How to snag a business seat on Jetstar at an economy price

DO THIS right and you'll end up with a business class seat while only paying an economy price. Too good to be true? There is a catch.

A Jetstar plane. Picture: Supplied

FOR a short time you can snag yourself a business class seat for an economy price on a Jetstar flight from Melbourne to Auckland and back.

There's no sucking up to anyone involved, no odd requests, no points needed. If you're flexible and happy to pay $30 for extra leg room, you'll get a lot more than $30 worth, the Australian Business Traveller reports.

The reason? Jetstar's Boeing 787 Dreamliner is flying the Melbourne to Auckland route throughout late February and March.

The Dreamliner is a tad more luxe than the regular Airbus A320, and the cabin has been spilt up into economy as well as economy offerings with extra leg room.

Oddly, there are no business class seats available for purchase - even though the Dreamliner has 21 business class seats on board.

10 things you need to know about the Dreamliner

As far as Jetstar is concerned there are no business class seats on the Melbourne to Auckland flight because they don't usually offer business class seats on that route, and as a result the booking system doesn't have the provision to separate the seat classes.

The booking system does however allow customers to book extra legroom, and on the Boeing 787 these seats are the business class ones. Nice!

You'll need to be travelling from Melbourne to Auckland between Wednesday 26 February and Friday 28 March.

Oh, and your flight has to be Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Sunday. The Auckland to Melbourne leg gets a 787 only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday - that's the Dreamliner schedule the Jetstar booking system is currently showing.

Don't expect complete luxury though, a Jetstar business class seat, like most low-cost airline carrier seats, is more like a premium economy seat, so it reclines but doesn't lie flat - still, if you're only paying $30 more for extra legroom it's one hell of a bargain to grab.

If you're booking to fly between 26 February and 28 March on the days the Dreamliner is scheduled to fly you'll see a Dreamliner icon pop up. Once that's there you know you'll be flying on it and can select to pay extra for extra leg room to get the accidental upgrade.

A Jetstar plane. Picture: Supplied