Business Class one way and Premium Economy the other can be a wise compromise for many (or First Class one way and the other in Business). Here’s how to search and book with American, Delta, United and Kayak.
Business Class round-trip fares aren’t realistic for everyone’s budget—and even for those who can afford it, aren’t always the best value.
Enter Mixed-Cabin Bookings: While it’s not a top-of-mind strategy for most people, FCFianados are not most people and when you see the potential savings, you’ll think twice about conventional thinking.
While we’ve reported on the “mixed-cabin seesaw” idea in the past, this special report will focus deeper on the “how to.” We’ll look at Kayak, where you can search multiple airlines at the same time, then how to search and book with American, Delta, and United.
How to Search and Book with Kayak
While you can book these routes on the airlines’ websites, the benefit of Kayak.com is that it lets you search for different classes on one round-trip ticket by using the multi-city search option. This way, you can select different classes of service as needed.
To leverage Kayak’s search power with the seesaw strategy, select “Multi-city” from the drop down instead of “round-trip.”
Enter your departure and destination, and departure and return dates, and class of service for each flight segment, and hit search. Easy.
How to Book Mixed Cabins with American
Go to
, then on the “Book Flight” page, select the “Round-trip” fare option, add your departure and destination city, your departure and return dates, then hit “Search.”
Next you’ll see fares displayed for each cabin round-trip, including AA’s Premium Economy and Business Class. This is where you can select the cabin class you want to fly for your departure.
Our example looks at New York-Milan. We selected Business Class for the departure to Milan, as it’s an overnight flight and therefore a good time to use the better sleeping option of Business Class.
So, for example, fly round-trip Business Class New York-Milan and you would pay $2,646. However, if you fly Premium Economy on the return leg you pay $1,796—an easy saving of $850.
These return flights from Europe are usually a late-morning or afternoon departure, so you won’t need to sleep most of the time and won’t miss the lie-flat seat in Business Class so much. But you still want a seat that gives you some of the same amenities, such as more personal space, entertainment, comfort, food and beverage as in Business Class, but not to the same degree. Hello Premium Economy.
After you select the return cabin, the next page will show a summary of the flights you selected, again showing Business Class for the departure and Premium Economy for the return.
How to Book Mixed Cabins with Delta
Similar to AA, go to delta.com, then on the “Book” page, select the “Round-trip” fare option, add your departure and destination city, your departure and return dates, then hit “Search.”
Next you’ll see fares displayed for each cabin round-trip, including Delta’s Premium Economy (called Premium Select) and Business Class. This is where you can select the cabin class you want to fly for your departure.
Our example looks at New York-London with Delta. We selected Business Class (“Delta One”) for the departure to London.
Similar to AA, after you select your departure cabin class, options for the return trip come up. The fares displayed at this point are based on flying Business Class on the departure and the different cabin options for the return.
After you select the return cabin, the next page will show a summary of the flights you selected, again showing Business Class for the departure and Premium Economy (“Premium Select” on Delta) for the return.
How to Book Mixed Cabins with United
United is also similar to American and Delta, so start at
and log in if you have a United account. Then on the “Book Flight” page, select the “Round-trip” fare option, add your departure and destination city, your departure and return dates, and hit “Find Flights.”
Next you’ll see fares displayed for each cabin round-trip, including United’s Premium Economy (called Premium Plus) and Business Class.This is where you can select the cabin class you want to fly for your departure.
Our example looks at Newark-London with United. We selected Business Class for the departure to London, as it’s an overnight flight.
Similar to American and Delta, after you select your departure cabin class, options for the return trip come up. The fares displayed at this point are based on flying Business Class on the departure and the different cabin options for the return.
After you select the return cabin, the next page will show a summary of the flights you selected, again showing Business Class for the departure and Premium Economy for the return.
There you have it.
A strategy that divides and conquers your European trip, or to anywhere else for that matter.
The same strategy works for First Class one way and Business Class the other.
As we’ve said before, why pay more for creature comfort benefits you might not even use? Especially when the savings can net you enough to upgrade your hotel or resort to a magnificent suite. Sweet savings, indeed.