Recently I had the pleasure of flying on a business class flight for a measly £1.
This was a flight between London and Cyprus at the start of February.
***This post talks about credit cards - remember to pay the card off in full each month to
avoid any interest rate charges***
Now I do not have the salary or disposable income to make business class flying a normal occurrence, and the only way this was possible was through capitalising on some great travel schemes available. In this post I will go through how I managed to get a business class flight for so cheap and recommendations of how to get the most out of these opportunities
Those of you who have read some of my old blogs will recall a travel hacking series that I released, which had two-parts and went through how to use specific credit cards to be eligible for flight vouchers and also build up your travel points, whether that is Avios or Virgin Points.
This is ultimately the fruits of all that labour. I will say at this stage it wasn't the most optimum use of a voucher, however due to the expiry date and also personal circumstances, I needed to take that flight and it still worked out very well. It was a great experience and also saved me some cash.
Let's rewind two years ago when I started my travel hacking journey. I was introduced to this world through the website headforpoints.com. This is a great resource of information and is mainly where I have learned everything I know in this field, along with some other websites and videos I have found on YouTube, but you will get enough simply from that one website.
Ultimately that are three types of credit cards you can get in the UK which will reward your spending with flight vouchers and also help you earn travel points. These credit cards are from Virgin, Barclaycard and American Express. Depending on where you are most likely to fly will lead you to which card would be more suitable for you. The Virgin card links obviously with the Virgin airlines which from the UK fly mostly to America, but also some other countries as well. Whereas the Barclaycard and American Express cards give out Avios points along with flight vouchers, which then allow you to spend these on British Airways. Now you can use your points on other airlines away from Virgin and British Airways but for this blog I will just be focusing on just the direct usage. Both British Airways and Virgin allow you to use their points on their partner airlines, but there are so many different options I couldn't cover them properly in this blog post.
So back to two years ago when I took out my American Express British Airways credit card. There are two options of credit card, one you pay for and one that is free, I opted for the one that you pay for knowing that it gave me access to business class flights. Back then I had the intention that I would use it for a long haul flight therefore maximising the benefit. The cost of this credit card was £275 and I needed to spend £10,000 in a calendar year to be eligible for what they call the 'Companion voucher'. Now this companion voucher allows a person to ultimately fly for free in the same class that you have purchased a ticket for, they only have to cover taxes. So if somebody wants to purchase two long haul business class tickets, they will only have to pay the taxes for the second person which is an absolute bargain. Using this voucher as a solo traveller simply means you pay a significantly reduced rate for your flight .
So even though I didn't get to maximise the voucher on a long haul business class flight I still only had to spend £1 on my return business class flight from London to Cyprus. There was also the 27,000 Avios that I needed to spend, however this was easily covered by the sign up bonus I received of 30,000 Avios when I took out the card and spent £3000 in the first three months.
All the spending I have done on my credit card is every day-to-day spending, l have not paid for anything that I normally wouldn't have had to spend.
You may think that the credit card fee simply wipes out any benefit or saving of me taking this flight, however to buy a business class flight for the same route would cost roughly £800, and to buy the flight on economy with bags would cost £380. I would also have to add on a second bag for the return leg increasing the cost further.
If we also take into consideration the lounge access I had as well, where I had a decent meal and drinks, which in the airport would have been easily £30 in each location, the savings become even more apparent.
As I mentioned at the start the benefits of these vouchers really come into their own on long haul flights and I was gutted not to be able to maximise it this way.
I have since downgraded to the free credit card which still gives me access to the vouchers and accruing Avios points on my spending, but I can only use voucher on economy flights.
Another benefit was the feeling flying business class gave me. I felt empowered for more, and would love to be in a financial position to do this more often. It was ultimately a more relaxing way to fly and I hope to do it again in the future.
If you know in a years time you will be going on a long haul flight, I would thoroughly recommend you look at the options of travel credit cards to give you access to some amazing benefits. This is not an affiliated blog post and I get nothing from any click through on links.
I will share below for three cards that I have used in the past and in some version continue today.
Because American Express are not accepted everywhere, and perhaps you want to fly to places that either Virgin or BA offer, having an option of cards is helpful.
But remember - pay the thing off in full every month to avoid any charges!
Have you benefited from these types of credit cards in the past and what savings or holidays did you get to go on because of them?
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