Adopt The Upgrade Mindset to take advantage of the best availability for these exotic destinations.
Whether you’re a last-minute traveler or have already booked your trip, this special report is for you.
No Specific Trip In Mind, But You’re Spontaneous?
If you get excited about grabbing a last-minute First Class bargain, say to an exotic destination, then buckle up — and always have your bags packed and ready to go. It that’s simple. Just wait till an FCF alert brings you an amazing deal, perhaps using your points that you never seem to be able to use, and pounce today on New Zealand or Etihad’s First Apartment.
Booked 3, 6, or 11 Months Ago, and You’re About to Take Off?
On the other hand, if you feel most comfortable when you’re able to book a flight way in advance, I get it. But how often do you think the people who book when they want to get the best deal? I’ll tell you, it’s incredibly rare.
That’s because airlines offer deals when they want to — not when you feel like booking your flight. Think about it.
If you walk into a car dealership and tell them you want this model, in that color, with this kind of interior, that kind of stereo, this exact kind of performance package, and those very specific kind of wheels, do you think they are going to give you a deal?
Fuhgeddaboudit!
But walk into the dealership at the end of the sales quarter, and take a nice car that has 80% of what you want, you’ll get a great deal, right?
So, when it comes to travel, what do you care if you get a Rolls (say to New Zealand non-stop) or a Bentley (say Etihad’s First Apartment to Bhutan, India, or wherever).
What you want is First Class to some exotic destination, right?
If you want the best flight experiences to top destinations around the world, then you need to be ready to pull the trigger when the airlines want you to book — not when you want to book.
And very often, the best travel deals become available just a week or month from departure, more or less.
So even for travelers who’ve already booked tickets far in advance — using cash or miles doesn’t matter much (the concept is the same) — it’s still worth it to keep a close eye on FCF alerts. Why? Chances are that you’ll be able to upgrade your flight booking and cancel your original booking for around a $200 fee if you used miles, and around $500 if you bought the ticket with cash, to book a world-class deal instead.
Think of It As a $200 or $500 Upgrade
This is especially the case with coveted destinations like the South Pacific and with certain airlines, such as Etihad Airways in First Class from New York, which are notoriously difficult to find mileage availability. And if you try to book these routes without mileage availability, they are some of the most expensive in the world when paying cash. The South Pacific can easily run $6,000+ in Business Class and $20,000+ in Etihad’s First Class.
In this special report, I’m going to show you a few options that our research team recently uncovered on routes to the South Pacific and Middle East. (How many times can you go to Europe or Hawaii?)
Hot Deal #1: Auckland, New Zealand
Using United miles / Chase points, we’ve found quite a bit of mileage award space for travel to New Zealand from major U.S. cities in June and July. The airports we found for Business Class seats are Houston (IAH), Los Angeles (LAX), and San Francisco (SFO), with all flights going to Auckland (AKL). See FCF’s alert here here
The Two Auckland Deal Perspectives:
Perspective #1 No trip Planned in June? Grab this one since it’s as good as it gets.
Perspective #2 Already Have a Flight Booked to Auckland? I bet it’s not nearly this good. You either have a less-convenient routing, higher cost, or similar cost for a lower class of service. Cancel what you have — pay the measly cancel fee — and book using one of the following methods for Air New Zealand’s Business Class. (Mileage cost below is for round-trip.)
- 160,000 Air Canada Aeroplan miles (Amex and Marriott transfer partner)
- 160,000 Avianca LifeMiles (Amex and Marriott transfer partner)
- 180,000 United MileagePlus miles (Chase and Marriott transfer partner)
- 120,000 All Nippon ANA Mileage Club miles round-trip only (Amex and Marriott transfer partner)
No miles? No problem.
- You can buy Amex Rewards points and transfer to Air Canada Aeroplan miles
- You can buy Amex Rewards points and transfer OR buy miles directly with Avianca LifeMiles
- You can buy miles directly with United MileagePlus
- You can buy Amex Rewards points and transfer to All Nippon ANA Mileage Club
Great Deal Gets Better: A great deal is available through the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, which charges just 125,000 miles (62,500 one-way) for Business Class round-trip. And right now, there’s a 30% transfer bonus if you transfer points from Amex Membership Rewards or Citi ThankYou to Virgin Atlantic. So, you could transfer just 49,000 points for enough miles for a one-way or 97,000 points for a round-trip.
You can buy the Virgin points from Amex at 2.5c, which means you can get the ticket for just $2,425 (plus taxes). So for the $500 cancel fee you’d pay United (if you bought the fare online at United.com), you’d save as much as $4,791/66% if you bought the Auckland ticket departing from Houston.
How to Save $4,791 in 10 to 20 Minutes
Step 1: Make sure there is availability for your specific dates in June or July (2 minutes)
Step 2: Call Amex and transfer points to Virgin or buy them on the phone if you don’t have enough (2 or 5 minutes)
Step 3: Book Air New Zealand flights by calling the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club at 800-365-9500
Step 4: After you have the ticket number in hand and triple checked that it’s accurate, cancel your $7,216 United/Air New Zealand booking.
Hot Deal #2: Etihad First Apartment
Here’s another great deal we found flying First Class with Etihad Airways, which rarely has mileage award space when booking very far in advance. And the bonus is that Etihad’s First Apartment is the most sumptuous First Class seating anywhere with both onboard showers and a ridiculous amount of personal space. More here on that.
On to the deal… Our research team found a trend of availability of one to four days for one person and one to two days for two people using American Airlines miles when booking close to your departure date or over the first two weeks of June.
That’s because American Airlines has a partnership with Etihad, so you can use AAdvantage miles for Etihad flights from New York to the Middle East for just 115,000 miles one-way. (Also note that you can now book Etihad online with American at aa.com.)
The point is this….
If you always have your bags packed and ready to go (and you’re mentally prepared as well), you can score many amazing premium travel deals. The key is simply follow FCF and be imaginative. The travelers who do this are the ones who consistently get the best deals and are able to travel around the world – in Business or First class – at a fraction of the price other travelers pay.
Even if you’ve already booked your flights: you should always have your eyes on FCF alerts. You never know when that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is going to come up. And based on FCF’s research, there are always golden opportunities waiting for savvy travelers to take advantage of.