Upgrade-a-palooza: There’s a Festival of Upgrade opportunities right now if you know where to look.
Keen FCFers know that you can upgrade to Business Class for international travel or First Class for domestic travel, often for free or a small fee, if you’re an Opportunity Traveler. The key here is to keep your options open and consider flying into nearby cities and alternative travel dates, although it’s never been easier to get exactly what you want in these unprecedented covid times.
When you take full advantage of these opportunities (as we’ll demonstrate below), you’ll end up getting a free upgrade or close to it. Makes me wanna sing…
When you take full advantage of these opportunities (as we’ll demonstrate below), you’ll end up getting a free upgrade or close to it. Makes me wanna sing...
When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore! Dean Martin
When you pay a coach fare yet you’re sittin’ “up there,” that’s an upgrade! Matthew Bennett
So sing it with me. When destination “tactical fare” opportunities equal a domestic First Class ticket for about the price of coach—that’s a free upgrade.
Or when international Business Class goes for about the price of coach, that’s a free upgrade.
Or when Business Class is just $161 more each way than Premium Economy, that’s an amazing low-cost upgrade.
The same idea applies to using miles. By taking advantage of the high availability of low-cost mileage awards instead of locking into high-cost dates and destinations, you can score Business Class for the price of coach. That’s a free upgrade.
Or, to get really specific, when Business Class is 46,500 fewer miles than Premium Economy. No, that’s not a typo, that’s another free upgrade.
Or when Business Class is just 8,000 miles more than coach, that’s another low-cost upgrade.
That’s Amore #1
When Earning and using points in the best programs NETS a free or low-cost upgrade
Let’s think laterally. If you collect points in the most lucrative programs, you can net Business Class for almost the same price as coach.
When you earn points with a multi-currency credit card program like American Express Membership Rewards and you book via a transfer-partner airline that charges a lot fewer miles (as opposed to earning miles via traditional airline co-branded credit cards), you can get a low-cost upgrade.
TO/FROM Asia
For example, when you earn miles with a United credit card to book flights to Asia, it costs 80,000 miles in coach. But you can use an American Express card that earns points transferable to All Nippon and pay 75,000 miles for Business Class from Los Angeles and San Francisco. That is a cheaper-than-free upgrade!
First Class upgrade: When you earn miles with a United credit card to book flights to Asia, it costs 150,000 miles in Business Class. But you can use an American Express card that nets points transferable to All Nippon and pay 150,000 miles for First Class to Tokyo. That is a free upgrade.
Get an even lower mileage award rate by transferring points from Amex to Virgin Atlantic and use 110,000 miles for First Class on All Nippon. That is a cheaper-than-free upgrade.
Or, when you earn miles with a Delta credit card to book flights to Asia, it costs 80,000 miles in coach. But you can use an American Express card that nets points transferable to Virgin Atlantic and pay 120,000 miles for Business Class to Seoul. That is a low-cost upgrade.
TO/FROM Europe
Or, when you earn miles with an American Airlines credit card to book flights to Europe, it costs 60,000 miles in coach. But you can use an American Express card that nets points transferable to Iberia and pay 68,000 miles for Business Class to Madrid from Boston or New York—for only 8,000 more miles. That’s one tasty paella of a low-cost upgrade.
Even though travel to Europe this summer has been grounded so far, deals like this are available in the fall through next year:
Business Class Only 85,000 Amex Points from Chicago to Madrid R/T, Wide Open
Or, when you earn miles with a United credit card to book flights to Europe, it costs 60,000 miles in coach. But you can use an American Express card that nets points transferable to All Nippon and pay 88,000 miles for Business Class to Munich.
Or, when you earn miles with a Delta credit card to book flights to Europe, it costs 60,000 miles in coach. But you can use an American Express card that nets points transferable to Virgin Atlantic and pay 100,000 miles for Business Class to Paris from New York.
TO/FROM South America
Or, when you earn miles with a Delta credit card to book flights to South America, it costs 70,000 miles in coach. But you can use an American Express card that nets points transferable to Virgin Atlantic and pay 90,000 miles for Business Class to Santiago.
Or, when you earn miles with a United credit card to book flights to South America, it costs 60,000 miles in coach. But you can use an American Express card that nets points transferable to All Nippon and pay 88,000 miles for Business Class to Santiago.
That’s Amore #2
Get Business Class for the price of coach WITH
low-cost dates and/OR destinations
Anyone can upgrade if they pick routes and/or dates with unusually high availability of low-cost mileage awards (all over the place nowadays) instead of locking themselves into high-cost dates and/or destinations. It just makes sense.
