The 17 Best Business Class Points Deals We’ve Found in October

Even if you've got all the points and miles in the world, booking a lie-flat business class seat abroad can feel impossible. It's not: There's no better time to book these business or first class seats than right now.

The month isn't over yet, but our team of flight deal analysts has already sent a record number of first and business class flight deals to Thrifty Traveler Premium members in October. That includes flying Air France business class to Paris for the 2024 Olympics, Japan Airlines business class seats to Tokyo for 60,000 points, and business and first class redemptions to Australia – typically one of the hardest routes to book, but we've made it a reality.

We search all day, every day for business class award availability – flights you can actually book with your points and miles – and alert our subscribers when we find it. And we've sent 20 alerts and counting in just the last few weeks. 

Take a look at some of the best.
 

 

Biz Class to Paris for the 2024 Olympics

Finding lie-flat business class seats you can book with your points and miles can be tough as there aren't many of those seats on every flight, especially compared to economy. And during summer? For a major event? Good luck.

Take the 2024 Summer Olympics, for example. Everyone's heading to Paris between July 26 and Aug. 11 next summer for the games. But this week, we found nonstop Air France business class award availability flying to Paris next year … including during the 2024 Olympics!
 

 

These seats are all gone now – get the next alert with Thrifty Traveler Premium!

Rather than paying $4,000 or more for these tickets, you could have booked for just 55,000 to 70,000 Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles – which are easy to get by transferring credit card points. This is where getting alerts when flights are bookable is crucial: Every second matters for getting an amazing deal with your points.

 

New Routes to Germany & Italy from 51K

Airlines have been announcing brand-new routes to Europe like crazy. And we keep finding the deals to be one of the first to fly in those lie-flat seats overseas.

It's one of the most surefire ways to book premium airplane seats with your points and a tried-and-true budget travel strategy. Here are two perfect examples we sent to our Thrifty Traveler Premium members.

German carrier Lufthansa announced two brand new routes from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) and Raleigh (RDU) to Frankfurt (FRA) starting next summer. As soon as the flights went on sale, we found tons of business class availability on both routes, bookable for as low as just 51,000 points each way!
 

 

Not long after, Italian carrier ITA Airways announced a new route flying between Chicago (ORD) and Rome (FCO) starting next year. I think you know where I'm going with this…
 

 

That's right: Nonstop flights to Rome in 2024 – including the peak summer – that you could book with your points from credit cards like Chase, Amex, and Capital One! You can't beat that.

 

Delta One to Europe for 50K (Or Less)

Delta charges 300,000 SkyMiles or more to fly its Delta One business class overseas. But there's a crafty workaround that might just be the best deal in the world of points and miles: You can book those same lie-flat flights for just 50,000 points.

The key is booking instead through Virgin Atlantic. Availability to book at these insanely low rates disappeared for the last year … until recently, when we found some amazing availability to fly to several European cities later this year and early next!
 

 

Departing from New York (JFK) and heading to Brussels (BRU), Frankfurt (FRA), or Zurich (ZRH), these fares could actually be booked for just 39,000 points thanks to a 30% transfer bonus from Chase to Virgin Atlantic!

With winter coming fast, Delta decided it was worth making these seats available to Virgin to make sure they got still some revenue out of them. The end result? Award fares like this one flying to the Swiss Alps in mid-January. Attention, skiers!
 

 

Get the next incredible Delta One business class deal in your inbox with Thrifty Traveler Premium!

Just how good is this deal? Consider this: Delta itself is charging 295,000 SkyMiles for this exact same flight!
 

 

We're monitoring these seats all day, every day, and alert you in your inbox when we find something worthwhile. So unless you have another team of 10 flight deal analysts working around the clock to monitor business class award space for you, a service like ours might just be the best way to book these seats.

 

Australia in Business … or Qantas First Class!

Booking first or business class seats using points to Australia is typically one of the hardest trips to actually pull off. Airlines are incredibly stingy with these premium cabin seats … until lately.

In the last few months alone, we've found a half-dozen amazing lie-flat points deals to Australia and New Zealand for our Thrifty Traveler Premium members. Our latest alert could get you to Australia throughout much of 2024 … or, for a few thousand points more, up in Qantas First Class. Take a look.
 

