It's hard to put a price tag on the comfort of a lie-flat seat during a long-haul flight, but the airlines always seem to be able to – and that price tag can top $6,000 or more, which is simply not an option for you, me, or 99.9% of all travelers.
While using points and miles to book business class or premium cabin seats to Europe is typically where you'll find the best value, we've been seeing more and more cheap business class fares lately. Buying a business class flight for a low cash price saves you the headache of stacking up points and miles and then finding the award space to actually use them. It also allows you to earn toward airline status and earn a good chunk of points or miles, too. Better yet, you can use Google Flights – the most powerful flight search engine – to hone in on the very best flights at the very best times for the very best prices, too.
We search for business class flight deals every day and send our Thrifty Traveler Premium members alerts about the best ones as soon as you can book them. It's a labor of love because we love hearing our subscribers' reactions when we send them roundtrip business class deals. In doing so, we've noticed a trend over the last few months: Business class fares at economy prices.
If you've given up on flying business class because it's simply too expensive, think again. Read on for the best business class flight deals we've found in just the past few months.
JetBlue Mint to Europe under $1,999 RT
When it comes to business class flights to Europe, we check JetBlue every single day. Five years ago, that might have seemed crazy. But not only does JetBlue fly to Europe now, but they also fly these lovely Mint business class suites with them on every route. After we flew aboard these dynamite new suites a few months ago, we think they might be the most fun, most unique way to fly to Europe right now.
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And despite how fancy these suites are, JetBlue doesn't price them like one of the top business class seats in the world. Instead, they price them like economy tickets.
Amsterdam (AMS) and Paris (CDG) were the beneficiaries of this latest deal, but we've also found cheap Mint deals to destinations like Dublin (DUB) and Edinburgh (EDI) as well as London (LHR and LGW).
JetBlue Mint to the Caribbean or Across the U.S. from $674 RT
Everyone flies lie-flat seats across the Atlantic, but JetBlue also deploys its Mint-equipped planes down to the Caribbean, and even coast-to-coast in the United States.
These aren't the swanky Mint Suites you'll find on those long-haul flights to Europe, but they're still super comfortable lie-flat seats, just without the closing door.
For example, one of the routes JetBlue operates these Mint planes on is Los Angeles (LAX) to the Bahamas (NAS), and the airline has priced these seats as low as $968 roundtrip in recent weeks!
For a transcontinental flight, a Mint seat would make a huge difference, but it could also be a lovely treat to kickstart a vacation from the Northeast to…say…Grenada in the Caribbean, too!
Plus, to take advantage, you can keep that passport in the drawer and fly Mint to places like Puerto Rico (SJU), too. These Mint fares to and from Puerto Rico and New York City (EWR and JFK) were some of the most amazing we can remember.
Most recently, JetBlue added Mint seats flying between the Northeast and Phoenix (PHX), giving Arizona-bound travelers an extra bougie way to get to the desert, and vice versa.
Similarly, JetBlue runs Mint to and from its Boston (BOS) hub and Seattle (SEA), giving travelers a little extra comfort for the six-and-a-half-hour journey across the country, too.
If a cheap business class seat is what you seek, start your search with JetBlue if the airline flies where you want to go. JetBlue offers some of the most competitively priced business class seats on earth, but you won't feel like you're flying a budget-friendly product when you're onboard.
LATAM Business Class to Chile for $1,697 RT
For the long-haul down to Santiago, Chile (SCL), you're going to want some extra care and attention that comes with a lie-flat business class seat.
LATAM has exactly that.
Flying from Miami (MIA), you could secure a lie-flat seat on the airline's Boeing 787 Dreamliner from just $1,697 roundtrip this fall.
It's an exceptional deal that should be especially attractive for Delta flyers, who can earn valuable MQDs toward their Delta Medallion Status for 2025.
Avianca Business Class to Argentina for $1,508 RT
If you're trying to get to the other side of South America, a lie-flat ride to Buenos Aires (EZE) on Avianca's Boeing 787 Dreamliner is exactly what the doctor ordered.
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These comfy business class seats fly in and out of Avianca's Bogota (BOG) hub, meaning this seat can be your ride for the entire journey, with just a quick break at the business class lounge in Bogota in between!
Plus, if you already have something booked down to Argentina, you could snag these flights one-way for half-price, too!
Azores Airlines Business Class from $1,425 RT (Including this Summer!)
Alright…hang with me, because this is a weird one.
But sometimes, weird is where all the best value is when it comes to booking cheap business class flights.
Azores Airlines does not have a lie-flat business class…but you can buy a lie-flat business class on an Azores Airlines flight this summer and fall…
I'll explain. Azores is renting a wide-body A330 plane from an airline called Euroatlantic this summer, which is equipped with a lie-flat business class. This is what Euroatlantic does: They lease their planes and crews to other airlines who want to fly them. Azores needed some planes with more seats onboard to fly to and from Boston (BOS), New York (JFK), and Toronto (YYZ) this year to Madeira (FNC) and Porto (OPO). That means Azores Airlines has a lie-flat seat now…if maybe only for this summer.
But what this also means is Azores isn't used to selling lie-flat seats and its customers aren't used to buying them. Therefore, the seats are priced way, way cheaper than they could be.
Thanks to this strange quirk, you can fly nonstop and lie-flat to Madeira or Porto this summer from just $713 one-way or $1,425 roundtrip.
Condor Business Class to Germany from $2,150 RT
When Condor Airlines unveiled these business class seats on its new A330s last year, we all agreed they looked pretty. But could Condor – the long-haul budget carrier based in Frankfurt – actually provide a world-class business class experience?
Well, our Chief Flight Deal Analyst Jon tried it out…and now he won't shut up about it.
According to Jon, yes, Condor Business Class delivers in a big way. And at rates like this, it's one of the best values in travel right now.
The seats are beautiful, the seat back 4K monitors that you can connect to your Bluetooth headphones are magnificent, and the quality and service were sublime, he said.
So when fares like this one pop up, don't miss your chance!
Besides being a phenomenal way to fly, Condor is also unique because its network reaches airports that probably aren't used to seeing cheap business class fares. For travelers in Edmonton (YEG) and San Antonio (SAT), for instance, these types of deals are rare.
La Compagnie for $1,998 RT (Including this Summer!)
Seventy-six lie-flat business class seats make up the entire cabin on all of La Compagnie's A321neo planes. It's a business class-only airline, meaning you get tons of extra attention and service and a quick and easy boarding and deplaning process.
For all of that comfort, you might think you're going to have to shell out an arm and a leg. Think again.
I'm fascinated by La Compagnie and these business class-only flights. And while I've never flown the product, their routes from Newark (EWR) to Milan (MXP), Nice (NCE), and Paris-Orly (ORY) have my attention. The Italy and Paris routes were the latest ones to go on sale, too.
If you want to book a last-minute trip to the Summer Olympics in later this month, I can't think of a better (or cheaper) business class flight!
Bottom Line
Don't write off a chance at flying business class next year, because right now we're seeing some of the lowest premium cabin cash fares we've ever seen – some for even cheaper than what you can find flying economy.
You don't have to have a huge stash of points and miles to book these incredible seats. We search for business class flight deals every day, and Thrifty Traveler Premium members get alerts sent to their email inboxes as soon as we find them.
I would really like to try business class (lie flat seat) to Italy or near Italy in 2024. Usually I book flight first, but that might be a challenge if I book a tour of the Dolomites. If I join TT, would that help me book that business flight? The most miles I have is 38,000 with Delta.