The tricks that mean anyone can travel upper class: Professional flight hacker reveals how he tours the world like royalty (without earning points or using a credit card)

Professional flight hacker Gilbert Ott (pictured), based in New York, reveals his methods to MailOnline Travel, everything from buying air miles cheaply without actually flying anywhere, to missing flights on purpose. The former trick means you can currently fly from Hong Kong to Sydney in first class, sipping Dom Perignon the whole way, for £839 - when it should cost £4,689. The
second, known as 'hidden city ticketing', works by booking a flight to a destination where your intended city is a layover, rather than the final stop. By not taking this last leg of the flight, you can fly from London to Los Angeles, for example, in premium economy for less than the price of an economy ticket. Last year, Mr Ott wangled a flight from Boston to Washington in a $23million private jet (bottom right) for free using vouchers and promo codes.