Hello

we are trying to fly from Pittsburgh to Germany in September. The business class tickets are nuts - $7-12k for the most part! Even economy are around $1800 unless you connect twice with long layovers.

does anyone have any tips on getting better access to cheap seats? When I was platinum on United, I could book coach and they would offer reasonable upgrades to business right in the app. I can’t get that now - not sure if it is too early, because I am only silver elite, or if they just don’t do that any more.

I am considering getting an airline credit card to see if that helps but that is obviously a big extra step if it doesn’t get me anywhere! Although the regular benefits are not insignificant. I looked at United and Delta for their cards.

Any recent success stories or recommendations?

thanks

Having an airline affinity credit card by itself isn’t going to help you get a discounted Business Class seats. All it will get you is the ability to earn miles/points with that particular airline which you can use toward upgrades and/or award tickets (if they are available for a particular flight).

The days of getting free Business Class upgrades or even heavily discounted BC seats are long gone. If you don’t have elite status and plenty of FF miles in your account you have to pay your way with cash to ride toward the front of the plane.

There are consolidators that offer BC tickets at a discount which may or may not be legitimate so tread carefully if you choose to go that route.

The way fares are this year (most of last year too) $1800 would seem in the ballpark. There really aren't many 'tricks' to get better deals.

But two things to check: Don't know where you are headed in Germany but with flexibility flying from a more major hub in the States to a major hub in Europe and then either taking trains from wherever to your final destination - or fly one of the many good low cost European carriers.

Another thing to check out are airline vacation packages. I'm most familiar with AA but most of the other legacy airlines have the same sorts of programs. By booking flights bundled with a hotel and/or rental car it becomes a 'package'. I've managed to fly from Sacramento (DEFINITELY not a major hub ) to the UK several times where an AAVacation of say business class flights, with part of the trip in an AA hotel - a couple of times a really grand/expensive hotel (the Savoy for example) and the whole package was several thousand dollars cheaper than just airfare alone would have been. At least w/ AA, flights can be in any class and hotels can be from 2star up to 5star grand dames, so you can make it fit most budgets. The hotel doesn't have to run the whole trip -- in my example . . . just 3 or 4 nights in the AA hotel in London and then booking accommodations for the rest of the trip myself.

Another thing to check out are airline vacation packages. I'm most familiar with AA but most of the other legacy airlines have the same sorts of programs. By booking flights bundled with a hotel and/or rental car it becomes a 'package'. I've managed to fly from Sacramento (DEFINITELY not a major hub ) to the UK several times where an AAVacation of say business class flights, with part of the trip in an AA hotel - a couple of times a really grand/expensive hotel (the Savoy for example) and the whole package was several thousand dollars cheaper than just airfare alone would have been. At least w/ AA, flights can be in any class and hotels can be from 2star up to 5star grand dames, so you can make it fit most budgets. The hotel doesn't have to run the whole trip -- in my example . . . just 3 or 4 nights in the AA hotel in London and then booking accommodations for the rest of the trip myself.[/QUOTE]

janisj, had not thought of that - will give it a shot. Thanks!

I generally find upgrading with miles to be the cheapest way to business class. Sometimes even buying miles can make sense. Flying out of Pittsburgh probably makes it more difficult. Possibly flying out of IAD or PHL or YYZ could work for you. I have a subscription to GOING for airfare buys. Today there were flights on premium economy for IAD to CPH in September for $878 on SAS. Occasionally there are good business class fares < $3000 RT.

Also consider flying to someplace in Europe that has good and inexpensive connections to where you are going in Germany. You only need comfortable seats across oceans. Flying economy or even a high speed train could work to get you to and from your destination in Germany from your initial European entry point.

I don’t know where you’re going in Germany. I use the app called ITA flight matrix and put in Pittsburgh to Frankfurt for random dates in September. I’m getting a lot of flights for just under $1000 or just over $1000. I think Icelandair had one for just under $900.

Hope this helps.

You might want to keep an eye on this board on Flyertalk, in case something comes up.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/premium-fare-deals-740/

All great tips and some sites/apps I was unaware of. Thanks everyone!

