It's hard to put a price tag on the comfort of a lie-flat seat during a long-haul flight, but the airlines always seem to be able to – and that price tag can top $6,000 or more, which is simply not an option for you, me, or 99.9% of all travelers.
While using points and miles to book business class or premium cabin seats to Europe is typically where you'll find the best value, we've been seeing more and more cheap business class fares lately. Buying a business class flight for a low cash price saves you the headache of stacking up points and miles and then finding the award space to actually use them. It also allows you to meaningfully earn toward airline status and earn a good chunk of points or miles in the process. Better yet, you can use Google Flights – the most powerful flight search engine – to hone in on the very best flights at the very best times for the very best prices, too.
We search for business class flight deals every day and send our Thrifty Traveler Premium members alerts about the best ones as soon as you can book them. It's a labor of love because we love hearing our subscribers' reactions when we send them roundtrip business class deals. In doing so, we've noticed a trend over the last couple of months: Business class fares at economy prices.
If you've given up on flying business class because it's simply too expensive, think again. Read on for the best business class flight deals we've found in just the past few months.
Mistake Fare: United Polaris Business Class from $899 Roundtrip
You've seen the fare, but what exactly happened here? This unbelievably cheap fare to London (LHR) only lasted a few hours, but we heard from plenty of our subscribers who booked this.
These United Polaris business class seats don't go on sale very often…if ever. The starting rate from Boston (BOS) to London (LHR) starting at $899 roundtrip led us to believe immediately that this was a mistake on Lufthansa's part. Their computer system forgot a digit somewhere in the taxes and fees surcharges, which led to this unfathomable fare on Lufthansa's partner United.
And this wasn't just Boston, either. From coast to coast, in big airports and small, Lufthansa was selling these fares for insanely low rates.
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It's safe to say these are the cheapest Europe business class fares that have ever been recorded from cities like Des Moines (DSM), Grand Junction (GJT), and Fresno (FAT).
Delta One Business Class to Spain from $2,156 Roundtrip
Delta One Business Class also doesn't go on sale very often, but if there's one sweet spot, it's from either New York (JFK) or Boston (BOS), where hundreds and hundreds of business class seats fly across the pond every day.
With a quick connection in New York (JFK), you could fly Delta One Business Class to Barcelona (BCN) or Madrid (MAD) this year or next with this deal.
And while this deal has since evaporated, we were delighted that it included availability over the holidays, too!
Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year's Eve availability is so rare on business class deals, but this one had all three. The fare above would give you Christmas in Barcelona!
Business Class from Canada Starting at $2,101 Roundtrip
Another sweet spot of cheap business class fares we keep finding is from our neighbors to the north in Canada, but if you're an American, don't skip this section!
If you're willing to take a short positioning flight up to Montreal (YUL), Toronto (YYZ), or Vancouver (YVR), you could take advantage of these half-off British Airways Club Suites fares flying to London (LHR) and onward to the rest of Europe, too!
Booking a flight deal to or from Canada might be the savviest move you can make. If you're OK clearing immigration an extra time each way, it could save you thousands on a lie-flat seat to Europe.
From Barcelona (BCN) to Stockholm (ARN), this deal could get you almost anywhere in Europe flying from Canada.
JetBlue Mint Business Class from $1,730 Roundtrip
When it comes to business class flights to Europe, we check JetBlue every single day. Five years ago, that might have seemed crazy. But not only does JetBlue fly to Europe now, but they also fly these lovely Mint business class suites with them on every route. After we flew aboard these dynamite new suites a few weeks ago, we think they might be the most fun, most unique way to fly to Europe right now.
Maybe the best part about JetBlue Mint is that the airline routinely puts these seats on sale for under $2,000 roundtrip.
This London (LGW) flight deal is a great example, pulling in more than a dozen U.S. connections to the New York (JFK) and Boston (BOS) Mint flights across the pond.
