Big Price Declines, More Stable Fares. The Cash Upgrade Is In.
EasyUp Fares are growing up—many are now around for days, if not weeks. Still, there are amazing price drops going on, especially on EasyUp Business Class fares, which come with a built-in upgrade to First.
[aside headline="What are EasyUp Fares?" alignment="alignright" width="half" headline_size="default"]
In short: An EasyUp Fare is an anomaly airfare that is surprisingly close in cost to the fare in the class below it.
You simply pay the First Class fare rather than the not-much-less Business Class fare—or pay the Business Class fare rather than the not-much-less coach fare.
Think of the relatively small dollar difference as the "fee" for your bargain upgrade... your easy upgrade. (No need to use miles, or work any other upgrade strategy.)
Mind you, airlines don't call these fares EasyUp. FCF coined that term when it discovered them back in 2012.
And airlines seldom promote them.
But FCF's tag team of global researchers find them, 24/7. Making low-cost upgrading easy for FCF members.[/aside]
American is offering a $125 one-way upgrade to First Class from Business on many of these fares, and Air France, which has only grudgingly embraced EasyUp First Class fares, dropped the ticket price on one route (Washington, DC-London) by $904.
On some routes to Europe, fares have nose-dived 50-75%. Best of all, we’re now seeing deep discounts offered on new routes almost by the month. Here’s a quick rundown on what the major airlines are doing.
Air France: Four months ago, the lowest First Class fare on Washington, DC-Barcelona, with a 50-day advance-purchase, was $5,320—still about the same today ($5,273). Fares on Washington, DC-London can be as low as $4,416 and on New York-Rome $4,523. Both require a 150-day advance purchase. To Paris, fares are still high, $6,700 to $9,600, but that’s still a drop of $600 to $800 from four months ago. FCF thinks that’s as low as Air France will go unless competition gets much more fierce.
American: Is back at it again, offering upgrades from Business Class to First starting as low as $125 one-way. The airline was the First Class discount leader to London at one time, but pulled back, we think, because it was undercutting British Airways, its transatlantic code-share partner. Now, American’s upgrade surcharge to London is $950 to $1,350.
But that left the rest of Europe open, so on Dallas-Paris a 150-day advance-purchase Business Class ticket is $2,924, and a First Class ticket only $3,174—there’s your $125 upgrade (see screenshot below). You can also get the $125 upgrade from Dallas to Madrid and Frankfurt.
The only snag is that American is reducing the routes on which it offers a First Class cabin. It’s still on Dallas-Madrid (till about Nov.3), Paris, London, and Frankfurt, and to London from New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago to London.
[aside headline="The Technicalities of Pricing First Class Fares to Europe" alignment="alignright" width="half" headline_size="default"]
American is also still offering special First Class to London on 150-, 90-, 50-, and 28-day advance-purchase fares, but the upgrade surcharge is higher than to Madrid and Frankfurt, $950 to $1,350 round-trip. So a mileage upgrade is still a bad choice, given the $1,100 co-pay and 50,000 miles required.
On a strict cost basis there’s not that much difference to London, but with the EasyUp fare, you have a confirmed seat. Factor in the cost of getting those 50,000 miles and EasyUps are the only choice.
British Airways: The only European carrier that offers low-cost cash upgrades at time of ticketing to its hub city, which is London. The Business Class upgrade surcharge is still $950 to $1,350, yielding First Class starting at $4,181 from New York and $5,455 from Los Angeles (150-day advance-purchase required on both). On fares with shorter advance-purchase requirements, the upgrade goes up as the deadline gets shorter: $1,400+ for 90-day fares; $2,000+ for 50-day, and $4,000 for 28-day. (Save $400 with the AARP discount.)
For reference, to upgrade from Business Class to First, the airline otherwise charges 17,500 (off-peak) to 25,000 (peak) miles one-way LAX-London, and 18,000 (off-peak) to 20,000 (peak) NYC-London. That’s a wash with the 150-day advance-purchase Business Class fare if you count the mileage-replacement cost.
Lufthansa & SWISS: Currently Lufthansa’s lowest First Class fare starts at $4,160—in April it was $3,860—on New York-Madrid (150-day advance purchase). Discounted First Class fares are still a good deal on both airlines, considering not long ago fares were $10,000 to $15,000. Neither discounts greatly to their hub cities, Frankfurt and Zurich, respectively.
Cash upgrades with these two carriers depends on the Business Class fare. For example, New York-London is $4,246 in First Class and Business Class was as low as $2,302 in July (ticketing deadline was July 12), so the cash upgrade was $1,944. However, the normal discounted Business Class fare on this route (150-day advance purchase) runs $3,296, making the upgrade surcharge only $950.
United: The cash upgrade still goes for $800 to $1,000 round-trip to London on a 150-day advance-purchase fare. One big plus about United’s EasyUp First Class fares is that the upgrade applies to sale Business Class fares, the case in July.
Take Chicago-London: On July 7, a First Class ticket cost an unbelievably low $3,294 and Business Class was $2,494. Washington, DC-London only $3,292 in First Class and $2,492 in Business Class. In both cases that’s because Business Class was on sale. This is unprecedented: Business Class is now determining First Class fares, on many routes. (More on this next month.) The usual EasyUp First Class fare on these routes goes for about $4,600, based on a $3,600 Business Class fare.
United does not offer great discounts to its partners’ hubs, Frankfurt (Lufthansa) and Zurich (SWISS), but it often undercuts BA to London in First. On NY-London, the surcharge is about $650 with 90-day advance-purchase fare, $750 for 50-day, and $1,500 for 28 days out. From LAX the surcharge is $800, $610, and $1,300 for these fares.