This is the time of year when most airlines examine the projected sales of summer Business Class seats—or more to the point, the projected lack of sales—and begin offering promotional discounts.
Now is also the time when savvy fliers confront a gauntlet of questions: Buy now or wait till later? Pay in cash or burn miles for an upgrade or award? Where are the best seats?
The good news is that promotional fares on some major routes, such as New York-London, are lower this year than last: $1,598 (plus taxes) versus $1,798 in January 2009. (See chart to the right for more Business Class Summer Fares.) Discounted fares for June, July, and August are being offered by Air Canada, Air France, Alitalia, Continental, Delta, Iberia, KLM, Lufthansa, Scandinavian, United, and US Airways, with a ticketing deadline of Mar. 1. With most airlines, the season restriction extends from the end of June through the beginning of September.
Other airlines, such as American, have discounted fares for the same time period, at slightly higher prices. We expect British Airways and Virgin Atlantic to drop fares to more competitive levels before long.
Before you jump, consider this: By May 2009, that $1,798 fare from January had dropped to $1,398. In the airline pricing world, history tends to repeat itself, so we expect more promotions and fare cutting. Our advice: hold your fire if you can.
[aside headline="" alignment="alignright" width="half" headline_size="default"]Business Class fares to other regions, such as Africa, Asia, South America, and the South Pacific, have not seen the discounting, yet there are still some very attractive fares available. For example, a Business Class fare from New York to Johannesburg for summer travel starts at about $3,700; Los Angeles-Seoul starts at $2,800 on Delta; Los Angeles to Buenos Aires starts at $2,900; Los Angeles-Sydney starts at $4,200.[/aside]
Most commonly asked question: Spend cash or miles?
Cash, no doubt about it. When fares are this low, the return on miles is too. Here are two examples: American’s summer Business Class New York-London fare is $1,976. It takes 100,000 miles to get the ticket, making the return on miles a paltry 2¢—not enough value to justify burning them.
An upgrade (50,000 miles + $1,391 coach fare and surcharge) is an even worse deal, with a return of about 1.2¢.
Over at Continental, the summer Business Class fare is $1,576. It takes 105,000 miles to get this ticket, making the return about 1.5¢ per mile. For an upgrade, the cost is 40,000 miles plus $1,691 (coach fare and surcharge): $115 more than the promo Business Class fare, plus 40,000 miles, plus you lose the booking class bonus miles!
Summer is a bad time to book an upgrade to Europe because upgradable economy fares are at their highest. Take the Chicago-Paris route for example: Currently the lowest promotional coach fare is $438, but change the travel period to August and it jumps to $1,090—a 148% increase. Tack on the upgrade surcharge and your return on miles goes into a tailspin.
Promotional Business Class Summer Fares to Europe
[table_opt style="gray-header" id="1356" width="" alignment="center" responsive="all" heading="thcenter" rows="tdcenter"]
Working your Alliance
Oneworld
Upgraded Seats: AA members should book Iberia, which offers a lie-flat Business Class seat (versus American’s 171-degree recline). You still earn AAdvantage miles, plus, on many routes, Iberia’s fares are $400 to $800 lower than American’s.
First Class Upgrade: A great deal when Business Class fares are at their lowest. Use miles, because First Class tickets rarely go on sale (see Star Alliance for First Class Sale, an exception to the rule). Use Cathay Pacific Asia Miles to upgrade from American’s Business Class (as little as 60,000 miles round-trip), to avoid paying AA’s $1,100 surcharge. Example: A Business Class fare from Dallas to Frankfurt is $2,338 compared to First Class at $14,306, a difference of about $12,000. Use Asia Miles to upgrade and you get a whopping 20¢ per-mile return.
[aside headline="Earn elite status for 2011 with 150% EQMs" alignment="alignright" width="half" headline_size="default"]Example: Two summer Business Class trips to Europe on American from Dallas to Frankfurt net 30,780 elite qualifying miles, more than enough for bottom-tier elite status (usually 25,000 EQMs) for the remainder of 2010, and all through February 2012.[/aside]
SkyTeam
Upgraded Seats: SkyTeam members have many new choices, among them: Delta’s new lie-flat bed on its 767-400s from Atlanta, Detroit, New York, and Minneapolis to London; Air France’s new A380 (summer promo fares are valid for travel on the A380 flight from New York); and Alitalia’s B767s, which offer a lie-flat seat.
Star Alliance
Upgraded Seats: United has completed its new seat roll-out on B767s and B747s. Continental (B777s), US Airways (A330-200s), and SWISS (A330s and A340s) started new seat roll-outs in 2009. Air Canada has new lie-flat seats.
Seats to Avoid: Those on United’s B777s, found on such routes as San Francisco-Frankfurt; US Airways’ B757 (Philadelphia-Lisbon); and Continental’s B757 on some routes from Newark to European destinations, Dublin and Madrid among them.
First Class Sale: United is offering a summer First Class promotion, with a ticketing deadline of Mar. 1. So far, no other airlines have joined in. On a non-stop route such as Washington, D.C.-Frankfurt, United is charging $3,900 versus Lufthansa’s $12,009 (See chart below for more First Class Summer Fares). United also offers its new First Class suite on this route. Pay cash for this ticket: It’s one of the few instances in which upgrading with miles to First Class doesn’t yield a good return, unless you have endless miles to burn.
United’s Promotional First Class Summer Fares to Europe
[table_opt style="gray-header" id="1357" width="" alignment="center" responsive="all" heading="thcenter" rows="tdcenter"]