Dreaming of a flight upgrade? Here are Europe’s most affordable business class ticket options

Have you ever dreamed about upgrading your economy flight to a seat in business class?

While the switch may be out of reach for most of us, new research has found an upgrade is not always prohibitively expensive.

Holidu, a leading provider of holiday rentals across Europe, analysed the price difference between economy and business class fares from over 30 of the world’s biggest airlines to find out whose premium experience is the best value for money.

On average, they found that business class is 250 per cent more expensive than flying economy - but some airlines have markups as low as 88 per cent.

What’s more, four out of the top 10 airlines with the smallest price discrepancies are based in Europe. Here’s what you need to know before diving into a luxury flight experience.

Four of the top 10 airlines are European and four are based in Asia. Only one African airline - Air Algerie - and one American - American Airlines - made the top 10 ranking.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Oceanian airlines in the study are among those with the biggest price discrepancy, considering how far they are from the rest of the world.

Air New Zealand and Qantas’ business class offerings are 263.55 per cent and 342.34 per cent more expensive than their economy flights respectively.

The overall route with the biggest price discrepancy is Etihad Airways’ flight from Abu Dhabi to Muscat, with a staggering 1,271.17 per cent difference between its economy and business class tickets.

In terms of European companies, Austrian Airlines comes in at seventh place in the ranking, with the lowest price difference between its economy and business classes on the continent.

Headquartered in Vienna, it flies to six domestic and more than 120 international destinations