A woman has revealed her secret to consistently bagging business and first-class seats on flights without paying a penny more. Travelling can be an exhilarating experience, but the discomfort of cramped aeroplane seats can quickly take the shine off after a few hours.

Many holidaymakers dream about the luxury of sipping champagne in a spacious premium seat with plenty of legroom.

Claudia has successfully employed this method on airlines such as Emirates and Qatar Airways, earning complimentary upgrades.

Sharing her travel experiences and tips from Thailand on her TikTok page @islandlifewithclaudia, Claudia stated: “I always find it crazy when I see people asking for free upgrades on the plane when there’s a much easier way to get free upgrades and you don’t have to embarrass yourself in the process.”

She further added: “Me and my partner have flown business class and even first class multiple times. We have flown business class more than 10 times now, and we have never paid for it.”

“We get free upgrades all the time, and in this video, I’m going to tell you how. We’ve now flown on Singapore Airlines, Emirates multiple times, Emirates first class and also Qatar Airways.”

She acknowledges the difficulty of returning to economy after numerous upgraded flights, but offers a straightforward method to consistently secure upgrades.

According to her, the secret to securing a business class seat lies in an Amex credit card. In a viral video that has garnered over 369,000 views, Claudia reveals: “We use American Express, the gold card. And start racking up points.

“Even when you first sign up you get a bonus offer and you usually get anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000 points. And it only costs 40,000 points for a business-class upgrade.”

Claudia added: “Which means you only have to pay the economy fare and then use your points to upgrade. And then you use your card for spending, for booking trips, for whatever you like, business expenses, whatever it might be. You rack up points over the year so you can upgrade to business class next time you travel.”

Addressing doubts about its cost-effectiveness in the comments, she clarified: “It’s free because I’m spending on normal things and racking up points (so I haven’t paid anything extra to get this).”

She ends with a savvy financial tip: “It doesn’t make sense to pay when you can use points. It’s smarter.

“It’s always better to pay with points than pounds! ,” one viewer commented. Another chimed in: “Exactly! If you’re not using a points card, you’re missing out. I got my round-trip Florida flight covered just from everyday spending-so satisfying!”.

“This is so helpful,” another viewer commented.