7 times a flight upgrade might be worth your money

Some airlines, such as Emirates and Malaysian Airlines, offer last-minute upgrades that are markedly cheaper at the gate than if you book the business class ticket ahead of time. The downside is that you usually don’t earn miles on the transaction and may not have access to the business lounge.

On my Turkish Airlines flight from New York to Istanbul, I opted to upgrade the red-eye leg so I could sleep better, but kept my economy seat for the daytime flight on the return trip.

This would not have been possible if I had booked the flight outright round trip, as my whole itinerary would be designated business class rather than split between economy and business. In the end, my total flight expense was less than if I had booked a roundtrip business class ticket upfront.

When traveling with kids on a long, overnight flight, families may want to upgrade so everyone can sleep peacefully and arrive at the destination energized and ready to explore.

When you accumulate a certain number of miles with an airline rewards program, you may end up paying only a small fee for an upgrade. I accumulated 25,000 airline miles on Delta, used the miles, and only paid $70 for an economy plus seat for a one-way flight from New York to LA during the Christmas season in 2017.

If you book a trip last minute and are faced with expensive economy tickets, the jump from a high-priced economy ticket to business class could be small (only $100-200 difference round trip, in my experience), which could make upgrading a good deal in return for comfort.

When flying long-haul international, there are usually steep prices to get into business class or extremely restrictive limitations on upgrading with miles.

In my experience, if you have accumulated a healthy amount of miles on airlines and have achieved a status (like Platinum on United or Delta Diamond Medallion), taking flights at odd days and times may increase your upgrade probabilities as business travelers.

For business travelers, the ability to wake up from a flat bed, rested and ready for work in another country can be worth the extra money for an upgrade.

For example, a traveler on a business flight from Guangzhou to Paris may be looking at $600 USD for the upgrade to lay flat seats in business class. However, it could be worth not having to deal with passengers getting up from the middle seat or neighbors trying to chat with you while you rest.