The luxury of leg room on a long flight never comes cheap. Though airline economics often seems to defy logic, the reason is quite straightforward: the more passengers a carrier can cram in, the lower the fare it can offer. Space, therefore, is at a premium.
Book a Club Class seat to Sydney direct with British Airways, for example, and they quote £5,677.30 return, including taxes. But few people fork out the full published fare. Business travellers get corporate deals based on the number of times they fly. And if they shop around, leisure travellers can also make spectacular savings.
The most obvious way to cut costs is to book through travel agents known as a consolidators, who negotiate prices which carriers remain reluctant to offer direct. That way, you could undercut the BA fare to Sydney, flying business class with Air China via Beijing, by over £4,000. Or with Swissair or Sabena via Zurich or Brussels you would save £3,807.
Consolidators may offer a range of options at wildly different fares, depending on the airline and the route you take. Business-class fares are notoriously more expensive from British airports than from most other European cities. You could currently save around £1,000, for example, by flying to Hong Kong with Alitalia via Milan. But the journey would take around 16 hours, compared with around 12 hours if you travelled non-stop with Cathay Pacific or BA.
Sometimes, even the airlines themselves shed their diffidence and promote cut price deals. Air New Zealand has a seven-day advance purchase deal to Los Angeles, valid until the end of the year, for £2,222.10, compared with BA's £5,724. They also have a seven-day advance purchase, with a mandatory Saturday-night stay in LA for £1,778.10. And Malaysia Airlines is offering business-class return fares of £1,584 from Manchester to Singapore or £1,984 from Heathrow, tax included.
The offer is available only through travel agents and the airline is throwing in chauffeur driven transfers - or seven days' valet parking at either British airport - and two nights in a range of five-star hotels including the Shangri-La. Compare that with the £1,079 fare with Kuwait Airways - via Kuwait - on offer through Trailfinders. Singapore Airlines, meanwhile, is quoting a "special" round-trip deal of £2,434.10 from Heathrow until the end of the year, although if you want to stay for less than a fortnight it will limit your choice of flights.
The travel club Wexas is quoting a Singapore fare of £817 with Pakistan International via Karachi (£815 to Hong Kong), but it says relatively few flights have connections that avoid an overnight stay in Pakistan. You may even be able to get enough extra leg-room without shelling out for business class. BA has introduced a new World Traveller Plus class between business and economy. This offers a seat pitch - the distance between your seat back and the one in front - of 96cm (38ins). So far it is available only on flights to New York, Hong Kong, San Francisco. If you book at least 21 days in advance and stay at least seven days it is on offer at the above destinations for £827, £1,153.50, or £1,475.90 respectively. Sections of Air France's cabins to Asia, the Middle East and West Africa have 96cm and to the Caribbean 94cm. A round-trip from London to Guadeloupe in the latter - called Cabin Alizé - would cost £820.12 against £1,447.12 in business class.
Or if you get in early, you could always request a spot by the emergency exit. It may be a narrow, economy seat but on many flights you will have more leg space than you know what to do with.
• Good sources of cut-price business class tickets include: Trailfinders: 020-7938 3444 /0161-839 3434. Far East Travel Centre: 020-7414 8844. Wexas: (there is a membership fee of just over £40 which brings benefits such as discounts on other travel arrangements) 020-7589 0555. Airline Network: 0800 727747. Thomas Cook Flights Direct: 0870 752 0066. Americana Vacations: 020-7637 8485. Travelbag : London 020-7287 5954/south 01420 543234/midlands 0121-709 6000/north 01565 631316.
British Airways fully flexible and the cut price deal through travel agent to ...
Sydney £5,641.30 (£1,870 (Swissair or Sabena via Zurich or Brussels) Far East Travel Centre.)
Auckland £3,772.60 (£1,572 (Air China via Beijing and Shanghai) Trailfinders)
Hong Kong £3,965.50 ( £1,199 (Royal Brunei via Abu Dhabi and Brunei) Wexas)
Singapore £3,360 (£1,079 (Kuwait Airways via Kuwait) Trailfinders)
New York £3,743 (£706 (Air India) Thomas Cook Flights Direct based on two travelling together)
Los Angeles £5,724 (£1,555 (Alitalia via Milan) Trailfinders)
• BA'S Club Class seats convert into flat beds. Space varies with some airlines depending on the type of aircraft.
• American Airlines is in the process of revamping its economy class to provide 91.5cm of leg room. When you book, ask whether you are likely to be flying on an aircraft that has been converted.
• Virgin's Upper Class is being fitted with new seats that convert into flat beds.
