How to Fly First Class or Business Class for Less

Step-by-Step Guide

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   Step 1: Be flexible with your actual travel dates and book in advance to get the cheaper fares.

   Many online booking engines such as Orbitz and Travelocity have flexible date search tools which are very helpful in tracking down the lowest available airfare over a set period of time.
   
   Always select "lowest fare" when doing an airfare search online.
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   Step 2: Never book too close to your departure day as you will probably then have to pay the full published fare which can be very expensive.

   First class full fare tickets are generally only bought by corporate travellers on business. , Add a Saturday night stay to reduce the fare further. , Many online booking engines such as Orbitz will allow you to check prices from nearby airports. , If you fly Virgin Atlantic Upper Class on a higher fare you will get complimentary chauffeur driven cars at both ends.
   
   For example, passengers to Los Angeles can be driven to any desired location in California. , Good deals can also be found booking overnight ‘red-eye’ flights
   - those comfortable first class seats will help you sleep better! , Some online agents are biased towards a single GDS so you will want to cover all your bases by checking elsewhere.
   
   Then double check any prices found directly at the airline websites. ,, Also use a specialist business class / first class consolidator who will have access to many unpublished airfares not available elsewhere.
   
   Generally, using a consolidator is optimal when booking around 4 to 8 weeks in advance.
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   Step 3: Avoid peak business travel days like Monday and Friday.

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   Step 4: Experiment with your departure airport for your trip – this may sometimes throw out a lower fare.

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   Step 5: Consider ground transportation costs

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   Step 6: especially if your departure airport is some distance away.

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   Step 7: Flying through a hub connection airport is often cheaper than flying non-stop - but does any saving justify the extra inconvenience?

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   Step 8: Check the price of your flight online with a number of major booking engines to ensure you cover all the GDS's (Global Distribution Systems) - these are the 4 mainframe databases which power the airfare market worldwide - Sabre

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   Step 9: Worldspan

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    Step 10: Galileo and Amadeus.

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    Step 11: With codeshare flights (for example

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    Step 12: Lufthansa and USAir

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    Step 13: be aware that the same flight may be priced differently on the sites of the codesharing airlines.

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    Step 14: Phone your travel agent to see if they can beat your online quote.

Detailed Guide

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