If you were told you could fly 20 hours in business class for just $600 more than the cost of the same economy roundtrip ticket, would you do it? That’s the difference in price to fly from Vancouver to Johannesburg for travel this summer.
Business class tickets to Europe and points beyond have been slashed by as much as 50 per cent.
“Those are the seats that they need to fill on any particular flight in order to make money. So they definitely want to ensure they're filling the front of the plane," said Flight Centre airfare specialist Troy Vigushin.
There’s a lot of extra inventory to sell. Typically corporate business travellers don’t fly as much during the summer, plus more routes have been added and security concerns are keeping some consumers at home.
A recently survey by TravelZoo showed 80 per cent of American travellers were planning to stay home because of safety concerns.
Many business class cabins now offer flat beds, Wi-Fi, gourmet meals and free flowing champagne. That makes a huge difference on long haul flights.
The narrowing price difference between the business class and economy tickets may just be enough to attract a new market for the airlines because once you go “front” it’s hard to go “back.”
Airlines participating in the current seat sale include Air Canada, KLM, Air France, Delta, Alitalia, Lufthansa, United Airlines, Swiss Airlines and Austrian Airlines. The current seat sale ends May 1.
