How I Got Two Business Class Seats to Paris For $11

delta one, first class flights, first class flight to paris, free first class flight, cheap first class flights, how to get first class flights, cheap flights

For the first leg of my three month trip through Europe, I booked two business class seats from Cincinnati to Paris for a grand total of $11.20. That’s right. Two business-class seats that have a retail value of $10,340.60 each for a grand total of $20,681.20. But the price I paid? That price was just $11.20…but how is this possible? Allow me to explain…but first, here is what the trip looked like!

first class flight, free flight, cheap flight, free first class flight

As you can see from the itinerary, we will actually be flying in first-class on all three legs of the trip, as we have two connecting flights before heading to Paris. So if you want to get technical, it is actually a total of 6 first class flights for just $11.20! Crazy right?

Here’s what each leg looks like:

We leave Cincinnati and fly first-class to Minneapolis aboard one of Deltas CRJ700 jets.

delta first class, cheap first class flight, free first class flights, cheap flights

We then have a short layover before flying first-class to Detroit aboard one of the larger 737’s.

first class flight, free first class flight, cheap first class flight, cheap flights

Then after another short layover in Detroit, we will fly Delta One (Delta’s most premier cabin only available on international and select domestic flights) to Paris!

delta one, delta first class, free first class flight, cheap first class flight,
If you’re interested in reading about the differences between flying first-class and Delta One as opposed to economy, you can compare the experiences here!

 

delta one, first class, how to fly first class cheap, how to fly first class free, cheap flight
In addition to many perks and amenities, Delta One also features fully lay-flat seats!

 

As I mentioned, If I were to have paid out of pocket for these flights, the price would have been a ridiculous $20,681.20!! Unfortunately, travel blogging doesn’t pay that well…so I had to find another way.

delta first class, delta one, cheap first class flight, free first class flight, cheap flights

 

So I’m sure you’re wondering “What’s the catch? People can’t just get $20,000 plane tickets for $11…” Well, to book these flights, in addition to the $11.20, I forked over 140,000 Delta SkyMiles.

delta first class, delta one, cheap first class flights, free first class flights, cheap flights, how to fly in first class

Now before you try and burn me at the stake for being misleading it’s important for you to know how I acquired 140,000 Delta SkyMiles. I’m sure you’re wondering too, right?

Did I actually fly with Delta that often that I was able to earn that many miles? Nope, in fact, I haven’t been on Delta flight since the summer of 2014.

Did I just purchase the miles? Nope, I didn’t do that either. In fact, you can only buy 60,000 SkyMiles a year and the price would set you back $2,100! No thanks!

Did someone who does fly Delta often just gift me the miles? HA! I wish! But no, not that either.

I earned all those SkyMiles by getting the sign-up bonuses on just two credit cards. The Gold & Platinum Delta SkyMiles cards.

Both of these cards are offering increased sign-up bonuses right now which makes it much easier to get a large number of points fast! But both offers end on November 8th so if you’re interested in signing up make sure you do so before then!

The Gold Delta SkyMiles card will give you 50,000 miles after spending $2,000 in your first 3 months and an additional 10,000 miles after spending another $1,000 in 6 months. You’ll also get a $50 statement credit which doesn’t apply towards airfare but does for airline fees like checked bags, or food and drinks. (Pro tip: Wish it worked for airfare? You’re in luck! You can use the credit to purchase a $50 gift card from delta.com and the statement credit will still wipe off the charge!) The annual fee for the card is $95 but is waived the entire first year of your membership.

The Platinum SkyMiles card comes with a sign-up bonus of 70,000 miles plus 10,000 MQMs after spending $3,000 on the card in the first three months. MQMs earn you status with Delta. Silver status, for example, requires 25,000 MQMs. With this sign-up bonus, you’ll be nearly halfway there towards earning that status! The card also comes with a $100 statement credit and a $195 annual fee that is not waived the first year. With that higher annual fee, you’ll also receive access to all Delta Skyclub lounges (when flying Delta) and an annual companion certificate. The companion certificate allows you to bring someone along with you on a paid Delta flight for free, no matter what the cost of the ticket is!

After getting each card and meeting the minimum spend on both you should have at least 136,000 SkyMiles. Luckily, American Express Membership Rewards points are a transfer partner with Delta, so I just needed to move a few thousand points over in order to be able to purchase the tickets. I had already earned these points through the use of my Amex Platinum and Premier Rewards Gold cards!

Don’t have any Amex Membership Reward points? No problem! Sign up for the Delta Dining Club and you can earn 3,000 miles for dining 3 times in 30 days! Or do your online shopping through Delta’s shopping portal where you can earn 3 miles per $1 on select brands like New Balance, Under Armour, OtterBox, and much more! If you’d like more information on shopping and dining portals, this post will help guide you!

You can also link your Delta SkyMiles account with Airbnb to earn 1 SkyMiles for ever $1 you spend! If you’ve never used Airbnb, sign-up through my link and you’ll receive $40 off your first trip!

Of course, if none of that works for you, you can just continue to put all of your daily spendings all your Delta credit cards and you’ll have 140,000 SkyMiles in no time!

Worried about how you might make the minimum spends on those credit cards? It can actually be very easy to do! I even have an entire post about it! You can read all about it here.

So that’s it! That’s the secret! All I did to book two $10,000 business class tickets is sign-up for two credit cards and meet their minimum spends. If you wanted to make your miles stretch even further you could just as easily redeem them for economy tickets and save the leftover for a future trip! Anyone can do this, even YOU! Which is why I’ve written this post to share how travel, even luxury travel, can be extremely cheap through the strategic use of miles and points!

Cheers and safe travels!

Jarrod West

Jarrod is a travel and loyalty rewards expert who loves using points and miles to visit dream destinations without breaking the bank. For the last 6 years, he has been writing about how you can save money on travel with credit card points and miles. In that time, he has visited over 20 countries, and saved tens of thousands of dollars in travel expenses in the process. His work has been featured by Upgraded Points, the New York Times, Travel+Leisure, RetailMeNot, Yahoo! Finance, and more. He has over 20 credit cards in my wallet and has tested out dozens more to vet the very best card options for readers. Jarrod also offer free credit card consultations, where he has helped readers earn over 20 million points and miles (approx. $200k+ in travel savings). Traveling has broadened his perspective, changed his values, and given him a new direction in life. He created the Freequent Flyer Blog to share his travel experiences, help others realize their travel goals, and upgrade their travel experiences — one mile at a time!

Related Posts