One other way to explore flights is to use the Google flight Explore function. Put in your dates and business class preferences and departure point such as Pittsburgh or YYZ or IAD etc and look and see what flights are available at what cost. I have no idea as to where you are going or dates but just for kicks I put in PIT and Sept 6-13 RT business class and got $4334 on UA/LH with 70 min stop in IAD. Leaving YYZ its SAS with a 55 min stop in CPH for $2669. JFK is $2519 on Icelandic with a 55 min stop in KEF. Do not know anything about business class seating on Icelandic or SAS but assume they have lie flat seats. I used to live in Pittsburgh and my sister lives in Pittsburgh and she often flies via YYZ abroad. I am going to Sicily in a month and was only able to get Business class seats by going via LHR on two tickets by upgrading with $550 and 20 K miles and $130 tax each way. Economy seating was $898 RT so overall cost was not too bad but I had to check all sorts of possible routes and connections in order to figure it out. Also bought tickets LHR to/from Sicily in same terminal aa our inbound to LHR and a 6 hour connection with ability to change flights to an earlier flight if we get in to LHR on time. Good luck!

Consider using the British Airways nonstop from PIT to LHR. Can get a $200 discount on BA if you book through the AARP website. The aarp.org link gets you to the BA website. All the flights need to be on BA to get the discount. When you get to the payment page enter the offer codeBACHASE10 (or maybe CHASE10) to get another 10% off. I did that after finding a low fare for LAX-AMS and after those discounts it was $1995 roundtrip, traveling May-June.

Here is a Google Flights search with multiple airports on both ends. The Price Graph and Date grid options are useful. Lots of other options. I have been using that instead of itamatrix for the last few years.
Pittsburgh and 3 more to Munich and 4 more | Google Flights

Icelandair is recliner seat. SAS has lie-flat.

Just an FYI that the Lufthansa group changed their FF (Miles & More) program on June 3. With miles, it's a lot easier to get economy class tickets but is now harder to get premium class tix or upgrades.

Totally hear you. Those prices are brutal! I’ve had some luck setting alerts on Google Flights and also checking Aeroplan and LifeMiles for partner business class awards. Sometimes flying out of a bigger hub like JFK or ORD helps too if you don’t mind positioning. The United card didn’t do much for upgrades in my experience unless you’re Gold or higher, unfortunately. Good luck!

look at routings through Canada - Toronto or Montreal.
I've booked biz class open jaw from Montreal to Italy, then back from Spain for this fall for $2800 per person...

you may need to play around with combinations of multi-city itineraries to find something that works for you

I am flying SMF-SFO-ZUR in Polaris RT for $3400 in July. There were lots of similar fares to all over Europe costing between $2900 to about $4000. I did not look but there were and maybe still are decent business seats for your times and destinations although you may have to fly from PHL or IAD or ? instead of Pittsburgh. United also just launched a sale to Europe in business for 80K miles each way. Not sure of dates or departure cities or all destinations but you should look into it if you have not already booked flights. If you do not have the miles you can buy 160,000 miles from United during the current sale for $2800 plus tax

Pittsburgh to Germany | Explore

I took a look at flying Sept 9-18 on British Airways PIT-MUC
GF shows the Business Promo price: $3599

I signed in to aarp and followed the link to the BA webpage. Going via aarp gets a $200 discount.

I selected flights operated by BA only to get that discount. I then logged into my BA account so that I could apply the BAChASE10 promo code.
Promo code: BACHASE10-$339.80

Those two discounts get to a final price of $3048
To have the (optional) ability to choose seats on the long hauls would cost $123 to $158 each way.

United flights out of Pittsburgh to Munich or Frankfurt for about $3400-$3600 in September

The thing about flying BA is their nonstop from PIT to LHR. Get on a plane in the 'burgh and wake up in London in the morning. No worries about weather in EWR or IAD, ...

In September would not worry much about weather in IAD or EWR. Do worry about air traffic control in EWR although I have flown through either EWR or IAD at least once a year for the last 20 or so years without much of a problem yet. Do not care much for IAD although the Polaris lounge is nice.