Are Business Class Airfares worth it?

BEST SEATS: Cathay Pacific came out on top as providing the best business class experience over Japan Airlines and Qantas.
BEST SEATS: Cathay Pacific came out on top as providing the best business class experience over Japan Airlines and Qantas.

ANYONE who has been fortunate enough to fly business class on a recent oversea’s trip will say yes it is worth every penny.

That’s understandable when you have been able to stretch out on flat bed seats, while economy class passengers down the back have wrestled for hours trying to grab a few hours sleep before landing in far away places.

While the bigger and more comfortable seating is the major plus, especially on flights over 10 hours, the business class ticket also brings with it other great benefits.

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Most airlines will hand you an express pass to move through customs quicker, an invitation to wait in their lounge and also priority boarding.

But as anybody who has priced a business class fare will know it all comes at an exorbitant price.

With a daughter having moved to London early last year to take up a nursing post at the biggest trauma hospital in Europe my wife and I were understandably anxious to go and see her before Christmas.

My wife fortunately spent two years working with Flight Centre during my posting as the editor of the Fraser Coast Chronicle in Hervey Bay.

The job didn’t pay well, but what she didn’t bring home in her pay packet has been more than compensated over the years with her expert knowledge of how to find a great travel deal.

Armed with this knowledge and my request that I needed business class as I continue to recover from a serious traffic accident, she started her search for the best value.

If you go online today you will see most of the best credentialed airlines will tag you with a bill for two to fly 24 hours from Brisbane to London at around $20,000.

That price immediately puts most travellers off and it certainly did with us.

How to get best price

Using her knowledge and also a relatively new site called “Flatbeds” she was able to reduce our costs down to just over $12,000, which while still a big commitment made it bearable.

The key to the heavily reduced fares meant we had to book early, fly with a number of different airlines and do a bit of zig zagging to get from Brisbane to Heathrow.

We ending up flying with Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines and we also did a final leg from Singapore to Brisbane with Qantas.

It also entailed the need to do a couple of short hauls along the way, but these were in smaller planes in business class seats at the front.

Our trip over involved flying to Hong Kong on Cathay, from there to Tokyo and then on to Helsinki on Japan Airlines before boarding a Finnair flight to London.

The new itinerary gave us the opportunity to stop at any port for a few days and we took up this option to stay in Tokyo which proved to be a trip highlight.

While changing planes at the different airports wasn’t a lot of fun, the fact we were saving thousands made it bearable.

Of course having access to quality business lounges at all stops also helped.

How did they rate?

Using different carriers also gave us the opportunity to rate them and we did find a stand-out.

It was Cathay Pacific which offered a modern plane, better flatbeds and great food.

Japan Airlines was the next best, although I’d suggest don’t order the Japanese food selection unless you know exactly what you are about to eat.

Unfortunately we found the Australian carrier, Qantas, the worst.

The plane was old, had just one toilet at the front business section, the flatbeds were tight and the food was nothing special.

The one redeeming factor was the service was good and they gave you the grey Qantas pyjamas.