Short answer no. Long answer, sometimes.
I really can’t justify business class, it is so expensive for what is. The roomier seats are nicer, especially if you get a lay flat bed. The food is better, the lounge is nice. But it is ridiculously expensive. I definitely love it when I have travelled that way, but I am a champagne woman travelling on beer budget. There are times though, where I decided I was on a long enough flight it was worth trying to work the system of upgrades.
My first time flying business was paying full fare. I was super lucky though, travelling to Southern Africa I found a deal with Ethiopian Airlines where the business class was actually cheaper than economy with the European Airlines. So definitely shop the airlines and look for deals. At the time the economy flight was $500 Toronto to Johannesburg. It was definitely worth it as one leg going there was 13 hours, and coming home it was 20 hours.
The other way to upgrade is bidding. Usually in cash, sometimes with airline points, if you buy an economy ticket you can put in a bid for business. I find with flights just around Canada or across the Atlantic, business is still over priced. There is an option for premium economy that is worth it for transatlantic flights, but I wouldn’t bother just crossing North America. It’s pretty much the same seat as economy plus.
For a 13 hour flight home from Australia I tried the bid. It was a bit of a gamble of course, but I bought the cheapest ticket I could, and then put in the max bid. I have the most experience with Air Canada which gives you a range to bid. If I don’t care as much I’ll do a low bid. For this flight I really wanted the upgrade so I did the maximum amount. I happily won and spent the long flight with the relatively comfortable lay flat bed.
My credit card also has eupgrade options, which are cheaper but harder to use than just the usual bid. I have used them a few times, and an instance recently where I retracted by bid. It can be important to pay attention to the fine details of your flight. Heading to England, my plane was empty. I could see I would have an entire row to myself, I could tell I wasn’t going to get Business. The waitlist was longer than there were seats. I was going to get the upgrade to premium economy. Which was going to be completely full, as well as the hard arm rests. Despite some fancier food I knew I would be much more comfortable in economy. So I cancelled my offer and stayed put and probably got more rest that way.
There are things I love about Business Class, and let me give one warning, once you go fancy it is soooo hard to go back. As my sister says though - if you spend money on the upgrade that is less money we can spend on the trip itself! Until I win the lottery, it’ll be mostly economy in my future. With maybe a few bids for the long hauls.
