Sign up for FareCompare Real-Time Airfare Alerts

Luxury Travel: Pay a Little, Pay a Lot

You could spend thousands on traveling in style. Or not much at all. Perhaps it just comes down to what your definition of “luxury” is (and you can see mine in number five, below).

Five Ways to Travel in Luxury

Take a look, and if you have other ideas about luxury travel, please tell me about it on Facebook.

1. Find First Class Deals

Do you follow the FareCompare Deals Blog? You should; less than two weeks ago, we featured what Delta called “first/business class” flights to Europe – and some of these prices were less than coach. No kidding. It’s not clear if it was a mistake, but some lucky travelers got a chance to travel in very high style for relatively little money. So check out the Deals Blog.

Even better, sign up for FareCompare Airfare Alerts – we’ll tell you the moment prices drop on the flights you want to take.

2. Extreme First Class

Not all first classes are created equal. Want to take a shower onboard your plane? You can if you fly the right aircraft with Emirates. Of course, such flights can be a little pricey – a roundtrip first class from Los Angeles to Dubai in May on Eirates will set you back a little more than $22,000. Well, I did call this section extreme first class, didn’t I?

3. Luxurious Pet Travel

Doesn’t Sparky deserve the best? If so, check out Pet Airways. It’s not as cheap as the “human airlines” but it might be worth it for the safety factor (especially if Sparky is a big boy and can’t fit in the cabin). While airline pet transportation is generally very safe, deaths are not unheard of (according to government statistics, six animals died on planes in Dec. of 2010).

4. The Ultimate High in Luxury

If you have a spare $200,000 sitting around, why not sign up for a flight on Virgin Galactic? Okay, those flights are still aways away – less than two years away, actually, as Richard Branson told a representative for FareCompare this monring – but the wait might be worth it for a sub-orbital journey. Today, in fact, the aircraft that launches the Virgin “space ship” is due to fly into San Francisco to help Virgin America celebrate its new (and newly remodeled) terminal there.

5. My Idea of a Luxury Flight

I’m a simple guy and my needs are few: give me a comfortable seat, plenty of bin space and let me breeze through security, and I’m a happy man. Oh, wait – I also want me and my luggage to arrive together, on time. Is this asking too much?

More from Rick Seaney:

How to Travel in Luxury, With or Without the Price Tag

Learn more about FareCompare and the cheapest days to fly and best times to buy airline tickets for year-round savings.