Who hasn’t dreamed of kicking back in business class seats, sipping champagne, sleeping in a lie flat seat and arriving refreshed for that dream holiday or visit to family in Australia? I know I have!

It was always a dream of mine to fly business class, but it felt so out of reach because I didn’t have top tier status with an airline or a tonne of credit card points to help reduce the price.

But the good news is that you don’t have to be a millionaire to have enough spare money to bag yourself a lie-flat seat for a long-haul flight. I’ve got a hack and some tips to help you get yourself cheaper business class flights and enjoy a little more luxury in your life – and I don’t know why more people aren’t talking about this business class flight hack?!

I’ve picked up cheaper business class flights with this hack three times now – once with Singapore Airlines to Australia, and twice with Etihad to Thailand and Bali and it’s saved me thousands of pounds.

For the Singapore Airlines flight, my mum and I saved about £3,000 each (!!) and for the Etihad flights we saved about £1,500pp each time – the savings are insane!

There are so many benefits to booking cheaper business class flights that go beyond just saving money. You’ll get to pick your meal from a menu, be comfy on your lie-flat seat, breeze through fast track security and relax in a nice airport lounge before hand and even receive a super cute amenity kit with toiletries – depending on the airline you fly with.

I feel like I always arrive at my destination feeling super relaxed and refreshed when I’ve booked cheaper business class flights and it feels like you’ve started your holiday early because you actually look forward to a long haul flight!

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Before we get started, it’s very important that you check your travel insurance policy and that it covers departures from outwith the UK. Please do this before booking flights this way.

How to get cheaper business class flights

This hack is going to involve booking cheaper business class flights by flying in economy class from your home airport to an airport in the EU, enjoying a short break in that EU city for a day or two, then boarding a cheaper business class flight from that EU airport to your final long haul destination.

This is known in flying communities as “ex-EU” and it’s my favourite hack to get cheaper business class flights compared to the often crazy UK prices.

I’ll break it down step by step so you know exactly what you’re going to need to do and how to make the savings.

There are quite a few different ways that you can fly business class and save money, so I’ll share some other tips to get cheaper business class flights towards the end of this post too if you don’t have the time to fly to another country to bag yourself the very best deals.

But first, let me take you through the 5 steps I do when booking ex-EU flights.

1. Look for the cheapest airports

Personally I’ve found Amsterdam, Dublin and Frankfurt to consistently be the best airports to get cheaper business class flights from for the routes I’ve flown, however you’re going to want to work out which airports are within easy reach of your own home airport before you try this method.

I often fly from Glasgow so Dublin and Amsterdam are convenient for me to reach with multiple relatively cheap flights per day. Look up the departures daily from your nearest airports to work out which EU airports would be the easiest for you to fly from. This will help you find the best locations to start your search for cheaper business class flights from.

Ideally, you want to choose airports that are easy to get to and have lots of flights each day just in case there are any delays or cancellations – because we all know my luck with delays!

You don’t need to check every EU airport, but even if you did, it’d totally be worth the time spent to save a ton of money, potentially even thousands of pounds, while getting to enjoy a luxurious flight experience. 

I’ve got some examples of the price differences later in this post so look out for those – especially if you need a bit of encouragement to actually put the effort in! 

2. Use a flight booking service to find cheapest dates

I’m a big lover of Google Flights as it’s really convenient to use and it takes just seconds to conduct searches. Other websites include SkyScanner, KAYAK, Kiwi and Expedia. There are lots out there so find one you love or just give Google Flights a try.

These services will quickly search through thousands of flights across different airlines for you in just seconds. You can choose your class type (so business class in this case), pick your departure and arrival airports, set exact dates or even browse for flights in a specific month.

However, the way I use Google Flights to find cheaper business class flights is like this:

1. Enter my departure airport (usually DUB or AMS) and arrival airport
2. Change class to ‘business class’
3. Tap the ‘departure date’ to open the calendar
4. Look for any dates highlighted green (these are the cheapest dates), choose suitable dates and tap ‘search’
5. On the next page, you’ll see the available flights to browse through.
6. Repeat the above steps for different dates and airports to compare prices, routes and airlines to find the itinerary that suits you.

There’s also filters that you can use to search for specific airlines and alliances, direct flights only or even to allow layovers which can help bring the price down a ton when booking just about any flight.

