Learn how to upgrade your travel comfort and still fly business class for cheap with these practical, real-world methods.

Not all business class flights charge at an inflated price. By making the correct choices and doing a little bit of planning you can sit in lie-flat seats, have access to a lounge and get better meals at half the usual price. Following are 5 specific, repeatable strategies that can enable travelers to book business class for cheap tickets. All of them have actions step-by-step that you can take with your next search.

Use mileage awards and partner bookings

Earn transferrable points or airline miles and reserve award seats. Check the availability of the airline and its partners in an alliance. Partners occasionally offer reduced award pricing or offer seats that have been hidden by the airline engine.

In case of flexible dates, you can identify the lowest-mile dates by using the monthly calendar view. Look at mixed-cabin redemptions with the long-haul flight in business, and the short flight in economy, to reduce miles required.

Buy discounted premium fares during seasonal sales

Airlines periodically also offer business class for cheap ticket sale events during shoulder seasons, Black Friday, and any other market promotion offerings. Sign up to airline newsletters and some fare alerts.

When a sale comes, book fast either refundable or semi-flexible: It is a little more expensive, but a good bet if you need a guarantee. Check also outbound and return via other nearby airports; occasionally routing out of a secondary airport will reduce the price significantly.

Bid or pay for upgrades strategically

A lot of carriers are providing upgrade auctioning or purchase-upgrade at the last minute on their site or at check-in. Be conservative with your first bid, raise when you discover there is spot-inventory towards the departure.

When you are interested in comfort, find out the difference between the paid upgrade price and the entire business fare; in many cases the upgrade can be a minor percentage discount of the retail business price. Flying with cash upgrades, the objective should be flights on which business stock seems to be unsold within a week prior to the flight.

Use status, credits, and certificates wisely

Premium credit cards and frequent flyer elites are offered with upgrade preference, free upgrades or certificates. In case you have any guaranteed upgrade certificates or flexible credits, use them in the longest or priciest flights whenever possible so that you get the most per credit.

When feeling short of status, see about teaming up with a friend or a family member that has elite benefits and can charge a flight to your account where the program rules permit.

Hunt error fares and mistake fares with a method

Subscribe to several reliable fare alert systems and filter premium cabins. Once you see an incorrect fare, book instantly and select the safest form of payment, which you can find (most travelers use credit cards that provide travel insurance).

Get used to reinstating and checking on the reservation; most airlines will accept the mistaken fares but there are few cancellations that occur. When a program has the flexibility to make free cancellations or flexible holds, take advantage until the time the ticket is ticketed and confirmed.

Book business class for cheap in a sale and use an upgrade certificate on the outbound for maximum savings. With practice, you can treat business class as a smart purchase rather than a rare splurge.