This website lets you BID for seats in Business and First Class for a fraction of the normal price

NO one actually WANTS to sit in Economy…. We just don’t want to pay the exorbitant prices that would secure a seat in Business or First Class.

But it turns out there is actually a way to upgrade your ticket for less – by bidding on empty seats in the posh end of the aircraft.

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A website called lets airlines auction off their fancier seats to customers who already have an Economy ticket on the same flight.

More than 40 companies including Virgin Atlantic, Qantas and Etihad all use the system, which opens up the bidding process to customers until 72 hours before a flight.

Each airline has its own restrictions on what customers can bid for, for example, Virgin Atlantic only lets you bid for seats in the cabin one up from the one you’re currently in.

So if you’re sat in Economy then your option in the auction would be Premium Economy, or if you were in Premium already then you can bid on seats in Business Class.

But the general process for how to bid is the pretty much the same for each airline, according to travel bargains website

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Once a ticket has been bought by a passenger, they will either receive an email asking if they want to upgrade or they can go on the company’s website to see if they are eligible for the auction.

If you want to take part, you can then bid what you would like to pay to upgrade your seat, within the guideline amount laid out by the airline.

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If your flight is in two parts, you will have to bid on both legs if you want to be upgraded on both.

Similarly, if you have more than one person on your booking then the auction will assume you are bidding for everyone and will multiply the cost of your bid to match the number of people on the booking.

If your bid is accepted, they will take payment from you automatically.

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Most of the upgrades in the auction come with all of the perks of the new class you are booked in, like extra baggage allowance and lounge access at airports.

However, there are some exceptions, for instance, Etihad customers who have been upgraded via the auction will not be given chauffeur service that usually comes with the ticket.

While some of the auctions don’t result in the cheapest of reductions for seats, others have offered huge discounts.

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For example, one passenger paid just £577 extra to be upgraded from Business to First Class on an Etihad flight from Sao Paulo to Abu Dhabi, around £2,500 cheaper than the cost of the ticket usually.

Virgin Atlantic offers minimum bids of £180 on their upgrades from Economy to Premium Economy, when the real value increase is sometimes more than seven times that.

Other airlines like Qantas even allow customers to bid using their airline loyalty points.