Cheap First Class Tricks

Want to experience the luxury of First class, but don’t have tens of thousands of dollars to splurge? No worries!

This week our members reveal how they fly First class for just a small fraction of the normal ticket price.

The trick to enjoying top-notch cuisine, champagne and even a shower on your next flight – without spending a small fortune – is to book a seat using frequent flyer points. Accumulating enough points for a First class redemption may sound like a tough ask. But there are a couple of tricks that even infrequent flyers can use to earn thousands of points quickly, and for minimal cost.

The first strategy is to sign up for credit cards offering generous bonus points to new customers. Some credit card providers offer sign-up bonuses of up to 100,000 points, just for getting the card! This is a very popular point accumulation strategy, as the points are earned for just the cost of an annual credit card fee. However, our members warn against getting carried away as applying for too many credit cards can affect your credit rating.

The second trick is to simply buy frequent flyer points! A number of overseas airlines sell points outright, including United Airlines, Avianca and American Airlines. Our members recommend joining these airlines’ programs now, and waiting for a promotion where bonus miles are offered. By buying United miles during a promotion, for example, it’s possible to fly First class to Asia in the nose of a Thai Airways 747 for barely more than $1,000! Similarly, American Airlines miles can be used to experience First on the likes of Qantas and Etihad Airways for just a fraction of the regular price.

One of our members had set a goal of flying First Class on a long-haul flight within 4 years. But with the help of our members, they’re now well on track to experiencing the ultimate luxury in travel within the next 12 months!

Discover the secrets to cheap First class travel HERE.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.