Is This the Best (& Cheapest) Way to Book Delta One Business Class Now?

Frequent Delta flyers are all too accustomed to seeing sky-high flight prices and insultingly exorbitant award rates using SkyMiles to book business class abroad. But a recent trend is turning that on its head: Upgrades to Delta One business class seem cheaper than ever.

Forget paying $3,000 or more each way to bump up from economy to business class. We’ve heard from a growing number of Thrifty Traveler Premium members who have recently scored Delta business class upgrades to Europe or Asia for just $500 or $600 within weeks – if not days – of departure.

That’s as good as it gets, considering some lucky travelers are paying the same rates you’ll typically see to upgrade to first class on a two- to three-hour domestic flight … but instead, getting a lie-flat seat (or even a snazzy Delta One Suite) that turns into a bed for an eight-plus hour flight overseas. In some cases, upgrading to business class on these long-haul flights actually costs less than Delta Premium Select seats on the exact same flight. 

Read our ranking of Delta One seats from first … to worst – and why so many Delta business class cabins are out of date!

While Delta might initially quote that egregious $3,000 upgrade you’re accustomed to seeing, those prices seem to be regularly falling as departure draws closer. A few recent highlights include: 

• Not one but two travelers flying separately from Atlanta (ATL) to London-Heathrow (LHR) later this month upgraded from economy to Delta One for $499 (or 49,900 SkyMiles) per passenger 
• Days before making the trip back home, one flyer snagged a Delta One upgrade from Milan (MXP) to Atlanta (ATL) by paying just 44,900 SkyMiles
• Flying back from Amsterdam (AMS) to Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP), members saw business class upgrades dip as low as $449 each
• About a week before departure, one traveler just upgraded to Delta One Suites from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Seoul (ICN) for just $599 each

Let’s be clear: While all those prices are great, this still is not a slam dunk – you’re still probably more likely to see upgrade prices north of $1,000 or more. These better deals likely hinge on there being plenty of empty business class seats leading up to departure … which means these lower prices could easily taper off as spring turns to the busy summer travel season.

Still, it’s an undeniable trend with low upgrade rates on Delta more prevalent than in recent memory. And that means it’s worth double-, triple-, quadruple-, and even quintuple-checking your Delta flights in the weeks and days before a trip overseas. While you might initially see eye-popping prices, the odds that the cost to upgrade falls below $1,000 (or half that) seem greater than ever.

And it’s not just us who have picked up on it. The dedicated Delta forum on Reddit has been abuzz lately with flyers benefitting from similar – if not identical – cheap upgrades to Delta One. This is one of more than 10 such accounts in the last week alone. 

Again: You still can’t count on seeing prices this low … but your odds seem better than ever – particularly when heading over to Europe and back. 

Cheap prices like these fly in the face of our usual advice regarding upgrades: It’s rarely a safe bet, as most airlines make it exorbitantly expensive (if not outright impossible) to upgrade after the fact. And it contradicts recent trends with Delta itself: Soaring flight prices at many of its hubs and laughably high award rates to book business class using SkyMiles.

So what’s going on here?

From American to Delta to United and even many major international carriers, airlines routinely sell upgrades to business class – just rarely at prices this low. But in the U.S., Delta has taken selling off seats at the front of the plane to an extreme … much to the chagrin of loyal Medallion members hoping for a complimentary upgrade.

Now, it seems like the airline is flirting with the same approach for its widebody planes heading abroad. It’s still hit-or-miss, but the trend is undeniable. 

Much like those SkyMiles rates, upgrade prices on Delta are all over the map and constantly changing as Delta tries to fill seats and maximize revenue on each flight. At these prices, this is the best way to book Delta business class right now … by far. And that’s true whether you’re OK paying cash or forking over some SkyMiles for the upgrade.

Consider this: Delta regularly charges $4,000 or more for a roundtrip in long-haul business class. SkyMiles rates of 400,000-plus for a one-way to Europe in business class have become the norm.

And sure, you can book those same Delta One flights for 50,000 points each way by using Virgin Atlantic Flying Club instead – and many Thrifty Traveler Premium members did just that last week after we sent an alert with wide-open award space to Frankfurt (FRA) this summer. But the reality is that the opportunities to actually book Delta flights at those rock-bottom rates are few and far between these days.

But if you can upgrade a (hopefully cheap) economy ticket for just $500 or so to fly in business class instead? That’s tough to beat.

Using SkyMiles to upgrade instead, it’s tied directly to the cash cost – and you’ll almost always get a flat 1 cent for each mile. That means a $500 upgrade costs you 50,000 SkyMiles while a $449 upgrade will be 44,900 SkyMiles each.

Is that the best way to redeem SkyMiles for top dollar? Hardly. But as Delta has obliterated sweet spots and repeatedly raised award rates, the avenues to get more value out of your SkyMiles keep shrinking.

And when it gets you a lie-flat seat at a time when that’s increasingly harder to do with SkyMiles, who cares? 

How to Upgrade with Delta & Tips

For a third and (possibly) final time: There’s no guarantee Delta will cut you a bargain on an upgrade to business class. 

Now, as always, upgrade prices are all over the map. You might check your Delta flight to Madrid (MAD) or Seoul (ICN) hoping for a $500 upgrade offer only to see something closer to $5,000. So it goes.

But now more than ever, it’s worth repeatedly checking your upcoming Delta flight to see if that price has dropped. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Prices for upgrades tend to bottom out within three weeks of departure – and especially within the final week.
• If you don’t see a price you like, look hard at the seat map in Delta One. If it’s fairly full, don’t count on a bargain. But if there are plenty of open seats, it’s easily worth checking back again.
• There’s no question this trend is most pronounced on flights to and from Europe, but we’ve seen great upgrade deals between the U.S. and Asian cities like Tokyo-Haneda (HND) and Seoul (ICN), too.  
• These excellent upgrade offers are getting extended whether you booked a standard main cabin economy seat, Delta Comfort Plus, or Delta Premium Select – though higher-paying customers may see the lowest upgrade rates
• There’s one exception: Delta basic economy fares are ineligible for these cabin upgrades, period. 

To check yours, boot up your Fly Delta app and navigate to your next international flight under “My Trips.” You should automatically see any available upgrade offers once you pull up your reservation. The same goes for logging in at Delta.com on desktop. 

Otherwise, check out the seat map for your flight and scroll up to the Delta One cabin. Just as with a simple domestic trip, you should see the price to upgrade.

Not seeing a price you like? Or is the entire Delta One cabin blocked off, period? Check back later – that could easily change in a matter of days.

Bottom Line

It’s still far from a sure thing, but upgrade prices to Delta business class are looking better than we’ve ever seen them. 

Check your upcoming long-haul Delta flights to see if you, too, have lucked out with a $500 or so upgrade to Delta One business class. It’s hit or miss – and, most importantly, these prices are regularly changing. You may need to check repeatedly to get a good deal … and still could come up empty-handed.

But at a time when booking a Delta One business class seat might cost thousands of dollars or millions of SkyMiles, it’s worth the extra effort.