If you fly the exact date/route that you want on your preferred airline, these airlines will usually give you inflated “anytime award” pricing. However, if you book when seats are available at low-cost mileage levels, you can fly Business Class for the price of coach (or even a bit less).
For example, if you have Delta miles and you want to fly from Seattle to Sydney with Delta on January 23 to February 7, you will pay 162,000 miles round-trip in coach. On the other hand, you could pay 160,000 miles for Business Class Seattle-Paris on the same dates using your Delta miles.
When the world’s your oyster, you can pick your own pearls. Shucks, I love a good metaphor.
That’s Amore #3
Business Class for the price of coach by using
destination tactical AIRfares
If you choose destinations with extraordinarily low premium cabin fares, or as the airline revenue managers like to call them, tactical fares, and if you can be an opportunity traveler on top of that, the world is indeed your oyster.
Airfare pricing can be a mystery. It’s often demand-driven, such as a heavy business-travel route versus a light-demand leisure route. Sometimes it’s seasonal. Sometimes it’s based on projected flight loads or because airlines just want to poach competitors’ customers by slashing fares in rival hub markets.
Knowing destinations that are low-priced in First or Business Class can net you a much more luxurious vacation—one that starts from the moment you board the plane. Consider the following examples:
Domestic First Class for the price of coach for a North American destination: Non-stop New York to Honolulu in coach often costs $700+ round-trip. But if you choose a vacation destination like Cancun, Mexico, you can often buy First Class for just $500 to $600 round-trip—a free trip-quality upgrade.
Here are more special reports about free upgrades by looking at different destinations: Business Class to Aruba for the Cost of Coach to Hawaii and How Los Cabos First Class Stacks Up Against Maui.
International Business Class for the price of coach: Miami to Sydney in coach often costs $1,470+ round-trip. But if you choose a destination like São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from Miami you can often buy Business Class for just $1,363 round-trip or $1,166 when adding the Amex’s International Airline Program (IAP) discount. That’s a free international trip-quality upgrade.
Sure, Sydney and Rio are vastly different places, but when you have a dozen places or more on your bucket list, why not be an opportunity traveler and go where the deals are instead of being so destination focused? It’s better to have a bunch of destinations in mind and then strike when a deal comes up. It’s fun to think about upgrading the quality of your trip, especially when you can stay within budget.
It’s not super complicated to reap premium dream trips for the cost of coach ones.
While these destination tactical fares come and go at the airline’s whim, you can keep up with FCF’s latest finds right here. A few recent lovely examples.
$1,166 R/T Sao Paulo Business Class Fares for Travel 2020 Through March 2021
$1,099 R/T Rio de Janeiro Business Class Fares for Travel Spring 2021
Cheap Non-stop Biz Class Flights to Cabo $512 to $878 R/T for Travel 2020 + 2021
That’s Amore #4
Low-cost fare upgradeS
from Premium Economy to Business Class
Business Class fares often have tactical seasonal fare months, especially for travel to Europe. So if you’re a “seasonal opportunity traveler” and travel during one of those months, you can get a Business Class ticket for not much more than Premium Economy.
For example, you can fly non-stop in Business Class from San Francisco to Paris on Air France for just $2,192 during Christmas, say Dec. 22 to Dec. 29, while Premium Economy during the same window is $1,816. That’s just $188 more each way, or $16 per flight hour to upgrade.
Or, you can fly non-stop in Business Class from Chicago to Brussels on United for just $2,087 during Easter, say March 30 to April 6, 2021, while Premium Economy during the same window is $1,740, for example. That’s just $173 more each way, or $20 per flight hour to upgrade.
Other examples from last year include non-stops in Business Class from Los Angeles to Paris for just $2,091 in August, while Premium Economy during the same window was $1,769. That’s just $161 more each way, or $14 per flight hour to upgrade. There’s more previous examples here on summer Business Class fares to Europe for less (or not much more) than the cost of Premium Economy, and here for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.
That’s Amore #5
Free upgrade from Premium Economy to Business Class
when using miles
Some carriers charge outrageous prices to fly Premium Economy (PE). One of these culprits is United. Crazy as it may seem, prices for PE are often more than Business Class when using miles, so you should ALWAYS check the cost of a Business Class award ticket.
For example, a non-stop flight from Washington, DC, to Munich in Business Class is just 120,000 miles round-trip for much of 2020 and January to March 2021. If you fly Premium Economy during the same window it costs 166,500. That’s 46,500 more to fly in Premium Economy than in Business. In other words that’s a free upgrade.
As you can see, there are many ways to level up and many of them are not very difficult.