[aside headline="Connections" alignment="alignright" width="half" headline_size="default"]Keep these flight numbers in mind: When flying San Diego-Miami, con-nect in Los Angeles to catch AA1520, or when flying Miami-Shanghai, book via Chicago to catch AA643.[/aside]
It’s no secret that domestic First Class usually doesn’t live up to its name. To put it as an analogy, international First Class is to domestic First Class as a clever hit movie is to the diluted sequel. The latter is just aping the former.
When it comes to American, which sometimes uses aircraft with international First and Business Class seats on domestic routes, the question is especially pertinent. Why pay top dollar for an inferior seat if you can get a better one just by knowing where to find them?
The Seat
On some domestic routes, AA uses international B777s and B767-300s. First Class on the B777 offers AA’s “Flagship” suite, which has a 30-inch wide seat (with the armrest dropped) that converts into a 78-inch -long flat bed. Business Class seats recline 171 degrees, are 20 to 23.5 inches wide, and have 54 to 61 inches of pitch.
The chart shows the most recent AA routes and flight numbers with these seats, as they can change to some degree quarterly. At times, the seat is found only on one leg of a route, for instance Dallas-Miami, but not Miami-Dallas. That’s because the plane goes on to an international destination. Dallas tends to monopolize these aircraft, as it is AA’s super-hub, with Chicago, Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Miami accounting for the rest.
Cheapest Way to Get the Seat
Many mid-to-long haul flights show a good return when using miles for upgrades, but less so for free award space.
Doing the Math
Mileage Upgrade: Return on Investment
On the Chicago-Los Angeles route, for instance, you’ll easily pay about $2,020 (plus taxes) for a First Class seat. AA charges 30,000 miles plus $150 co-pay for an upgrade, making the return about 5.2¢ per mile. (The math: Round-trip economy ticket is about $300, plus the co-pay $150; equals $450; subtracting that from the First Class ticket, leaves a price of $1,570. Divide that by the miles required (30,000) to get 5.2¢.) Transfer 25,000 Starwood points and you’ll see a 6.3¢ return because of the transfer bonus.
Mileage Upgrade: Comfort Math—Cost Per Flight Hour
Spending 30,000 miles to upgrade a six hour round-trip flight on a plane with these seats is usually a good value. Doing the same for an 18 hour round-trip flight to Hawaii is a no-brainer: Even with the $350 surcharge r/t, the cost per flight hour to upgrade to First Class starts at only $67. (The math on Chicago-Honolulu at 8,484 flight miles r/t: The cost to buy 30,000 miles is about $855 (plus taxes), add the co-pay ($350), total to upgrade is about $1,205 or a cost-per-flight-hour of about $67 (Divide $1,205 by 18 hrs); and only $19 if you have the AA miles or can transfer them from a credit card.
Free Mileage Awards: Return on Free Mileage Award Mile:
On the Chicago-Los Angeles and the Chicago-Honolulu routing, the return is about 4¢ per-mile. (The math: Divide the First Class ticket cost by the cost of miles.)
Where to Find American’s International First and Business Class Seat on Domestic Routes
[table_opt style="gray-header" id="692 " width="" alignment="center" responsive="all" heading="thcenter" rows="tdcenter"]