Thanksgiving is one of the best times to purchase business class tickets for cheap, since it’s a slow period for business travelers.
Right now, there’s a terrific amount of discounted business class seats on American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia and OpenSkies to Europe from JFK in New York.
You can take advantage of this sale to: Amsterda, Athens, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Rome, Frankfurt, Istanbul, London, Lisbon, Madrid, Milon, Olso and Berlin.
To book this, you’ll need an AARP membership, which anyone can get for just $16 a year. This will save you $400 on the fare, and those with a Chase British Airways card can save an additional 10% by using the code “CARDOFFERU” in the checkout process (not included in the itineraries below).
These fares are only available for travel over Thanksgiving week, so you’ll need to depart several days before before the Thanksgiving holiday and return shortly after.
Here’s a sample itinerary from JFK to Amsterdam:
Lisbon is one of the cheapest of the cities on sale:
Paris isn’t too bad, either.
To book this, using your AARP login, go to their British Airways booking portal here, and then play with your dates and cities to find and ideal fare. Once you find a fare, go through the payment process as usual. It’s worth applying the “CARDOFFERU” discount whether you have the British Airways credit card or not, since it may apply regardless, saving you a few hundred extra dollars.
Will you be going to Europe on any of these very cheap Thanksgiving fares?
Hat Tip: The Points Guy
Jamie Larounis is an avid traveler, blogger and miles/points educator. Traveling well over 100,000 miles a year and staying in hotels for over 100 nights, he leverages miles, points and other deals to fly in first class cabins, and stay in 5-star hotels. The Forward Cabin shares his experiences, musings, reviews, tips, tricks, resources and industry news with you, the fellow traveler.
Hi Jamie,
Ever since you answered my email about Aeroflot’s JFK-SVO flight (business class) some 6 months ago, I have been following your posts, and find them most helpful. Today’s one on cheap Thanksgiving business class fares were also great. However, what I do not understand is, how do you hear about these deals a lot earlier then the average flier? I did sign up for notifications of such deals through BA and several other airlines, but have not received any news. Is there a “magic” website through which you get these great fares as soon as they are made available? Thanking you. Again, thanks for all the great posts.
Hi Daniel – in all honesty, it’s following the right people on Twitter, and checking blogs regularly. There’s no secret magic to it, and nothing is hidden. It just requires a fair amount of time and a keen eye.
Thanks – I was afraid of that :-)))). When I look for good fares, like most recently to China, it can take hours every day to look at all available options their their almost infinite number of combinations (dates, airports, airlines etc) on all my favorite websites (Matrix, Skyscanner, and individual airlines’ websites). Thanks again for your help.
Gone?
I don’t believe so?
Hey James! If we buy through the AARP site, and get the discount for BA flights can I still credit the flights to American Airlines?
Yep! Just change/add your AA number in after booking, if you can’t while doing it.
Regarding the “CARDOFFERU” discount, one only gets it if applies for the card from the booking/payment page? Or did you mean that it might reduce the price even without actually applying for a card? One more question if you do not mind relating to my first question from yesterday. Since you said there is no “magic” website to look at when hunting for great business class deals, I guess the best idea is to follow you and other similar blogs/websites, so that when something somewhere pops up, you guys would post it (since you and your colleagues/friends do know where to get the info from).
From my experience, you shouldn’t actually need the BA credit card to get the discount. So, just take the total of the trip and it will take 10% off. The best idea is to follow a variety of blogs, since some folks find things first and word will travel from there. Check FlyerTalk, too – that’s where a majority of the fares start and it’s a good place to find everything in one place without hunting around.
Thank you! Really appreciate your help/advice.
Anytime!