How I booked my first business-class flight with p...

Taking a global flight in business class used to really feel like a far-flung dream. My price range is often consistent with economic system pricing — even premium economy can really feel like a stretch if I am paying money on a peak date.

It wasn’t till I dove into the world of factors and miles that I actually started to grasp simply how attainable a business-class flight may probably be. Now, I’ve achieved it.

This yr, I booked my first-ever business-class redemption to go to my greatest good friend in London. I obtained a reasonably stellar deal due to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, which I booked by transferring American Specific Membership Rewards factors.

Here is how I recognized, confirmed and booked my award ticket.

Associated: Best ways to use Amex Membership Rewards points, from business-class flights to Europe to budget-friendly hotel stays

Determine journey dates with Seats.aero

Flexibility is the important thing right here. I knew I needed to go to my good friend in spring, however I had some wiggle room with the precise date of my journey. As a result of so many airline loyalty applications use dynamic award pricing, you will discover the most effective values in case your dates aren’t as inflexible.

You may additionally discover extra availability when you’re versatile about your departure location. My native airport — Greenville-Spartanburg Worldwide Airport (GSP) in South Carolina — is on the smaller facet. As such, reserving a positioning flight to the London-bound leg of my journey was within the playing cards.

I’ve a number of transferable rewards cards that associate with Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership, and I have been eyeing its Upper Class business class since flying Virgin Atlantic premium economy on a visit final yr. So, I made a decision to e-book this redemption with Virgin factors over utilizing one other SkyTeam loyalty program.

After I’m in search of flight redemptions, my first cease is all the time Seats.aero. I’ve the Professional plan, which lets me set extra search parameters. Since my journey is versatile, I entered “USA” as my origin and set my departure date to be inside 28 days earlier than or after Might 1 to maintain my journey in spring.

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Lastly, I chosen the “solely direct flights” choice, set Virgin Atlantic as my working airline and selected to solely seek for business-class seats. These are superior filters, however they made narrowing my search a lot simpler.

After I booked my award, I discovered a one-way flight in early Might from New York’s John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport (JFK) to London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR) for 39,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership factors plus $581 in taxes and charges.

Nonetheless, once I ran the search just a few weeks later, that pricing was not obtainable. Within the instance under, you will see a business-class flight to LHR from Boston Logan Worldwide Airport (BOS) for 47,500 factors, with most different choices on this time-frame setting you again 56,000 factors.

To study extra about working your individual searches, learn our full Seats.aero guide.

Associated: Redeem your points and miles: How to search flight award availability for the major airlines

Verify availability with the airline

This step is vital. Whereas Seats.aero is a unbelievable place to start out, you may’t rely fully on the aggregator to be 100% correct on a regular basis. And when you make a switch, you can’t transfer your points or miles back to your credit card.

Earlier than initiating a switch to my Virgin account, I double-checked that the award I discovered truly existed.

For this text, I looked for the BOS to LHR flight on April 28 that I discovered for 47,500 factors on Seats.aero.

I logged in to my Virgin Atlantic account and looked for an identical itinerary on the airline’s homepage.

I discovered the identical flight on Virgin Atlantic’s web site, that means I may switch the 47,500 factors wanted for the redemption to my account to e-book the ticket.

The one out-of-pocket expense would have been for the taxes and charges, which price $589.

Associated: 10 mistakes to avoid when redeeming airline points and miles

Evaluate money vs. factors and miles charges

In fact, there may be no such thing as a “excellent redemption.” Any good redemption is one you find valuable. Nonetheless, when you’re searching for a mathematically backed method to make sure you’re getting good worth in your factors and miles, you must compare the redemption’s value to its money price.

Since it’s possible you’ll run into a number of award charges with dynamic pricing, we’ll run the mathematics twice: first for the redemption I truly created from JFK (for 39,000 factors plus $581 in taxes and charges) and the opposite instance we’re strolling via from BOS (for 47,500 factors plus $589 in taxes and charges).

For the JFK to LHR redemption, let’s first decide the worth of 39,000 Virgin factors utilizing TPG’s February 2026 valuations. TPG values Virgin factors at 1.3 cents apiece, so in line with this calculation, 39,000 factors could be price $507. Then we’ll add the $581 in taxes and charges, bringing the entire to $1,088.

Evaluate that to the money worth of $2,633.50, and we’re saving about $1,546 through the use of factors.

We will do the identical math for the hypothetical BOS to LHR redemption. First, let’s decide the worth of 49,500 Virgin factors — about $644, per TPG’s valuations. Add that to the extra $589 in taxes and charges to get a complete of $1,233.

The money worth for Virgin Atlantic enterprise class can range drastically, and the BOS to LHR flight would’ve price $10,018.50.

Because of this, you’d save greater than $8,000 by reserving with factors, which is an unbelievable worth.

Nonetheless, it is price doing the calculations to see in case your redemption is mathematically sound. You possibly can try TPG’s Awards vs. Cash Calculator to check the worth of your individual redemptions.

And all the time remember the fact that one-way pricing is not the identical as two one-way tickets, so it’s possible you’ll get an inflated valuation when evaluating a one-way award to a one-way money fare.

Associated: How (and why) to calculate award redemption values

Switch your factors or miles

Now that I’ve discovered my award, confirmed its availability and ensured it is a good redemption, I can switch my factors to Virgin Atlantic.

I selected to e-book with Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership over one other associate program, corresponding to Air France-KLM Flying Blue or Delta SkyMiles, as a result of I discovered such a strong award flight. I needed to leap on the reserving as quickly as I discovered Higher Class availability for lower than 40,000 factors.

I used my American Specific Membership Rewards factors. To study extra about this course of, learn our full information on transferring Amex points.

Among the best facets of Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership (and its sister program, Virgin Red) is that it companions with each main transferable rewards program:

Virgin typically runs switch bonuses with these applications, extending the worth of your factors and miles. For example, Chase is at the moment working a limited-time 40% bonus for transfers from its Final Rewards program to Virgin Atlantic via Feb. 28.

If I utilized this bonus to my 39,000-point redemption from JFK to LHR, I would want to switch simply 28,000 Chase factors to Virgin Atlantic. It is because they’d convert to 39,200 Virgin factors with the 40% bonus.

Associated: Current credit card transfer bonuses

Backside line

Enterprise-class flights do not must be out of attain, particularly when you’re versatile and know find out how to discover award availability.

There are a number of travel credit cards in the marketplace that earn transferable rewards, permitting you to be much more versatile with which airways you may fly.

I am unable to wait to get pleasure from my lie-flat seat on the way in which to go to my greatest good friend in London. With the following tips, you will be hitting the sky in luxurious, too.

Associated: 7 of the best airline sweet spots to redeem your points and miles