A hidden EasyUp published fare gives you First Class for only $500 more than Business—and is often a much better choice than free and upgrade mileage awards.
While often hidden, EasyUp Business Class fares are available almost year-round to the Caribbean and intermittently to Asia, Europe, and South America. FCF’s special-fare analysts have discovered a year-round anomaly fare to Asia—in First Class—on an otherwise hidden destination, Seoul. Not flying to Seoul? More on that in a minute.
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It’s based on the published fare for the class below it, in this case Business Class, and it has a built-in upgrade surcharge, $250 each-way.
This makes mileage upgrades useless because they require a $1,100 surcharge plus 50,000 miles to upgrade from Business to First Class.
See chart below for sample fares that are only $500 more in First Class. One route even offers First Class for less than the price of Business!
So, it’s Easy To Upgrade without the light-to-intense effort otherwise required to upgrade through countless other ticketing strategies.[/aside]
Of course, there’s a catch. Actually two. You have to fly to or through Seoul, and you have to fly American.
But that might not seem like a high price to pay to get a deeply discounted First Class fare—and so reliably—depending on your final destination and how wedded you are to your loyalty program.
This “anomaly fare” is available year-round from 20+ U.S. gateways.
The Better Deal: First Class Anomaly Fare or a Free Mileage Award Ticket or Upgrade?
The return on your hard-earned miles plummets with this anomaly First Class fare; so consider just paying cash.
Plus, with this fare, you have surmounted the number one problem in booking mileage travel: Availability.
First Class Fares to Seoul That Are Only $500 More Than Business Class on American*
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On New York-Seoul, for example, American charges 125,000 miles and $55 in taxes for a free First Class award ticket. The EasyUp anomaly fare is $3,491 (all in), which will also earn about 25,000 miles—worth about $600+ making First Class to Asia cost less than $2,891.
Again: with no availability challenges.
If you book the free award ticket, your return on miles is about 2.3¢ ($3,491 minus $55, divided by 150,000, minus the value of the miles earned)—well below the minimum 3¢ return on miles I recommend. (That’s usually the cost to buy them back directly through the airline or one of its multi-currency partners.)
One more thing: United’s Business Class fare from New York is $3,008—about the same as AA’s—but United’s First Class fare is $13,767, $10,276 (75%) higher. $500 seems cheap, no?
Connecting in Seoul?
Seoul isn’t the worst connection point for travel throughout the Asian continent. If your departure city is not listed in the chart to the left, consider making a connection by buying a separate ticket.
Anomaly Fare
If not flying to South Korea, there are countless connection opportunities, which half of travelers must take one way or another.
Asian Connection Example: If flying to Siem Reap to visit Angkor Wat, or the Maldives, you have to make a connection in Asia anyway, so why not go through Seoul and get this amazing anomaly fare, as you can get there from Seoul, with a half-decent connection.
Domestic Connection Example: Flying New York-Hong Kong in First Class? The lowest non-stop fare on a major airline, Cathay Pacific, is $18,835 versus a $4,909 fare on American with a connection in Seoul ($3,491 for AA’s ticket to Seoul and $1,418 for the second ticket on Cathay in Business Class to Hong Kong)—a savings of $13,926 (74%) and a second city for free (Seoul), if you want it.