 

This deal even included some outstanding availability to Sydney (SYD), Melbourne (MEL), and Brisbane (BNE) bookable for as low as 109,000 points each way. I can't think of a better way to escape the winter than head to enjoy the summer in the land down under.
 

 

Wait for an alert like this, transfer your points, and book your bucket list trip to Australia!
 

Tokyo for 60K Miles

It seems like everyone is itching to get over to Japan. But that 10-plus hour flight to Tokyo puts a lot of people off.

Not if you can fly like this…

 

 

…for this.
 

 

That's right: We sent Thrifty Traveler Premium members an alert in October to fly Japan Airlines business class from New York City (JFK) all the way to Tokyo-Haneda (HND) for just 60,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles. Best of all, travelers who booked this deal have a shot at flying Japan Airline's new business class suites.

 

Dublin for Just 50K

Christmas in Dublin, anyone? That's exactly how some of our subscribers will be spending the holiday after booking this Aer Lingus business class flight deal that included rare availability over the Christmas holiday this year.
 

 

United Polaris to Europe for 45K Miles

Then there was this sweet deal flying lie-flat in United Polaris business class to either Brussels (BRU) or Geneva (GVA) this winter. And it somehow got even cheaper.
 

 

Bookable for just 45,000 miles one-way with Turkish Airlines, it included travel dates over the holidays and during peak ski season in the Swiss and French Alps if Geneva was your final destination.

 

Hong Kong in Cathay Pacific Business … or First!

What about something more rare, though? That's exactly what we found with Cathay Pacific opened up award availability to Hong Kong (HKG) next year in both its business class and first class!

Travelers haven't been able to book these cabins for years, but that's exactly what we sent Thrifty Traveler Premium members just a few weeks ago.
 

 

Flying nonstop to Hong Kong from Los Angeles (LAX), New York (JFK), San Francisco (SFO), and Toronto (YYZ), you could book these seats from 84,000 Cathay Pacific Asia Miles in business or up to 125,000 miles in first class.

 

A Chance to Fly in ‘The Apartment'

At Thrifty Traveler Premium, we give our subscribers the ability to sign up for something we call “Nerd Alerts.” Nerd Alerts are business or first class flight deals that are especially unique or strange or that never even touch U.S. or Canadian soil. It's a little something for the people who we affectionately call “sickos” like ourselves.

This recent Nerd Alert could help travelers get aboard one of the craziest experiences in the sky: Etihad Apartments.
 

 

As you can see, the Etihad Apartment is kind of exactly how it sounds: it's a little apartment in the sky. The fully enclosed room at 35,000 feet is one of the coolest aviation experiences out there. And for 63,000 American Airlines miles, you could book the only route in the world where the Etihad Apartment flies: On the Airbus A380 between London (LHR) and Abu Dhabi (AUH).

 

Our Other Biz Class Deals from October

I promised you 20 business class deals we've sent Thrifty Traveler Premium members to book with points and miles in October. And I'm going to give you all 20 of them.

Here's a quick glance at the other eight business and first class award alerts we've found so far in October:

• SWISS business class to Geneva (GVA) or Zurich (ZRH) for just 45,000 points each way
• Flights to Paris or Amsterdam (AMS) in Air France or KLM business class as low as 33,000 points!
• More flights to Europe for the Summer 2024 Games in Paris, this time flying TAP Air Portugal business class for 45,000 points
• KLM business class from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Amsterdam next spring for 60,000 points
• Roundtrip flights all over Europe in American Airlines business class for 130,000 AAdvantage miles
• Incredibly rare lie-flat seats to Hawaii in Hawaiian Airlines' brand new suites!
• Business or first class to Abu Dhabi (AUH) with Etihad from just 70,000 points each way
• Even more business class seats with Air France or KLM from Canada, as low as 42,000 points!

 

Here's my inbox as proof. Throw in some deeply discounted cash fares flying business class, and there's even more to love.
 

 

Bottom Line

Over the last month, Thrifty Traveler Premium members have been treated to more than a dozen business and first class flight deals. It's the craziest stretch of business class deals we've ever seen.

There's no better time to put your points and miles to use. Just wait for a Thrifty Traveler Premium flight deal alert and book!