It sounds like your boss is frugal naturally or someone else has imposed a fairly strict budget for travel. While business class is expensive, long-haul economy (particularly the itinararies you're mentioning) can be brutal. As a compromise, you might look at joining a frequent flyer program that includes an airline that has premium economy on the long-haul routes you're flying. Premium economy may cost 25-50% more than economy, but it's well worth it, especially on overnight flights. Also, at least in my experience with British Airways, I've been upgraded to business class frequently when I've purchased premium economy tickets. The tricky thing with BA is that, if you're a member of American Airlines' Advantage program, you don't get miles credit for flying BA over the Atlantic (because AA competes on the same route), so that's no good for you. So, Virgin Atlantic might be a better airline to fly on - and it has some partnerships with certain US airlines, so I think you can get miles with a US airline for flying Virgin. Continental and US are partners. If your boss is interested in flying Virgin Atlantic premium economy from time to time, then you should make sure that you choose Continental or US as one of your primary FF programs.