FOR many travellers, the dream of sipping champagne in a plush business class seat seems out of reach – unless they’re willing to fork out thousands for the luxury.
But what if there was a way to score an upgrade without spending a fortune or awkwardly asking at the check-in counter?
One savvy traveler has cracked the code, revealing how she and her partner have flown business class – and even first class – multiple times without ever paying full price.
From Emirates to Qatar Airways, Claudia Louise has mastered the art of free upgrades, and the secret isn’t luck or charm – it’s strategy.
She took to her TikTok page ‘claudia.louise.w’ to share a video revealing her savvy trick of how to get business class and first-class upgrades without paying.
Claudia says: “I always find it crazy when I see people asking for free upgrades on the plane when there’s a much easier way to get free upgrades, and you don’t have to embarrass yourself in the process.
“Me and my partner have flown business class and even first class multiple times.
“We have flown business class more than 10 times now, and we have never paid for it.
“We get free upgrades all the time, and in this video, I’m going to tell you how.
“We’ve now flown on Singapore Airlines, Emirates multiple times, Emirates first class and also Qatar Airways.
“And honestly, it’s really difficult to go back to economy now that we’ve flown business class so much.”
Instead of hoping for a complimentary bump-up at the gate, Claudia shared her simple, effective way to turn everyday spending into business class experiences.
And the key? Credit card points.
She continued: “So all you need to do to get free upgrades is first get a credit card like an Amex.
“We use American Express, the gold card. And start racking up points. Even when you first sign up you get a bonus offer and you usually get anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000 points.
“And it only costs 40,000 points for a business-class upgrade.
“I have a link in my bio, so if you want to sign up to Amex you’ll get some bonus points from using my link and I will get some bonus points as well.
“Which means you only have to pay the economy fare and then use your points to upgrade.
“And then you use your card for spending, for booking trips, for whatever you like, business expenses, whatever it might be.
“You rack up points over the year so you can upgrade to business class next time you travel.”
Her video gained over 224,000 views with 96 people rushing to the comments section to share their thoughts.
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One asked: “How much do you pay for your AMEX per year?”
To which Claudia replied: “£195 – first year is free.”
A second said: “It’s not free if you are using points to upgrade… you’ve already paid.”
But Claudia replied with: “I’ve used my card on normal things that I would buy anyway, and racked up points.
“I see that as free because I didn’t pay for the upgrade.”
And someone else said: “It’s always better to pay with points than pounds!”
