A round-up of extraordinary low, domestic anomaly fares…
This article has no complicated strategies to impart or mileage-partner backflips to recommend—just low coast-to-coast fares and easy Upgrade Math.
Sample of Anomaly First Class Transcontinental Routes Under $975 Round-trip
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First Class domestic fares easily run $2,000+ for coast-to-coast round-trips, so here are 26 routes on which there’s a better deal. (Routes are shown from West to East Coast, but fares are also the same going the other way.)
How to Calculate Free and Low-Cost Upgrades
When long-haul domestic First Class fares are this low, the first thing I like to think about is figuring out which fares offer the most for your money. I do that by a cost-per-flight-hour comparison. Simply divide the fare by the flight-time to find out how much an hour of First Class Upgrade Time costs.
Why All this Thinking?
It will help you think through the routing you have in mind and help answer the all-important question: Is it worthwhile to play Elite Upgrade Roulette?
One Example:
Take San Francisco-Atlanta on United, which has a travel time of almost ten hours (non-stop, round-trip) and a First Class fare of just $734. The lowest economy fare (T/L booking code) on that same route is $384.
That’s only $350 more round-trip to fly First Class or just $175 one-way, or only about $35 per-flight-hour to upgrade to First Class.
I can be a lot more productive in First Class than I can in cattle class, whether simply catching up on rest or working.
Thirty-five dollars per hour is not much to recoup. No one has enough time, right?
After you figure in all the fees economy class travel can involve (checked bags, preferred seating, priority boarding, meals; or, the high cost of credit cards that net you these items for free), the cost to upgrade can often come to only $6.40 per hour.
Also, weigh in the value of miles earned, especially if you’re an elite. That can knock another $100 or more off the price— which, in the end, can net a near-zero cost to upgrade.
Forget About Using Free or Upgrade Awards
Why try for a free award? The value is only about 1.5¢ per mile, given that United charges 50,000 miles round-trip for a domestic First Class award. Don’t do it: Save the miles for high-priced international destinations.
Why bother with an upgrade award? Buying an economy ticket plus paying the co-pay ($150), plus 40,000 miles can be more than the published premium fare, once you add in the replacement value (about $1,505 for 40,000 miles) of the miles used for the upgrade. Don’t do it.
Upgrade Cost Comparison on United: San Francisco-Atlanta Round-Trip
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Low Premium Fares are the Elite Status Seeker’s Fast Track
You don’t have to wait until the end of the year to do an elite status run. Use a quick summer getaway to propel you toward your elite status goal—if you’re still locked into a loyalty program, and miles is what you need.
I’m very much against that kind of thinking, and in favor of the opportunities available otherwise (but you already know that).