Wouldn’t it be wonderful to board a plane with a first or business class ticket? Are you one of the first ones to board the flight? Are you sitting in an oversized seat with plenty of legroom while enjoying a fantastic glass of champagne? Then after sipping bubbly, you are served dinner with your favorite wine? Then you sit back in your chair, feeling relaxed and content, and you push the buttons to lower your chair until you are lying flat with a pillow and comfy blanket. After nodding off and sleeping for several hours, you wake up, enjoy another meal, and hear the pilot announce that you are about to land. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?

After years of traveling for pleasure and business in economy seats, I decided to figure out how to make the goal of flying business or first class happen. My husband and I have a comfortable life, but affording first class, or business class tickets was just not in our budget. I began a quest and started learning how I could earn this privilege without having to break our travel budget. After a lot of research and practice, I now fly approximately 80% of my flights in business or first class. It wasn’t simple, but the investment is worth it. However, like most good things in life, it requires some time and understanding of the details to make it happen. And, yes, it will take some time and money to acquire these rewards, but you will and at a fraction of the cost. I love to fly in a higher-level class of service, and I want to share these Always5Star tips with you!

5StarTips🌟: How to fly in Business or First-Class Seats:

🌟 Sign up for an airline program, stick with it and be loyal!

The first step is I enrolled in the American Airlines AAdvantage loyalty program five years ago and started with no status. I now have the highest elite status of Executive Platinum. It took me two years to accumulate miles and to understand how the program worked. It cannot be accomplished overnight. I travel a lot for business and pleasure. Most people tend to look up the most convenient and lowest cost flight. This method will not get you these upgrades. There are many airline programs to choose from, and one can argue which is best. I prefer American Airlines because they offer the most amount of flights to the places that I wanted or needed to travel. They also belong to the One World Alliance, which is a codeshare* partnership with other airlines around the world. Belonging to One World Alliance allows me to fly almost anywhere in the world (often with another airline in the partnership) and earn valuable miles toward rewards. Most large airline companies are in codeshares. Make sure to invest some time to research what airline company is best for you to join.

*Codeshare – This is an agreement between a group of airlines to share flights to expand the places their customers can travel. For example, I recently booked a trip with American Airlines to Taiwan. The first segment was on American from LAX to Tokyo. The second leg was on Japan Airlines (the codeshare partner) from Tokyo to Taipei. I can fly on a Japan Airline flight and earn the same amount of miles to my American Airlines account.

🌟 Sign up for a credit card that earns airline miles with the airline program selected.

I have the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive American Airlines credit card and use this for all my expenses that allow a credit card charge. I use it for daily expenses and make sure to pay it off every month, so I don’t pay those pesky, high-interest rates. My credit card earns valuable miles to my American Airlines AAdvantage account. Whichever airline you choose, you should have a credit card that earns miles toward your airline loyalty program.

Miles earned are money in the bank towards free flights and seat upgrades. The other benefit is, if you spend the required amount each year (each airline credit card is different), you can also earn bonus miles with the airline. Research how each credit card earns toward their program’s status and upgrades.

It is important to understand how an airline lets you reap these rewards. In the case of American Airlines, it takes a combination of dollars spent and miles flown for higher status. With multiple status levels, airlines offer more benefits as you move up in status. Take time to investigate which one is best for your personal needs, because each program is a little different.

🌟 Pay for your ticket and use your miles on either a seat upgrade or tickets for buying a companion ticket, so YOU keep earning valuable miles!

One of the factors for earning status is that it can work against you if you use your miles for yourself. You will not earn miles or status whenever you use this option. I have learned it is a better strategy to pay for my airline ticket and use my miles for upgrades for me or to fly my companion for free (using my miles).

As an example, my husband and I were traveling to Europe. I wanted to fly both of us in business class for the round trip. The price was beyond what we could afford. It made more sense for me to purchase a “premium economy” seat which was very affordable. This fare is between the business and economy classes. I used my miles to purchase his ticket so that he could fly with me. I only paid for one fare, and still earned miles toward my elite status. In this example, I put myself and him on the waitlist to see if we would be upgraded to business class (we were!).

Please note that often you don’t know if you have been upgraded until the day you are flying. Each airline handles this differently. There have been times that I have not known I have been upgraded until three days before a flight and other times not until an hour before the flight.