I’ll show

3. Build a buffer into your schedule 

This part is super important so please read! When you use this method for finding cheaper business class flights you’re going to have separate tickets for your journey:

1. The first ticket will take you from the UK airport of your choice to the EU airport you’ve found.
2. The second ticket will have your cheaper business class flights booked on a separate ticket. 

This means there’s no connection or tie between your two flights and your two tickets. They are totally separate bookings so we’re going to need to build a buffer into our schedule to take advantage of this method to save money. This is because if your first ticket (UK to EU airport) is delayed or cancelled, and you miss your second ticket (business class flights) then that’s it, you miss it and you won’t be rebooked as the tickets aren’t connected on one booking. It’s a risk but you should be able to plan around it.

What I love to do is book a flight that leaves me a couple of days breathing room either side of the business class flights. I’m happy to fly from my local airport, Glasgow or even Edinburgh, and then arrive at the EU airport of my choice before enjoying a few days for sightseeing and a nice mini-break. 

Getting to start our holiday early with a mini city break feels really exciting and luxurious as we feel like we’re getting two holidays in one. Then on the way back we stay for one day – but you could stay longer if you’ve got the free time and annual leave!

4. Factor in the cost of getting to the EU airport

At first look, the difference between cheaper business class flights and flying business class direct from your home airport can run into the £1,000s. Don’t forget that you need to think about how much it’ll cost to get to the EU airport as well, plus any hotel stays.

We’ve used this trick to score cheaper business class flights a few times now and even with the cost of the return EU flight, checked bags and hotel, we’ve saved at least £1,500 per person plus we’ve got to enjoy a nice little city break in the process too. 

Examples of cheaper business class flights I found:

• London to Bali with Qatar – £4,445 for a round trip in business class
• Amsterdam to Bali with Qatar – £2,241 for a round trip in business class

That’s a saving of £2,204 which is insane(!!) and would more than cover a nice mini-break in Amsterdam, plus flights from the UK to this EU airport, with plenty leftover for holiday spending money and more leftover in my savings account.

Okay let’s do another, but this time let’s test out cheaper business class flights to Bangkok:

• Glasgow to Bangkok with KLM – £4,114 for a round trip in business class
• Dublin to Bangkok with Emirates – £2,842 for a round trip in business class

Again another amazing saving here of £1,272 which would more than cover flights to Dublin from the UK, a night or two in a hotel, a drink in Temple Bar plus a bit of sightseeing and you’d still have change to go towards your main holiday or your savings account.

5. Consider different airlines

You’ll find loads of different airlines offering business class tickets from the UK, like British Airways, Emirates, American Airlines, Qatar Airways, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific and many more. So there are plenty of chances to grab some cheaper business class flights. When you use Google Flights following the steps I listed at the start of this article, you’ll be shown options for different airlines such as the example I gave above for Bangkok flights where Emirates was cheaper than KLM.

Airlines often have sales at different times of the year so keep an eye out for those sales too where you could save even more on top of the ex-EU hack.

Other ways to get cheaper business class flights

If you’re on a bit of a time crunch and don’t have the holiday days spare to enjoy an EU layover for a couple of days or your travel insurance doesn’t cover departures from outwith the UK, you can still get yourself some cheaper business class flights with my tips below. 

The savings may not quite be as hefty but you’ll still save yourself hundreds of pounds which is better in your pocket than a huge corporation’s pocket!

1. Look at other local UK airports 

If you’re lucky enough to live near several airports you could make a massive saving just by taking a slightly longer drive or train journey to get to the airport. 

Just to give you an example, I had a look at flights from London to Sydney in June with Emirates and Qantas flying business class and I found these prices:

• London Stansted – £4,740 for a round trip in business class
• London Gatwick – £5,309 for a round trip in business class
• London Heathrow – £5,414 for a round trip in business class

You could save £674 just by switching the departure airport from Heathrow to Stansted – for most of us, the extra time to get to a slightly further away London airport would be well worth the almost £700 per person saving!

Maybe you don’t have the time to take a break of several days in another country, on top of your lovely holiday itself, but you may still be able to get cheaper business class flights by taking a train to somewhere else in the UK and switching your departure airport. 

Also, if the airports are near to your home, then you’ve probably got plenty of travel options such as train, bus, coach, car or even a taxi. It’s super handy if you don’t have much layover time, since it gives you plenty of backup options in case of rail strikes, roadworks or any other issues that may arise on your travel day. 

