This new airline ticket lets you book business class seats for a cheaper price

A new airline travel trend has taken flight. While most airlines split travel classes by economy, business and first, over the last few years, we’ve seen companies introducing a new middle-ground offering. Although titles for this ticket type vary across airlines, from “light” and “saver” to “basic” and “special”, they all tend to centre around the same thing: a cheaper business-class seat without the rest of the category’s extra perks.

The trend is part of a business class “unbundling” strategy that airlines have been toying with for some time. Carriers aim to provide more flexible price options by dividing standard seat offerings into subsets with different bonuses and selling them for lower price points. The reaction has generally been positive, with many customers thrilled at the prospect of more spacious seats without the eye-watering prices – although others have claimed that it is merely a way of dressing down an expensive ticket rather than providing more meaningful flexibility.

This isn’t the first time airlines have introduced unbundling into their financial strategies. It started with asking customers to pay for food and drinks on flights, followed by fees for pillows and blankets and then, more recently, separating the cost of check-in luggage rather than baking it into the ticket price. The latest changes seem to be largely correlated to the increase in airline price comparison sites such as SkyScanner or Google Flights – as customers search and select flights based on the lowest base fare for air travel, some airlines hold back extra costs until a later point in the purchasing process.

Emirates was the first airline to launch this new type of business class offering in 2019, selling “special business class” tickets that allowed passengers to purchase a comfier seat with no lounge access, restricted seat selection and no upgrade abilities. Qatar Airways followed suit a year later with four new subsets of business class travel: Lite, Classic, Comfort and Elite. Elite is the most expensive, offering travellers unrestricted seat selection, full lounge access, refund options and unlimited date or route changes. Lite is the cheapest option, with no free lounge access, refunds or changes.

ZIPAIR and Finnair began offering basic business tickets in 2021, and in April 2023, two new airlines hopped aboard the trend. Air France and KLM have started selling business class light tickets, offering comfier seats for long-haul flights without seat selection, lounge access and refunds. This is a travel trend that isn't going anywhere, so keep your eyes peeled for the next airlines to begin splitting up their ticket classes for the chance to upgrade your journey for a more reasonable price.