Best way to bring price down on business class flight (BA)

kindai

kindai

kindai

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Will be flying out to Japan at the end of November, via British Airways at Heathrow.

Now as I refuse to fly poverty class on such a long flight, will be booking Business Class. I have already checked the dates and by moving a day later on the departure and return have slashed £600 off the cost.

However, I am sure there are some traveling aficionados here who might know of some tips/tricks to bring the cost down some more? Any cashback type deals or points based things where I can rack up a decent quantity fast?

Thankies!
 
try booking it starting in AMS or similar european country. Obvs you need to book a positioning flight and potentially a hotel overnight to avoid any delays causing an issue. going ex-EU was always the cheapest way financially (but not time), you'd do a flight on BA AMS-LHR then get your exact same flight to NRT but £££££ cheaper.

Other option is to get a Amex with a hefty sign up bonus but people who fly in J tend to have an Amex already.

ETA: I flew WT+ back from SFO a few years back on the A380 - it was very pleasant as another option. I found BA CW a bit meh in all honesty, UA First and VS UC was much better.
 
Careful on keep checking it, without incognito mode and VPN, you might find the prices creeping up.

But sign up to a new Amex card, you can easily spend most of that required amount on a business flight to Japan, in the first 3 months.

Quidco for cash back.

If you book the flight, even BA through Expedia, can get you discount on hotels afterwards. Last time I did that and my next hotel booking I had some amazing deals. Like £50 a night staying in a 5 star in Fukuoka and Hiroshima.

Ps, I guess you have family over there? Because right now to go there you need to book through a travel agent with a planned schedule? Essentially the travel agent acts as your sponsor for the VISA.
 
You could get an Amex platinum and spend the £6k in six months (less than 3 for you I guess) to get the current 60k Avios bonus, then cancel it and get a pro-rata refund of the fee. I can't remember if you get the bonus right away after you hit £6k or have to wait the full six months. If you know anyone else that might want one refer them to get a hefty bonus. At the same time switch your current account to Barclays Premier assuming you hit the salary requirements (25k Avios sign up bonus, 43k total in your first year and a cabin upgrade voucher each year which is potentially worth £££) and then take advantage of any other offers on at the moment. Then finally hope you can find a reward flight on the dates you want. In reality in the timeframe you have imo this is unlikely, especially if you aren't travelling alone. What the above poster said is probably your best option: look for cheaper flights out of European mainland airports, and consider other airlines.
 
Book on a Tues. Clear cookies.
We used to Fly Business class to New York every Easter. Booking on Tuesdays gave the best savings... Not flying on a tuesday just booking it.
 
mattyg said:
Book on a Tues. Clear cookies.
We used to Fly Business class to New York every Easter. Booking on Tuesdays gave the best savings... Not flying on a tuesday just booking it.
Click to expand...
Yup! Don’t book on Monday, Monday is when all the PA get back to work after the weekend and book flights for all their directors and managers, the airline knows this.
 
Cheapest cash will an ex-EU flight.

£19xx from OSL or AMS on Lufthansa.


There's no Avios reward availability, even if there was wouldn't really be worth it as you'd have to spend loads to get the amount of points needed to bring the cash part down.


 
Have you tried a BA Flight + Car or Flight + Hotel booking? They have access to fare classes not normally available via the regular booking process and it can sometimes be worth adding a cheap hotel or car and chucking it away if you don't need/want it.

I've just booked two business class return tickets NYC-LHR to go to a funeral (so only a couple of weeks ahead) and a Flight + Car hire booking was really good... the flight pricing was close to what I would pay for a cash ticket in a sale booked months ahead.

There was no Avios availability around the dates I needed and the taxes and fees are almost $1,700 per person anyway!

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Why are you having to look at flight prices if it's for work? Surely your PA or shared secretary or whatever should be dealing with it?
 
Azza said:
AMS - NRT for ~£1,422 on Etihad.

Bargain, if you're okay with the long layover in AUH.
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Not that motivated to save some money :D

Looking at going from eu airports the savings are not too great by the time ive factored in time/effort/flights to that airport.

OllyM said:
I've just booked two business class return tickets NYC-LHR to go to a funeral (so only a couple of weeks ahead) and a Flight + Car hire booking was really good... the flight pricing was close to what I would pay for a cash ticket in a sale booked months ahead.
Click to expand...

Thanks, this seems to have shaved another few hundred quid off, and will also wang it through an amex card which gives another £125 off.
 
Azza said:
AMS - NRT for ~£1,422 on Etihad.

Bargain, if you're okay with the long layover in AUH.
Click to expand...
Long layovers never work out. I saved about £120 each and had a four hour layover in JFK after returning from Mexico. Nice saving of £240. Paid for a few nights accommodation.

Spent £200 in the bar waiting for my flight from JFK…
 
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