Want to Fly Business Class? Don't Make These 5 Expensive Mistakes

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For most people, flying business class is a rare treat. It's often much more expensive than economy, after all. A round-trip ticket could easily cost $3,000 to $5,000, although there are ways to get better deals.

Since the typical traveler doesn't have much experience booking business class, they may not know how to find those better deals. They could also make costly mistakes during the booking process. To help you save time and money, let's take a look at five business-class mistakes, starting with using the wrong credit cards.

1. Not using travel credit cards

The best way to book business class usually isn't paying in cash -- it's paying with airline miles. To give you an example, I recently booked business-class airfare with Air France. The cash price was $2,365. Or, I could pay 35,000 Flying Blue miles plus $260.80 in taxes and fees.

I was able to book with miles because I pay for most of my expenses with travel credit cards. All my cards earn travel points, and I can transfer these points to airline partners, including Air France's Flying Blue program. If you aren't using travel cards, you'll need to pay cash for your airfare, which tends to be much more expensive.

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2. Booking at the last minute

As you may have heard from a few professors over the years, it's never a good idea to wait until the last minute. That's true when you're writing a paper, and it's true when you're trying to buy a business-class ticket.

Going, a flight deals site, says that the best time to shop for international airfare is two to eight months in advance. While there are sometimes last-minute deals available, this isn't always the case. And the closer it gets to your travel dates, the more pressure there will be to book whatever you can find.

3. Picking a longer flight to save money

Flying generally gets cheaper the more stops you add to your journey. If you want to book cheap business-class airfare, you might be tempted to pick a flight with two or three stops to save some money.

As nice as business class can be, do you really want to spend more time on a plane and less time at your destination? And keep in mind that every additional stop brings the chance of a complication. Your baggage could get lost, or a mechanical issue with the plane could lead to a lengthy flight delay.

4. Being inflexible about travel dates

Flight prices can vary quite a bit depending on when you're traveling. Sometimes it's because of demand, or it could be because the airline has special promo fares on certain days. I've seen business-class flights that cost $1,800 one day and $1,200 the next.

This is why it helps when you're not locked into specific travel dates. The more flexible you can be, the easier it is to find a good deal. Many airlines have low-fare calendars you can use to quickly check which dates have the cheapest business-class prices.

5. Spending too much time looking for the perfect deal

There's a ton of advice out there for booking flights. Clear your browser's cookies before going to the airline's website, or use an incognito window. Compare prices between airlines and online travel agencies. Set up flight alerts. Book on the right day of the week.

I'll be honest with you: I don't do any of this. When you're trying to save on airfare, it's easy to fall into the trap of over-optimizing. You spend hours and hours comparing prices and looking for ways to carve out extra savings.

You can certainly shop around, set up flight alerts, and use whatever other tips and tricks you like. But don't let flight booking consume too much of your life, because your time is valuable, too.

With the right strategy, and ideally some travel points, you could book business-class airfare at an affordable price. Just watch out for these common mistakes, so your flight search doesn't cost you too much money or time.

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