My status with American Airlines AAdvantage Program is Executive Platinum (the highest level), and the opportunities for me to be upgraded to business class seats are very high. However, there is always a bit of a gamble as to if you will be upgraded. I was comfortable with this risk because a premium economy seat is quite nice. Because of my status, I was able to get my husband and me bulkhead seats in the premium economy without an extra charge. This is an ideal situation because if I did not get upgraded, I still had paid very little for very good seats on a long-haul flight.

5StarTip🌟: It helps to call to make sure you are on the upgrade list as soon as you make your reservations. After I purchased our tickets, I called American Airlines to request both of us on the upgrade waiting list for this flight for business class seats. Though I purchased my ticket and used miles for his, because of my high status, we were both eligible for an upgrade. The happy ending to this story is that we both enjoyed roundtrip business class tickets from Los Angeles to London with lay down seats for the price of a premium economy seat. An Always5Star moment!

🌟 Know the code! There are different multipliers for earning miles based on the class of service you purchase.

I think airline companies count on the fact that most of us will not spend the time or energy trying to figure out how to earn miles. There is no doubt in my mind that it is meant to be complicated and almost impossible to understand. I believe this because you can significantly drop the costs of flying at higher levels of service classes if you understand the program. The complicated rules and details gave me headaches in the beginning. However, the benefits are tremendous and certainly worth taking a couple of Tylenol to take care of my headache before booking my flights….lol!

Airlines often offer more miles for the same distance flown, when you book a higher class of service. For example, a main cabin economy ticket could earn you 100% of the miles flown. A premium economy ticket can earn you 150%. A business class ticket could earn you three times or 300% of the miles flown. So, it takes some analysis to decide if you should buy a higher-class ticket and earn more miles versus a lower level, save money, and wait for an upgrade. Remember….I did warn you that it would give you a headache!

The below chart was taken from the American Airlines website:

5StarTip🌟: Investigate the multiplier codes for a flight before you purchase your tickets. Some tickets, specially discounted economy, can earn minimal miles. Every airline has a page on their website that explains the ticket codes and miles multipliers. In my opinion, it is worth spending a little more to make sure that you are earning optimum miles.

🌟 Use your phone or research online for your flight seat availability!

It is common sense that if most of the seats are already purchased, there is not much likelihood for an upgrade. By checking how full a flight is and purchasing a ticket on a less than full flight, you can increase your odds for a free upgrade. It is easy to get to the webpage on an airline’s site that shows which seats are still available. At a quick glance, you can see how full the plane is.

In the example below, I would not choose this flight because there are only 3 seats left in business class.

Call the airline! I know…I know…you probably feel it is a pain to get through to an agent! Yes, it can be! Sometimes you can be on hold for what seems like an eternity. However, this is also an essential investment of time toward business class upgrades.

I often call and get advice on which flights are more open to upgrades than others. The ticket agents can tell you which flights tend to have more potential for an upgrade and those that are less likely. This is important if you are flying a long-haul flight!

On a recent trip to the Czech Republic, I called and had the airline representative tell me which flights had the most business class tickets available. Then I choose my flight based on that. These flights are almost always at better prices because they are less popular. This has been a critical component for me being upgraded to business class. However, the flight may be less convenient such as having a stop, more extended layover, or less than the optimum times to travel. Wouldn’t you rather have a little inconvenience and fly business class?

For more information about choosing the best seat on the plane: 
5StarTip🌟: How To Use The American Airlines Phone App To Get The Best Seats!

Final Thoughts:

The tips that I have shared have repeatedly worked for me and elevated my travel to a whole new Always5Star luxury level. I must admit that I have become quite spoiled by flying business class so often. Even if I am not upgraded (this past year it happened all but one time), my status still affords me the opportunity to have the best seat available in the class that I purchase at no additional cost. At lower status levels, a seat with more legroom often has an additional charge such as exit row or bulkhead seats. Consequently, the rare times I am not upgraded, I still have a good seat.
Taking advantage of these benefits does not happen overnight. As I mentioned previously, it took me two years of investment in time and effort before I started flying at a higher level. It takes time to earn a higher status. However, if you are like me and enjoy the perks of being treated like a VIP, it is 100% worth your time and effort!

Cheers to you using these 5StarTips🌟 to begin your journey to an Always5Star level of travel!

Please note: I used the American Airlines AAdvantage program for this example. However, there is several other airlines loyalty rewards program that might better meet your individual needs.

If you enjoyed this post, please pin it to your Pinterest! Thank you!

5StarTip🌟: How To Use The American Airlines Phone App To Get The Best Seats!

5StarTip🌟: How Important are American Airlines booking codes? Very!

5StarTip🌟: American Airlines Advantage Members perks of being in the Oneworld Alliance

---