International Business Class

Bad news, everyone. The airfare for international business class has skyrocketed.

Round trip tickets for New York/Kennedy to London/Heathrow, for instance, has reached the $9,000 mark on a walk-up basis. C-class seats to Sydney run along the $12,000 mark. And that’s not all:

* Between Atlanta and Zurich: $7, 100
* Between Los Angeles and Paris: $6,600
* Between San Francisco and Tokyo: $7,000

Ah, but don’t drown in the pathos of high airfares yet, because, believe it or not, something good has come out of this apparent string of bad news. You see, as the major international carriers inflate the walk-up prices of their international business class seats, they have also been forced to offer discounts like crazy. It makes perfect market sense.

So, now even with the international business class airfares going sky high, there are also more special promotions, advance purchase discounts, fare sales, and other price cutting gimmicks up for grabs.

Now, add to that the fact that a few new airlines are attempting to break into the airline market with their all-business-class offer, and you have more value added options than ever. And that’s not mentioning the many niche carriers that are looking to carve an international presence, plus the old reliables of consolidators and packages.

Factor all this and reality is: International business class may have discounts of 50, 60, or even 70% off the walk-up fares.

The question is: where do you start looking for these so-called international business class deals?

Look at the Airlines’ Fare Structure
This should be the first place to search for international business class discounts. With their walk-up end running amok at the moment, these airlines would be forced to make changes in their international business class fare structures. There would be lots more advance purchase international business class fare and other such coach-style yield-management practices.

Just remember that these bargains are usually non-refundable and the change fees are stiff. They are also not offered every day or on every route. And the worst part about it is that you may have to really search for them since these kind of offers are not very organized.

International Business Class Fare Sales
Another good starting point to get discounts for your international business class airfares is to look into airfare sales. They may not be as omnipresent as coach fare sales, but they are fairly common. Among the many major airlines that have offered up a series of international business class fare sales through the years is British Airways.

The success of your search would have to depend on the airlines and the market. Since both these two factors do not remain constant for any long period, then international business class fare sales are not predictable. In addition, not many airlines offer these.

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