2. Stay loyal to one airline or alliance and earn status

Airlines have loyalty programmes (often referred to as frequent flyer programmes) that you can join completely free. You can earn miles or points every time you fly, often when you book directly with the airline, and you can use these miles or points against future flights or to redeem for other cool rewards.

Let’s say you fly with British Airways frequently, you could join the British Airways Club and start to earn Tier Points to help you level up. 

You’ll earn 1 Tier Point for each £1 of eligible spend with British Airways. This includes spending on flights, British Airways Holidays, adding extra baggage or even paying to choose your seat. 

Airlines are shaping up their loyalty programmes and British Airways will be allowing you to earn rewards when using your American Express for spending too. 

One of the benefits of staying loyal to one airline is that as you work through the different tiers you’ll unlock rewards including:

• Free seat selection
• Priority check-in
• Priority boarding
• Additional baggage allowance
• Lounge access
• Flight upgrades

If you’re flying a lot, then you can receive some fab perks by being loyal to one airline and building up your status – though I do recommend looking at the business class offerings of individual airlines as some don’t have lie-flat seats, which can be a bit disappointing after spending so much money on a business class ticket, so always check the aircraft type.

3. Use a cashback credit card

Air miles credit cards allow you to earn miles or points, each time you spend on your credit card. Once you’ve collected enough miles or points, you can convert these into flights (though you’ll have to pay taxes and charges still).

You can use the miles or points that you earn from your everyday spending with other points from loyalty schemes, such as Nectar, to build your stash up faster.

There are a range of great credit cards that you can utilise in this way including those from American Express, Barclaycard Avios, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Tesco Bank.

Different cards come with different perks of course but you can typically expect to receive a small amount of points back for every £1, £2 or £4 that you spend on your credit card, depending on where you’re shopping.

Some cards, such as the Amex Preferred Rewards Gold Card, come with an annual fee and an introductory bonus if you hit a minimum spend within 3 months of signing up for the card.

Or if you have your own company, you could consider a card like Capital On Tap Business Credit Card. You earn 1% cashback on all your transactions which can be converted into Avios. On the Pro tier, there’s other perks like Radisson Rewards VIP Status and unlimited access to 1600 lounges for the main card holder. You can get £75 welcome bonus when you click here and apply for a Capital On Tap card and complete your first transaction.

Always make sure you pay your credit card in full each month to avoid wiping out the benefit of any rewards you earn by having to make interest payments.

You can totally take advantage of these new member offers and fee-free introductory periods to rack up 1,000s of Avios, Amex points, Nectar points or Virgin Red points. Then you can swap these for free or discounted flights and upgrades – pretty nice, right? 

4. Earn cashback with TopCashback 

TopCashback allows you to earn cashback just for shopping online as you usually would. When you earn a little money back every time you buy products or services, it quickly adds up. Using TopCashback, I’ve earned the below cashback amounts for flights and other travel related purchases over the years:

• Etihad = £94.45
• Emirates = £4.60
• Lufthansa = £7.89
• ALL Accor hotels = £382.86
• Booking.com = £5.47
• Travel insurance = £20
• Airport parking = £9.76
• Europcar car hire = £7.65
• Get Your Guide activities = £1.56

Simply click through from the TopCashback website when you’re booking travel, including flights, and you can receive a little bit of cashback for your efforts. I’ll take you through how TopCashback works in this guide and you’ll also get a £10 welcome bonus!

If you’re new to the world of cashback, then be sure to read my cashback guide to learn more about the different ways that you can earn some money and exactly how cashback works.

I always recommend paying for your travel, and any large purchase really, on a credit card as this gives you access to section 75 protection on goods that cost between £100 and £30,000!

While you’re here and preparing for your travels, do check out my post on 10+ ways to save money at the airport so you have more money in your holiday spending pot.

5. Earn reward flights with Virgin Red 

You can earn Virgin Red Points every time you spend money with your favourite brands, such as eBay, TK Maxx, Marks & Spencer, Currys, Apple, Look Fantastic, Very, Ninja and many more. You can then use those points you’ve earned towards cool things such as Virgin Atlantic flights, Virgin Hotel stays, concert tickets, free coffee or even just gifts for your loved ones at Christmas – I’m saving mine up for business class flights of course!

If you get into the habit of using the Virgin Red app when you’re spending money this can be a great way to build up your rewards and bag yourself a reward flight.

As always, if you have any questions at all about the cheaper business class flights tips just leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you.