class fares on British Airways.
For example, with the AARP discount that super-low $1,695 New York-Shannon Business Class fare plummets to $1,495.
Using Your Miles or Points
Miles are great to have, but there’s no need to use miles for free awards or upgrades when fares are this low. If you have miles, save them for when ticket prices are high.