Crowded Cabin: Here's How Many Travelers Plan on Booking Business Class in 2024

Flying in a premium cabin is worlds apart from flying in economy. An economy ticket gets you from point A to point B, but feeling as if you need a foam roller and a nap. A business-class ticket gets you there while sipping pre-flight champagne and stretching your legs in a lie-flat seat.

So it's understandable why many travelers are prioritizing a nicer seat for their upcoming trips. Skyscanner's Travel Trends 2024 Report found that 38% of U.S. travelers plan to upgrade their flight to business class or first class this year.

Booking business class or first class is well worth it, especially when you have a long flight ahead of you. It can also be costly, with airlines often selling these tickets for thousands of dollars. And since it appears these seats will be in demand in 2024, they could get even more expensive.

But there are ways to book business class and first class without wrecking your travel budget and your finances as a whole. Here are the best strategies to fly this way at a reasonable cost.

Book your airfare with travel rewards

Most airlines give you the option of paying for a ticket with either cash or miles. If you have enough miles, booking this way can save you a lot of money. For example, business-class seats that cost $3,000 to $4,000 may be available for 50,000 to 75,000 miles. Parting with miles that cost you nothing is clearly preferable to parting with your hard-earned cash.

You do need to have enough miles to afford a ticket, though. While you can earn miles through the airline's frequent flyer program, it takes a while to build up enough for a business-class flight. A better, faster option is using travel credit cards.

Instead of only earning miles when you travel, you can earn them every time you use your credit card. Many of these cards also have sign-up bonuses, such as 60,000 to 100,000 miles, available for new cardholders. Travel cards, and the generous sign-up bonuses they offer, are how I pay for most of my business-class flights.

Be flexible about when and where you fly

If you want to go to a specific destination on a specific date, there might not be any cheap business-class options. If you're flexible about either of those, you're much more likely to find a deal.

Whether you're paying in cash or miles, prices can change quite a bit just by adjusting travel dates by one or two days. Try to maintain at least some flexibility in your travel plans. For example, look at flight costs first, and then request time off at work for the dates with the lowest prices.

You can save even more if you're open about where you go. Flight prices, including for business class and first class, are normally much cheaper when visiting places with a low cost of living. Try an "everywhere" search, where you set your destination airport and explore options from there. Skyscanner offers this, and it reports that one in two travelers start their flight search without a destination in mind.

Start shopping early and set up price alerts

You're more likely to find a good deal on a flight if you start early. Research by CheapAir.com found that the "prime booking window" is 1.5 to 5.5 months before you plan to travel, at least for destinations in North America.

When you give yourself plenty of time, you can also wait to see if prices drop. Flight prices can go up and down over time. But you can't capitalize on this if you're booking at the last minute and need to take whatever's available.

Many travel booking sites even do the work for you by offering flight alerts. You let them know when and where you want to travel, and they email you when prices drop. Some also provide prediction tools to show you when prices will likely be at their lowest.

See if you can upgrade an economy ticket

You're rolling the dice with this method, but it's almost always cheaper to upgrade from economy to business class than to buy a business-class ticket from the beginning.

If business-class upgrades are available, airlines may provide an upgrade option when it's close to the date of the flight. Upgrades normally work in one of two ways:

• Flat fee: The airline offers upgrades at a fixed cost. If you want it, you can buy it at that price.
• Bidding: The airline allows passengers to bid on an upgrade. If your bid is accepted, you pay that amount, and you get a business-class seat.

Bidding is a bit more complicated. But airlines that have bidding systems also let you know how likely it is that your bid will be accepted, based on the bid amount.

It's exciting to fly in style, and travelers have taken notice. While it looks as if more travelers will be buying up business-class and first-class seats this year, there will still be plenty of opportunities to snag a deal.