Paying for business class tickets is rarely accessible to most people, but the allure of joining in on the fun never falters. Over the years, Delta has seriously upgraded their business class offering, now known as “Delta One”, making it an incredibly desirable way to travel. If you’re in search of a trick or two to fly it, while keeping some miles or money in your pocket- you’re in luck…
Yes, you can do this. What you heard is wrong. Provided there’s space (which you need to call in to find out about), you can upgrade any (non basic economy) Delta economy ticket to Delta One. The amount of miles you’ll pay depends on your fare. Any “K” or above fare is 20,000 points to upgrade one way, even on premium routes. The cheapest paid economy fares are 30,000 points one way. Considering you can snag cheap tickets under $200, this is an excellent chance to put 30,000 miles to use- towards a nice long luxury flight. Be sure to call in first to find availability before booking your flight, otherwise you may need to pay, to switch to a flight with upgrade space.
You got it, all three of these airlines points can be instantly created using credit card points from Amex, Chase or Citi- maybe even all three, in the case of (Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic). These programs each offer Delta One business class internationally (and domestically) for less miles than Delta will quote you in miles. You just need to find availability using any of those programs, and when you do, you’ll pay less miles. For example, Delta One from US to Europe (or vice versa) is just 62,500 miles booked through Flying Blue. You’d pay a minimum of 70,000 using Delta’s own miles. Try FlyingBlue out for a spin.
Use Hidden City Ticketing Within the US To Save $100’s On One Way Flights…
What if I told you that you can routinely book Delta One flat bed business class between LA and New York for about $365 one way? Well, it’s true. The key for saving on premium routes within the US, is to book “hidden city ticketing” flights, where you add a segment you won’t actually take. Delta (and other airlines) sell cheap tickets if you book a multi city trip like Los Angeles to Puerto Rico – via New York. It works in both directions, you just need to search for cities it works with. To search, go to Google Flights, enter “Multi City” enter Los Angeles to New York as your first option, New York to either Puerto Rico, Nassau, Bahamas, Bermuda or perhaps Punta Cana as your next leg. You can’t check a bag, and you need to read this post before attempting. But here’s a link to prove it’s true…
This essentially only works if you’ll be making return trips to a certain part of the world, or are willing to get to a place where fares are low– but if you are, it’s magic. Mainly: China, Canada or Europe. Last year Delta had $775 round trip business class tickets between Europe and the US. The key was that you needed to actually be in – or get to- Europe to take advantage. If you have multiple trips on the books, this can be a brilliant way to maximize your comfort. Just grab a one way ticket using a good deal or miles to start the trip off, and then look to build a last segment, or join it with another deal. Basically- if you’re in Texas, find a cheap deal to Europe using points or cash to get to the deal, use the deal as your return flight to Texas, use the deal as your return flight to Europe, and then find one more flight to get you home, or start a brand new great European deal.
Ok, admittedly we’re out of tricks, but this is an important piece of information. Delta removed it’s charts, which used to serve as a guide for how many miles you’d need. Now it’s all guesswork, and the ranges, for points needed – can be shocking. Knowing how many miles you could possibly use at the lowest (best) levels is crucial to assessing value, and saving yourself enough points for another flight. ViewFromTheWing has excellent coverage of what these charts are believed to be, even though Delta won’t actually tell us. Oh well. You’ve got other ways of flying business class for less now…
