After years of traveling in coach, I recently discovered the pleasures of traveling business class flights to Central America. For much of my adult life, and being a family man, I always thought of business class flights or first class flights as being beyond my means.

Most seats in the front of the plane usually cost quite a bit more, sometimes double, what a coach seat can sell for. Since I was not travelling constantly and did not have a company to pick up the tab, I never even looked at business class flights as an option.

A few years ago I began a real estate financing business in Costa Rica and one of my partners was a Delta captain so he would provide me with “buddy” passes. These are standby tickets and I would only have to pay for the taxes usually. These were great if you did not mind waiting on standby or if you were traveling off-season. The best perk was being able to automatically upgrade to first class or business class flights if there was availability.

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