Up to 37% Off Compared to Other Airlines, From Now Till Mid-September.
This article has no complicated strategies to impart or mileage-partner backflips to recommend—just low coast-to-coast fares and Easy Upgrade math.
Delta is at it again, but this time in your favor: It is dumping domestic First Class seats for travel July through mid-September. Fares are up to 37% less than American and United’s to San Francisco, Seattle, and Sedona, just to name a few destinations.
First Class domestic fares easily run $1,200+ for coast-to-coast round-trips. Here are 17 sample non-stop routes on which Delta is offering a much better deal. (Fares are the same in either direction.)
Sample of Delta's First Class Fare Dump: Starting as Low as $357 on Non-Stop Flights of More than Two Hours
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How to Calculate Free and Low-Cost Upgrades
When mid- to-long-haul domestic First Class fares are this low, it becomes perspective-changing—at least to elite-status-upgrade roulette players anyway—to run an upgrade-cost-per-flight-hour comparison. Just simply divide the difference between coach and First by the flight-time to find out how much per hour a First Class Upgrade costs.
This will help you think through the routing and help answer the all-important question: Is it worthwhile to play Elite Upgrade Roulette?
One Example: Take Los Angeles-Boston on Delta, which takes almost 12 hours non-stop, round-trip. (New York-London takes only about two more hours.) Delta’s First Class fare is $776 round-trip. That’s only $298 more to fly First Class than coach, which comes out to $149 each way—so only about $24 per-flight-hour to upgrade. (By the way, American also offers non-stop service on this route, but its First Class fare is $1,238, which is $462 (37%) more, or $39 more per flight hour when compared to Delta.)
See Delta’s screenshot below, for the sample route Los Angeles-Boston, showing the fare difference between economy (T class) and First Class (P class). The second box, headed Delta’s Comfort+, refers to economy class seating with a bit more legroom and Sky Priority boarding access.
After you figure in all the fees economy class travel can involve—checked bags, Delta Comfort+ (preferred seating and priority boarding), and meals—the difference between Summer First Class fares and economy can often drop to only $10 per hour.
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Don’t forget to weigh in the value of miles earned, especially if you’re an elite. That can knock another $100 or so off the price, which results in a near-zero cost to upgrade.
Forget About Using Free or Upgrade Awards
Why try for a free or upgrade award? The value of your miles can be less than one cent each (e.g. bad deal), as it is on the non-stop LAX-Boston, as the lowest free First Class mileage award FCF found was 90,000 (50,000 if you are willing to make a connection) miles and upgrades are 60,000 miles round-trip. Save the miles for high-priced international destinations.
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.
However, I’m very much against this approach—there are better ways of getting into Business and First Class, but you already know that.