The best fare or the most comfort? That is the question.

I just booked (via Amex Platinum Card) two round-trip Business Class seats to Auckland from Los Angeles for $9,300. I looked at your one-stop idea (published in last month’s First Class Flyer) via Fiji, and found another drawback besides time: seats on intra-South Pacific flights are the old type recliners, not the lie-flat seats now on non-stop flights. (At least that is what I was told by the airline.) Love the newsletter—wish I had known about it before I retired, when I flew 150,000 miles per year. – Fred Fisher, Orefield, PA


If you're about comfort, you did the right thing as the seats on the non-stop are indeed much better. Our article last month didn't touch on seats; it was all about saving up to 70% on the fare by making a connection. We should have mentioned the seat tradeoff. Thanks for keeping us on our toes. –MB

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Domestic fare success

I recently had to book a trip from Boston to Las Vegas and wanted to go First Class. Since most of my miles are with United, I looked at it first. It offered a seat up front from Boston to Denver, with a short connecting flight on Ted. The cost for two was around $3,000. I ended up booking the same itinerary on US Air's website for $1,559, a savings of $1,441. Sometimes it pays to shop around the partner airlines. – Joe O'Hayer, Duxbury, MA

Domestic service deterioration

My son and daughter-in-law recently flew from San Francisco to Miami and back on Delta BusinessElite. On all four legs they were shocked to find that Delta did not pre-board the BusinessElite section. Has “First Class travel” come to this? – Richard Brown, Grand Forks, ND

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Successful but perplexed

We're off to Puerto Vallarta in December during school vacation, staying in a suite at the Westin using points. We wanted to fly First Class from Newark. We called Continental 330 days out and were told that the one daily non-stop would probably not be available for booking until May. I was able to get an Amex Platinum Card 2-for-1 in Business Class on Delta for $2,300 ($1,150 each), which sounded reasonable, although it requires a stop in Atlanta. It’s a full fare ticket and thus refundable. Two weeks later, Continental started selling tickets on the non-stop flights. The Business Class fare was $1,050 and I grabbed two tickets. (The seats were almost gone a few days later.) Economy class tickets were priced at $975. For the life of me, I can't figure out their business model. Seems they could have gotten a whole lot more for the front cabin, but I'm certainly not complaining. The whole thing, while satisfying, seems weird! — Steve Schwartz, Randolph, NJ

You were right to lock in tickets as early as possible—especially because they were refundable—and then stay alert for a better deal. You nailed the process. As for your characterization of airline ticket marketing as weird, well, you nailed that one too. –MB

If you're about comfort, you did the right thing as the seats on the non-stop are indeed much better. Our article last month didn't touch on seats; it was all about saving up to 70% on the fare by making a connection. We should have mentioned the seat tradeoff. Thanks for keeping us on our toes. –MB

________

Domestic fare success

I recently had to book a trip from Boston to Las Vegas and wanted to go First Class. Since most of my miles are with United, I looked at it first. It offered a seat up front from Boston to Denver, with a short connecting flight on Ted. The cost for two was around $3,000. I ended up booking the same itinerary on US Air's website for $1,559, a savings of $1,441. Sometimes it pays to shop around the partner airlines. – Joe O'Hayer, Duxbury, MA

Domestic service deterioration

My son and daughter-in-law recently flew from San Francisco to Miami and back on Delta BusinessElite. On all four legs they were shocked to find that Delta did not pre-board the BusinessElite section. Has “First Class travel” come to this? – Richard Brown, Grand Forks, ND

________

Successful but perplexed

We're off to Puerto Vallarta in December during school vacation, staying in a suite at the Westin using points. We wanted to fly First Class from Newark. We called Continental 330 days out and were told that the one daily non-stop would probably not be available for booking until May. I was able to get an Amex Platinum Card 2-for-1 in Business Class on Delta for $2,300 ($1,150 each), which sounded reasonable, although it requires a stop in Atlanta. It’s a full fare ticket and thus refundable. Two weeks later, Continental started selling tickets on the non-stop flights. The Business Class fare was $1,050 and I grabbed two tickets. (The seats were almost gone a few days later.) Economy class tickets were priced at $975. For the life of me, I can't figure out their business model. Seems they could have gotten a whole lot more for the front cabin, but I'm certainly not complaining. The whole thing, while satisfying, seems weird! — Steve Schwartz, Randolph, NJ

You were right to lock in tickets as early as possible—especially because they were refundable—and then stay alert for a better deal. You nailed the process. As for your characterization of airline ticket marketing as weird, well, you nailed that one too. –MB