Booking Cheap Business Class Flights – Long Haul.

Booking Cheap Business Class Flights – Sometimes you could be forgiven for thinking I’m a little, shall we say, unhinged? Well, based on my next trip for instance and if you didn’t know the reasons why, you could be forgiven for thinking that’s a fair assessment!

Below I am booking a Business Class return to Singapore via Sweden and Doha!

This is an article to help you find and get cheap long-haul flights in Europe. With a bit of planning and preparation, you can save thousands flying from the UK! And as you will see, that is not an exaggeration!

Top Tips covered in this Article

Book when the sale is on
Use Avios for your positioning flight
Don’t travel during the school holidays
Leaving from an airport outside the UK makes it loads cheaper!
Chances are you’ll earn enough Avios for a FREE Europe flight.

Next Trip

My next trip is to Singapore and Indonesia. And, of course, I’m really looking forward to it. But getting there, that’s the unhinged part.

Now, your thinking,

Just get on a plane right?

Well, Tam and I are, but it’s Singapore via Stockholm and Doha. Undoubtedly, there are more direct routes, but there are not many cheaper! However, there is a method to the madness. To find out why it is all to do with cost. How to get cheap business class tickets from Europe?

I don’t like spending money

Neither do you, I’m guessing?

Here is a screenshot of BA and Qatar from London to Singapore prices in Business Class.

£12,000 with British Airways

£7,000 with Qatar

As you can see, it’s not cheap by any stretch. The UK is one of the most expensive places to fly from and the dates are in Easter 2018. School Holiday time because my other half Tam, is a teacher, so we have to go then. Ask any parent or teacher about airline prices during the holidays and they will tell you. The Airlines call it supply and demand, I think its nothing short of rampant profiteering!

And because of the Holidays, all the Airlines put their prices up significantly.

And I mean significantly!

As can be seen below, the screenshot from British Airways shows April to Singapore in Business Class. Easter is at the beginning of April this year and you can certainly see the difference in pricing between this and the end of April. The difference in some cases is £2,500!

The difference is as much as £2500

Of course, I’m not blaming just British Airways, all airlines do it. All the time. And just in case you are wondering, this screenshot is from the British Airways Low Fare Finder.

Anyway back to the madness…

So we’ve seen how much the fares on BA and Qatar are, now let’s look at Google Flights. The prices below are for 1 person.

Google Flights – business class flight cost per Person

They are still expensive.

Here is our booking cost.

Booking Cheap Business Class Flights Ex – EU

About £950 return in Business

Ok, that’s better, £950 each. And you are starting to see the how now, with the prices in Swedish Krona. Yes, this is what is known as an Ex-EU flight. And this is Booking Cheap Business Class Flights done right.

As we are departing from a non-UK airport, thus getting rid of UK Long-haul Passenger tax and the fact we bought this in the Qatar Airways sale makes the price were extremely low.

What are Ex EU Flights?

Ex EU flights are flights where you decide to start your flight outside the UK. Of course, this means that you will also have to make your own way to and from your starting position. This is known as your positioning flight. Ex EU flights are mainly only worth doing for Business and First Classes of travel.

Yes, we have to factor in getting to Stockholm, our positioning flight, from the UK but we used Avios for the Stockholm flights so only have to pay taxes and charges.

Avios

Avios are points-based reward system operated by British Airways Group. They can be redeemed for flights and hotels among other things. We just generally use them for flights to pay for the flight. Don’t worry if you don’t have enough, you can part pay for the flight also if you are just a few short. See these articles for more information on How to Collect Avios and Part Pay with Avios.

But what about Economy?

Yes, we could do it in Economy, prices below;

Booking Cheap Business Class Flights

But even the best flight is £530 and a whopping 36 hours and 50 minutes of travelling time. The most sensible one is £681.

But I like flying Business Class and for less than £300 more I get to be pampered with nice wine and dine on-demand service. If you have never flown Qatar Airways Business class it is very nice, see my ‘Ten Reasons to Fly Qatar Airways Business Class‘ article, it’s especially handy if you want to to take your Falcon! (yeah, Falcon! It makes sense if you read the article!)

Qatar Airways Business Class

Qatar Airways Business Class is an extremely good service. Because the Airline is reportedly heavily subsidised by the government, see here, they can really put on a show and all aspects of the flight are amazing from the dine on-demand food and wine selection to the level of staffing and beyond.

Also, Qatar Airways is part of the One-World Alliance as is British Airways, so you earn Avios and Tier Points for any Qatar Flights.

In fact, so many Avios it will pay for a free flight in Business Class in Europe!

Here is just one leg of a recent Doha to Auckland flight credited to my BA account. Just that one leg earned me over 11,000 Avios.

how to collect Avios

As can be seen above, the screenshot is Avios earning from a Flight from Auckland to Doha with Qatar Airways. I earned a shade over 9,000 Avios for the standard flight and a Cabin bonus of over 2000 because I was travelling in Business Class. As Qatar Airways is a member of the ‘One World’ Alliance you can choose to have your Avios credited to your British Airways account. You choose this option when you book the flight.

So how will I know when a sale is on?

This is how to get cheap business class tickets. Sign up for two websites. The Qatar Airways website and more importantly Head for Points. Head for Points is a great website which covers not only Qatar Airways sales but nearly all business class flights sales and aspects of travelling. Sign up for their emails, which arrive in the morning, and you’ll never miss a sale again or miss discount business class tickets.

Not just Sale time!

Even without a sale on you can find good business class deals by booking Ex-EU. Cheap Business Class Flights make you feel extra special, it’s possible that your £950 was near the price of somebodies economy ticket! If you can plan in advance you can fly business class for less, sometimes a lot less!

Booking Cheap Business Class Flights – Conclusions

So to sum up – this could literally save you thousands, It did us. That said it’s a bit crazy, it is two stops and not a direct flight. But it is cheap. If you are looking at Booking Cheap Business Class Flights you can do a lot worse than Ex-EU. Even if you have to pay for your positioning flight, it still makes financial sense.

Yes, there are airport waits but you will while away that time in Business Class lounges, which is really no hardship is it?

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