Summer is the hottest travel season of the year, and many routes in economy sell out with passengers paying top dollar. Conversely, business travel tapers off as people take vacations (paying those sky high fares in economy). The result is an opportunity for good deals.

There have been instances when premium economy and business fares approach each other and are sometimes even cheaper than booking coach on the same flight. Why? The algorithms that price seats in each cabin don’t necessarily talk to each other, and many people have been conditioned to only search for economy tickets under the assumption they must be cheaper.

Looking at the map below from Google Flights, note that tickets to Dublin from San Francisco are $1,200 (a little less than double what it costs in the winter) and the cheapest you’re going to anywhere in Europe in this particular case. Also note the graph on the left showing that this price is pretty steady for departures 10 days in either direction.

These are the prices to Europe from SFO for a two week trip in July. Note that getting to Dublin is the cheapest and some destinations like Paris are sky high, topping out at over $1,800!

Since people are searching for coach and not for business, you may end up with an extraordinarily expensive coach fare with terrible flight times and several connections. However, you could also choose to pay an extra $300 for a more comfortable (and often more direct) flight in business. That might be worth it to some people.

In short, if you are finding that your search for coach tickets to Europe is incredibly expensive with a bad routing, just hit that “business class” button to do a gut check. You might find that for about the same price you can enjoy a much better trip.

Look at the next map below showing a similar search for business class flights to Europe. Note that business class to Dublin is $2,100 — just $300 more than a coach flight to Paris on the same dates. (This discovery required a minimal amount of searching. Pricing inversions are easier to find during explicit sale periods like the PHL-Europe sale on SkyTeam right now.)

Business class to Paris is $2,400 — an additional $300 — but you probably fly business class to Dublin and book an onward connection in coach for less than that. From Dublin, you could build in a stopover for a pint at the Guinness factory and then hop an easyJet or a 4,500 Avios award ticket to Paris on Aer Lingus. British Airways can also take you for 8,000 avios each way via London using their new off-peak awards; availability is good all summer.

As another option, know that many airlines haven’t made it easy for customers to search for or buy premium economy (because they are relatively new offerings and it’s difficult to list them in the inventory distribution GDS systems accessed by third-party travel agents). Make sure you check all classes of service on your own. Some premium economy products, notably on Turkish and Air New Zealand, start to mimic what you’ll find in domestic first class — a reclining seat, better food, expedited security, and pillow and blanket. (Air New Zealand even flies from Los Angeles to London on what’s called a Fifth Freedom route.)

Air New Zealand, a carrier that tends to have pretty innovative seats like the “Skycouch” in standard economy, also has as a pretty slick premium economy product. One way fares from LAX-LHR are about $400 more than a coach ticket out of LAX. Not terrible considering this is a very long flight.

Pro Tip: Before you hit BUY, check business and premium economy fares to make sure they aren’t cheaper or trivially more expensive but with better routings.

I’ll be putting together a number of articles that delve into how airfare is priced and tools and tricks you can use to get a better price or routing, particularly focusing on Europe since it’s getting into the high season.

Have your own tip to share? Comment below!