Rough Guide to the World’s Best First Class Fares U.S. to Asia

[["<font size=\"5\"><strong>New Fares:<\/strong><\/font>","<font size=\"5\"><strong>American<\/strong><\/font>","<font size=\"5\"><strong>United<\/strong><\/font>"],["<strong>East Coast<\/strong>","<strong>Starting at $3,591<\/strong>","<strong>Starting at $4,599<\/strong>"],["<strong>Flat Upgrade Cost<\/strong>","<strong>$500 to $2,000<\/strong>","<strong>$1,200 to $2,000<\/strong>"],["<strong>West Coast<\/strong>","<strong>Starting at $5,606<\/strong>","<strong>Starting at $4,566<\/strong>"],["<strong>Flat Upgrade<\/strong>","<strong>$500 to $2,000<\/strong>","<strong>$1,200 to $2,000<\/strong>"],["<strong>What Just Happened<\/strong>","The two airlines figured out that they cannot fetch $10,000+ for their First Class seats because they can\u0092t compete with Asian carriers. The choice is clear: upgrade the cabin to stay competitive or discount to fill empty seats.\n","#colspan#"],["<strong>Motivation<\/strong>","Short-term cash; that trumps having a long-term plan to compete.","#colspan#"],["<strong>Travel Seasons<\/strong>","Most are valid year-round.","#colspan#"],["<strong>Ticketing Deadline<\/strong>","As of now, none, but that can change overnight.","#colspan#"],["<strong>Breadth of Destinations<\/strong>","Beijing, Seoul, Shanghai, and Tokyo","#colspan#"],["<strong>Restrictions<\/strong>","Advance purchase: usually 28 to 50 days. Minimum stay: 5 to 7 days. Maximum stay: 3 to 12 months.","#colspan#"],["<strong>Impact to Miles Mindset<\/strong>","Free-mileage-award redeemers will have a harder time finding seats as American and United increasingly prefer cash over miles; and with more seats sold there are fewer mileage award seats available.\n","#colspan#"],["#rowspan#","Better to save miles for travel on Asian carriers, given that the cost is double or triple that of U.S. airlines.","#colspan#"],["#rowspan#","More First Class UP-fare inventory than using miles for an upgrade.","#colspan#"],["#rowspan#","Often a better deal than using miles to upgrade from Business to First Class for travel on American and United as co-pays can be more than the upgrade cost (saving you the 50,000 to 60,000 miles to upgrade)\n","#colspan#"],["<strong>Misc.<\/strong>","Not valid on codeshare flights, even within Asia.","#colspan#"],["#rowspan#","Consider making these routes your primary flight and buy a second ticket to your destination, and\/or to the U.S. gateway.","#colspan#"],["#rowspan#","Given that there are no seasonal First Class fare discounts on Asian carriers, it will often be better for many to buy a low cost First Class ticket on American or United. More often than not these fares will even beat Amex\u0092s 2-for-1s.\n\n","#colspan#"]]