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How to Find Cheap Business Class Flights Without Credit Card Points

How to Find Cheap Business Class Flights Without Credit Card Points

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Are you dreaming of sipping champagne and enjoying extra legroom on your next flight but feeling discouraged by the sky-high prices of business class tickets?

While some people rely on credit card points to upgrade to business class, not everyone wants to accumulate credit card debt or has the necessary credit score to apply for a premium credit card.

Fortunately, there are still ways to find cheap business class airfares without relying on credit card points.

In this post, I’ll show you how to score cheap business class airfares like a pro, without having to churn credit card points by comparing the best flight deal tools, apps, websites and services.

This post contains affiliate links, meaning if you click through and make a purchase I may make a small commission. I only share information about things I know, love and trust!

Use FareDrop Flight Deal App

FareDrop is the latest tool in flight deals subscription services.

It’s an app (or desktop version) that sends flight deals straight to your phone (or email) based on your travel goals. 

You can expect to see deals of up to 80% off flight prices.

On average, people are saving $450 on each flight.

Why I Love It

As a Canadian, this is the only flight alert app that works for finding international business class fares from Canadian airports! 

For my American friends, don’t worry – there are HUNDREDS of business class airfares for cheap from your nearest airport in the USA. 

You can choose up to 10 departure airports.

So if you can drive to or fly out of a connecting airport, you have a TON of options for finding cheap flight deals. 

It’s highly personalized and you only select the type of deals you’re interested in.

You don’t get a bunch of irrelevant spam. 

How it Works

It scours the internet for discounted fares and sends alerts to its subscribers when they find a deal that matches their preferences.

All flight deals are hand-checked by a team of real people, so it won’t produce unreasonable flight schedules. 

Is it Free?

Your membership is free for finding deals on domestic economy flights.

But FareDrop also offers a premium subscription that finds you crazy discounts on business class fares for international flights. 

With the 30-day (no questions asked) refund policy, there’s really no risk in signing up for the Global Pro Plan.

Try it out and get notified on the lowest prices business and first class airfares. 

Ready to land some epic flight deals?

1. Create your free account here 

2. Set your preferences

3. Book away, my friend!

FareDrop vs Scott’s Cheap Flights

You might be more familiar with the long-running service called Scott’s Cheap Flights, which is now called Going. 

It’s a website that specializes in finding and sharing flight deals with its members.

The website’s team monitors flight prices from various airlines and travel websites, and then alerts subscribers to any discounted fares that may be of interest to them.

Here’s a comparison of FareDrop and Scott’s Cheap Flights:

Features

Both FareDrop and Scott’s Cheap Flights offer similar features.

They both specialize in finding and sharing flight deals with their members, and they both monitor prices from various airlines and travel websites.

Both services send subscribers alerts when they find a deal that matches their preferences.

Pricing

FareDrop offers a free subscription for domestic flights and two different pricing plans: the Global Plan is $49 and the Global Pro Plan is $99 (which is required for finding business class airfares), each billed annually.

Scott’s Cheap Flights offers a free membership that provides limited access to deals, as well as a paid premium membership that costs $49 per year, and an elite membership at a cost of $199 per year.

Both services offer a money-back guarantee if members don’t save more than the cost of their subscription in the first year. 

Which One is Better for You?

Overall, FareDrop is the better option, because it’s $100 cheaper, and it works from both US and Canadian airports! 

Scott’s Cheap Flights only works from airports within the USA and there are particularly good deals flying from New York, Los Angeles or Houston.

Google Flights + Flight Aggregators (free)

Google Flights is the second most powerful tool for finding the cheapest dates to fly. 

Using the Google Flights method is free, but it does take a lot more work. 

Here’s how to use google flights to find cheap business class fares for international and domestic fights. 

Step 1: Google Flights

Start with the explorer tool.

It’s convenient for spotting the cheapest destinations.

Set your departing airport, travel dates, price limit and explore the best fares.

If your dates are flexible, Google will automatically find the cheapest fares for the date range that you input.

You can also search ‘anywhere’ and it will find you the cheapest places to fly via business class. 

Flight Fare Comparisons

Once you’ve found your flight, you can usually find the same flight cheaper on any of the major flight aggregators: Kayak, Momondo or Skyscanner.

Use Travel Arrow Chrome extension (free), and you can convert your Google Flight search into these 3 search engines with one click.

More Tips for Finding Cheap Business Class Flights

As someone who has traveled extensively, I have learned a few tricks to find cheap business class flights. 

Here are some tips that have worked for me:

Find the Cheapest Days of the Week to Fly

Booking at the right time can save you a lot of money.

Booking business class seats as far in advance will yield the cheapest deals.

Airlines know that business travelers have a tendency to book last minute, and therefore prices will be high.

By booking 4 or more months out, this will give you the best price and you might even find a flash sale. 

Corporate and business travelers are more likely to fly out on a Monday or Tuesday and fly home on a Friday.

Look for deals that fly out mid-week, on weekends and on public holidays for more opportunities to find cheap business class flights.

Looking for Mistake Fares

Sometimes airlines make mistakes when pricing flights, resulting in extremely cheap business class tickets.

These fares are known as mistake fares, and they can be an excellent opportunity to book a cheap business class flight.

However, they are rare, and you need to act quickly to take advantage of them.

Occasionally, airlines may post incorrect fares for business class flights.

These are known as “error fares” and can offer significant discounts.

To find these deals, you can use websites such as Secret Flying or The Flight Deal.