The year of 2024 is still just getting underway, but if you want to fly some of the best business and first class airplane seats in the world, you should already have your sights set on 2025.
In many cases, you don't need to book your flights so far in advance. If you're booking cheap flights with cash or using your points and miles to fly economy, booking just two, four, or six months in advance is typically good enough.
But if you want to fly some of the world's best business class seats. a longer lead time is key for using points and miles for premium travel. The reason? Not all seats are always bookable using points and miles – and with so few seats in the front of every plane, those get gobbled up on a first-come, first-serve basis to whoever is ready to book first. You should be one of them
Business class award availability comes and goes in waves on most airlines. Just this past week, for example, our team of Thrifty Traveler Premium flight deal analysts found business class flights to Europe for next month and for next January, with everything in between, too.
Some airplane seats are so coveted and hard to book that your best odds of snagging them will be right when the airlines put those flights on sale – about 11, and sometimes 12, months out. If you're looking to fly in any of these seats, you'll need to set your sights on 2025 – and start looking and booking right now.
Here are four business class award flights you should already be booking for trips in 2025.
Read Next: A Guide to Finding Points & Miles Award Space
Qatar Airways Qsuites
For years now, the best business class in the sky has been Qatar Airways Qsuites. The fully enclosed suites with tons of amenities and world-class service are bucket list fodder. Plus, Qatar's vast global network means you can find yourself in a QSuite flying from all over North America to almost anywhere in the world.
But the secret about QSuites is out, making them harder and harder to book with points and miles. Have $8,000 in cash to spend on a flight? You're golden! But for the rest of us, using points is the only way to get this experience in the sky.
Luckily, we recently found a way to book them for as few as 70,000 Qatar (or British Airways) Avios.
This Qsuite award availability disappeared fast – get the next alert ASAP with Thrifty Traveler Premium!
We searched hundreds of Qatar Airways routes to compile this list of departure cities and destinations. If you want to fly to Qatar in a Qsuite, just 70,000 points is all you need. As you go further away, it will cost you slightly more.
These rates are pretty spectacular – especially considering you can transfer points from American Express, Bilt, and Citi directly to Qatar or from Capital One and Chase via British Airways.
But there's a catch: You have to book way out to be able to use your points.
That's right: The best availability for two people to fly Qsuites right now is in early 2025, and these fares are already getting snapped up. So if you're looking to fly Qsuites to the Maldives, Africa, India, or the Middle East next winter, the clock is already ticking.
Singapore Airlines Business Class
The number one-ranked airline in the world, Singapore Airlines, also has a stellar business class that can take you to Singapore (SIN) or beyond to nearly anywhere in Southeast Asia. But like Qatar, your best bet to fly in one of these lie-flat seats by booking now for a trip in 2025.
Our latest Singapore Airlines business class alert is the perfect example. Aside from a few random days this summer, the best availability on these Singapore nonstop routes is as far away as December 2024 into next year.
Join Thrifty Traveler Premium to get alerts like this to use your points and miles to fly business class!
These routes are two of the longest flights in the world. You're going to want a lie-flat seat tomake it through these 18.5-plus hour flights to Singapore without going crazy.
While the summer dates on this deal are surely gone, you can still snag one of these luxe seats for a January or February trip to Southeast Asia. Book now, and you'll have a lot to look forward to almost a year from now.
Iberia Business Class
Iberia business class isn't the fanciest lie-flat seat you'll find crossing the Atlantic Ocean, but it might just be the cheapest – and the best deal overall.
When you book Iberia Business seats during the “off-peak” season (i.e. not summer), you can nail them down for as few as 34,000 points each way!
Amazing rates combined with a huge network of destinations throughout Spain and Europe make these Iberia seats a hot ticket – maybe too hot. In most cases, you need between nine and 10 months of lead time to snag these seats at this rate.
This recent deal we sent to our Thrifty Traveler Premium members featured some great award availability to Madrid, just many months out.
This deal is about a month old now, meaning the best availability to book these seats for such few points and miles is creeping into January and February 2025.
Turkish Business Class
Turkish Business Class doesn't strictly adhere to this booking rule as the airline releases some business class award space intermittently throughout the year. But to increase your odds of landing in one of these luxurious seats flying to Istanbul (IST), you should be looking out into 2025.
Turkish Airlines has tons of Star Alliance airline partners that is gives award space to, so you can book Turkish business class seats with tons of different kinds of points, including Turkish's own Miles & Smiles program for just 45,000 points each way.
As you can see from this list of departure cities, Turkish flies to many destinations in North America, and on every one of those planes are some swanky business class seats.
The best availability on this deal is for flights in December 2024 and January 2025. As the calendar moves along, we expect February and March 2025 to be wide open to book these seats with points, too.
Bottom Line
To book some of the best business class seats with points, you need to be looking almost a year in advance of when you actually want to take the trip.
That's when airlines release the most award availability and therefore your best shot at snagging one of these coveted seats. So if you want to fly Qatar QSuites, Singapore, Iberia, or Turkish business class, it's time to start booking for 2025.