Fly premium for less

Who doesn’t want to fly business class?

Business Class

Adam Schachter confesses to an aversion to the back of the plane. “Really, who wouldn’t rather fly business class?” he said.

Schachter, president of Toronto-based home furnishings company The FHE Group Inc., travels regularly to Asia, Europe and the U.S. “My trips are so incredibly short and I pack it in,” he said. “Three weeks ago, I was in Hong Kong for a day and a half. I use the plane as a place to sleep and I work while I’m on the ground.”

To maintain his Super Elite flyer status with Air Canada, Schachter won’t fly with other airlines, even for a better deal. But he will go to considerable lengths to get business class flights at a reasonable cost.

On one occasion, Schachter discovered Air Canada sold business class flights from New York for US$3,600 ($4,849), almost a third less than the US$7,500 cost from Toronto. So he jumped on a flight to NYC ($180), “got off plane, went to washroom and got right back on” a flight to Hong Kong via Toronto.

Schachter packed only a carry-on (“that’s key”), and on the return journey from Hong Kong, he got off at Toronto and jettisoned the last leg of the journey. “It was a big pain in the butt,” he said. “But I flew business class to Hong Kong and I saved a ton of dough.”

Not everyone would go to such lengths for the prospect of lie-flat beds and snowy linens. Read on for a few tips that might help you nab premium flights without paying through the nose.

When it comes to getting free upgrades, frequent-flyer status is pretty much the only way to do it, Schachter said. “I used to try to smile and flirt my way to an upgrade. But that doesn’t work anymore — the computer controls everything.” As a rule of thumb, the more miles you fly with a particular airline, the more likely you are to get upgraded.

You may not have enough points to give you elite status with an airline, but you can use what you have to upgrade to business class without the hefty price tag. And accumulating affiliated credit card points can help.

You often have to book a higher-priced flight in the first place just to get the chance to upgrade. For example, Aeroplan generally confines the right to upgrade to those flying on higher-priced Latitude fares.

Airlines send out alerts via email touting fare sales — so don’t automatically relegate them to the spam folder.

A good example: A limited time promotion (until Jan. 9) gives Aeroplan Altitude members a chance to e-upgrade even on Tango fares and Aeroplan Fixed Mileage Flight Rewards for an additional fee ranging from $50 to $850 each way, depending on the destination.

Airline auction provider Plusgrade lets you name your price to move from economy class to business. You get an email notification from the airline indicating you can bid for a better seat, or check the airline’s website to determine if your flight is eligible.

If so, enter a bid price and your credit card info before the flight — some airlines require bids to be in seven days before, while others “let you bid right up until the departure,” said Ken Harris, Plusgrade CEO. You’ll see a sliding scale to show the strength of your bid, at which point you can up the ante.

You’ll usually hear if you’ve won within three days of departure. Developed in Montreal, Plusgrade.com has signed 60 airlines to its program since it launched in 2009, including Virgin Atlantic, Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa, Etihad and most recently Air Canada. Many airlines, including Air Canada and WestJet, offer upgrades on check in or at the gate if they haven’t filled their business or premium economy sections. Prices vary, but usually represent a discount over normal business class fares. Turkish Airlines, for example, recently offered an upgrade on Montreal to Istanbul flights for $999 one way. Air Canada’s 787 International Business Class cabin.