Here’s how you can fly business class for less than half the price!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to take a long haul flight and not worry about cramped seats, somebody’s elbow in your side and a lack of proper food options? We’ve all been there and honestly unless you are willing to use up your entire budget for the trip on a return business class ticket, there isn’t much you can do.

But what if we told you there was a way to get an affordable business class ticket? Yes, this isn’t a trick – you may never have to take a budget or economy class flight ever again.

Here’s how you do it

The solution lies in frequent flyer miles and the fact that some credit cards allow you to earn miles as you shop. We’re not suggesting you start spending additional thousands of dollars a week, but to use your credit wisely and for regular expenses that you might not actually know that you can use your credit card for.

It’s not complicated and in fact, can be broken down into a few simple steps:

Step 1: Find the card that gets you the most points

There are many air miles credit cards available and you’re probably wondering which one would be the best for you. To get the most from every dollar you spend, look for credit cards that offer the most number of air miles for your expenses.

To make it easy and fuss-free, use comparison sites like MoneySmart, BankBazaar or iMoney, which allows you to choose the best card that fits your spending needs.

Step 2: Put all your relevant personal expenses on that credit card

Start going cashless as soon as you can. Take advantage of those air miles to earn rates by consolidating all your personal expenses that you’re already making onto that specific credit card, racking up miles as quickly as possible.  

Be sure to read the fine print, so that every purchase you make on the card gets you those precious air miles at the best earn rates.

Step 3: Now put your expenses that you can’t pay by credit card onto your credit card

Okay, let’s take a step back for a while and explain what we mean by this. When we think of credit card payments, we immediately think about grocery shopping, online purchases, dining out at a restaurant or travel expenses.

However, we do have regular payments that cannot be made by credit card. These include your taxes, rental, insurance payments and even car loans. A lot of these larger, recurring payments need to be made via GIRO, cheque or bank transfer and this prevents us from being able to take advantage of the credit card benefits that we’re so used to. 

These payments can now be made through your credit card using CardUp. It is really easy to do and can save you a lot of time and money by allowing you to schedule your payments in advance, earning you air miles as you spend. Now you can increase your credit card spend without having to spend more money than you already do.

Here’s how CardUp works:

1. Set up your free CardUp account in seconds. No registration is needed by your recipient to receive payment.
2. Select the type of payment you want and choose to pay with your preferred credit card. You can schedule payments far in advance, make a one-off payment or schedule recurring ones.

3. In as soon as one business day prior to the payment due date, your credit card is charged for the payment plus a 2.6% CardUp fee. Your recipients receive the funds by bank transfer on the due date.

4. Earn miles for every payment on your credit card!

Why it makes sense

The number of air miles that you earn by putting these expenses on your card can far outweigh the nominal fee that CardUp charges for your transaction.

As an example, here’s how you could fly to Shanghai or Perth on business class for less than half the price:

• Jim has expenses averaging S$5,100 a month when adding on his car loan payments, taxes and insurance premiums
• Using a comparison site, he was able to compare credit cards and choose an air miles card that fits his spending and lifestyle perfectly
• By putting his expenses on his credit card which earns 1.4 miles for every dollar he spends, Jim is able to earn 87,000 air miles a year.  
• With the air miles earned, he is able to redeem a business class return ticket, all thanks to CardUp:
  • To Shanghai on a flight worth S$4,500
  • To Perth on a flight worth S$4,200
  • At a cost of only $1,377 in CardUp fees (2.25% of his spend)!

So what are you waiting for? Start planning your trip today!