But if you haven't heard, JetBlue is also expanding its transatlantic offerings, flying routes to Amsterdam (AMS), Dublin (DUB), Edinburgh (EDI), and Paris (CDG), too!
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And wouldn't you know it, JetBlue ran a sale to make a spot in the first few rows of those planes yours for a 2024 Europe trip!
We might sound like a broken record about these JetBlue Mint fares, but JetBlue is really changing the game with how they're pricing these business class seats. These price points are pretty unbelievable given how nice the product is, and these luxurious seats can get you to some of Europe's top destinations, too.
TAP Air Portugal
If you're looking for a cheap business class flight across the Atlantic, it always pays to check TAP Air Portugal. The Portugese flag carrier is known for putting all of its seats on sale, including its business class.
We've seen TAP put these business class seats on sale to destinations like the Azores, Paris (even during the 2024 Olympics), and into North Africa, too. This most recent sale focused more on destinations within Portugal, making the flights not only comfortable but convenient.
The southern beach town of Faro, Portugal (FAO) is available from all of these departure cities, as are the tried and true Thrifty-approved destinations of Lisbon (LIS) and Porto (OPO).
There are also a few other European locales sprinkled into this deal, too if you're looking to connect elsewhere in the continent.
These TAP fares feature lounge access, champagne, and all the other bells and whistles we love about business class travel.
The Best Business Class No One Knows About: Condor
When Condor Airlines unveiled these business class seats on its new A330s last year, we all agreed they looked pretty. But could Condor – the long-haul budget carrier based in Frankfurt – actually provide a world-class business class experience?
Well, our Chief Flight Deal Analyst Jon tried it out…and now he won't shut up about it.
According to Jon, yes, Condor Business Class delivers in a big way. And at rates like this, it's one of the best values in travel right now.
The seats are beautiful, the seatback 4K monitors that you can connect to with your Bluetooth headphones are magnificent, and the quality and service were sublime, he said.
So when fares like this one pop up, don't miss your chance!
An All-Business Class Airline: La Compagnie
Seventy-six lie-flat business class seats make up the entire cabin on all of La Compagnie's A321neo planes. It's a business class-only airline, meaning you get tons of extra attention and service and a quick and easy boarding and deplaning process.
For all of that comfort, you might think you're going to have to shell out an arm and a leg. Think again.
I'm fascinated by La Compagnie and these business class-only flights. And while I've never flown the product, their routes from Newark (EWR) to Milan (MXP), Nice (NCE), and Paris-Orly (ORY) have my attention.
Air France for the Long, Long Haul
Over the last few weeks, we've dug up two different sneaky business class deals flying Air France to some of the most distant destinations on earth: India and South Africa.
Flying to either locale can take a day or more in some cases, meaning a little extra comfort in a lie-flat seat goes a long, long, long way.
This deal with one-stop service to Mumbai (BOM) from New York (JFK) was at least half-off the usual fares, and it included availability over the summer, too!
While this lowest fare is on Air France, you can find similar availability flying Delta, KLM, and Virgin Atlantic on the long-haul route over the ocean, too.
To connect from Paris (CDG) to Cape Town, South Africa (CPT), you're looking at two essentially identical long-haul routes.
Luckily, travelers based in Canada were able to jump on these fares at their absolute lowest. If you're doing the calculus based on dollars spent per miles flown, this might be the best deal we've ever sent for business class.
Bottom Line
Don't write off a chance at flying business class next year, because right now we're seeing some of the lowest premium cabin cash fares we've ever seen across the Atlantic – some for even cheaper than what you can find flying economy.
You don't have to have a huge stash of points and miles to book these incredible seats. We search for business class flight deals every day, and Thrifty Traveler Premium members get alerts sent to their email inboxes as soon as we find them.
I would really like to try business class (lie flat seat) to Italy or near Italy in 2024. Usually I book flight first, but that might be a challenge if I book a tour of the Dolomites. If I join TT, would that help me book that business flight? The most miles I have is 38,000 with Delta.