Airlines... Premium Style
Every cabin below, I've sat in myself, several of them, many times. This is the knowledge behind the strategy — not even once of the list below, have I paid the published fare; often only paying with points + taxes. Pro-Tip: You don't always need massive point balances to do this. In fact, we can skip points altogether sometimes. Of course, regular economy is always an option - especially on some carriers who have elevated economy class experiences. There are US-Europe redemptions as low as 12,000 points, round-trip. Rare, but not Unicorn rare.
Airline + Aircraft — not just cabin name
Not all business class is created equal. The same airline can fly three different hard products under one name, depending on the aircraft — a 777 cabin isn't the A350's or A380's, or 787's, etc. Even sub-fleets of the same plane get refitted at different times. Some airlines' premium cabins are just plain bad — yes, there are business class cabins with middle seats, and lousy everything else to match. Others are magical, the kind where the feedback afterward is "I didn't want the flight to end." Hard to believe both live under the same "business class" label, but they do. I check the specific aircraft on your specific route, on the airlines I actually trust, before I recommend anything — not just the cabin name on the booking page.
Lounges: often enjoyed, sometimes... not
The same goes for lounges. Some are genuinely worth building a layover around; others carry a famous name and deliver a sad buffet and a self-serve bar of no-name brands. I know which is which, including the under-the-radar ones that never make the "best lounges" lists — I'll route you however you wish if the lounge experience matters to you. If you'd rather just get there with no dilly-dallying, we won't make a big deal of it. And if your itinerary lands you at an airport with no dedicated lounge for your airline, I'll point out the best bets nearby — unless you're the type who gets dropped at the curb and strolls to the gate just in time for boarding. In which case, you're one cool cucumber.