Everyone is always looking for the next great trick to take business class from out of sight into a viable travel option. For the adventurous few, willing to fly somewhere just to get a deal, there are always a few scattered cities offering consistently impressive prices. But there’s often a far easier solution, if you know where to look – and how to book.
Whether you really need it (or actually plan to use it), adding an element other than air travel to your booking can be the key to $1000’s in savings. And it really can be that simple. By adding a hostel, or a car rental or even a hotel you’d actually like to stay in, you can access special hidden discounts from online travel agents (OTA’s) and airlines. Amex Platinum offers a similar set up.
Examples
This concept has been particularly true with Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, American Airlines vacations and British Airways Holidays. There have been quite a few recent deals where prices would be roughly $3000 per ticket if booking flight only, but by adding a hostel or car rental, prices plummet to under $1500. Even if you only add a single hotel night, it can completely recalculate the costs in your favor.
In a recent OneWorld airline sale from Europe, booking through Expedia and adding a hostel could actually shave an additional $200 off already discounted $1400 round trip tickets. Similar options going the other way have been available using American Airlines vacation packages. In fact, you can look at almost all instances of where this technique represented massive savings right here. British Airways often slashes prices for business class if you book one of their holiday packages.
Taking Advantage
It’s imperative to search for a travel package on one (or all) of these sites before giving up on a good deal. Check for the best deals on Google Flights and then play around with Expedia and Orbitz to attempt to take the fares further, through these special deals. For best results, it’s also great to experiment with various booking countries, like Expedia Sweden, Orbitz Spain. Try flight and hotel, flight and car rental and perhaps even flight hotel and car rental. Results will vary, but for $1500 or more in potential savings, we’re willing to bet it’s worth a bit of your time to double check.
Have you used a travel package to save on business class?
HT: OMAAT
Featured image courtesy of Virgin Australia.
There’s a broken link:
In fact, you can look at almost all instances of where this technique represented massive savings “right here”.
I assume you must show up and use these extras like hostel & car,Correct?
It does not work on the Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity,sites. Once you select Business and then add a car or hotel, the sites tell you that no Business flights are available. But I anonymously booked a flight and an option to up grade was made available.
This is honestly just false. It does work on all these sites. But not for every deal you search. We make light of this in the post. It’s been proven at least 5,000 times that this does work.
@Deb you do not have to show up, at least for the hotel.
These deals are awesome. My wife and I booked a round-trip in business from Chicago to Mauritius via Europe on Expedia using one of these bundle deals and spent something like 30% of the retail cost of the flights per person, all because we bundled a single hotel night at some hostel that we never intended to visit. They still get their $80, so they don’t care if you actually end up in the room or not.
There’s a current bundle deal that I’m eyeing where business class flights from the west coast of the US to Capetown can be had for as low as $2,100 per person with attractive products and itineraries. I’m still going back and forth on it, but it is such a fantastic deal that I’d hate to pass it up.
My husband is retired military and we are looking for reasonable business or first class fares back to his military base in Zushi Japan. he in now 91 years old and really wants to see his military base again.