Tis time Star Alliance high rollers and elite status seekers score with funky fares to Asia and Europe.
Value (noun): the worth of something compared to the price paid or asked for it.
Value comes in many shapes, sizes, and sounds. Sometimes it’s simply a lot of flight hours in a Business or First Class cabin for a low price. Take, for example, the special value fares we found. They may not appeal to everyone, but they will to some of you. They’re perfect if you don’t mind a little extra flying – especially if you’re interested in racking up elite credit in a First Class seat, or if you actually just enjoy being in the air in First Class for the heck of it, or if you’re visiting multiple places on one trip. We love bang for the buck here at FCF, and wow, this one is pretty LOUD.
Where Does It Work?
This Star Alliance play works for those traveling to Asia who’d like to visit Europe for free or even less than free. Or, those who are travel to Europe an would like Asia for free. And that all comes with the aforementioned bonus of elite status benefits accrued by the extra flying. Call it a 2-for-1 of a different kind, if you want. We call it the “Destination Double Down,” because it does exactly that – it gets you to an extra world-class destination for barely any more cost.
This deal on Star Alliance looks a lot like the story we did here involving Oneworld airline member Finnair. From Finnair’s U.S. departure cities – Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and New York — you can fly to Asia with a stop in Helsinki for half the price (more or less) of a nonstop from the U.S. to Asia.
So What About the Star Alliance Version of This Deal?
While First Class is up to double the price of Business Class, I want to start with the First Class deal because we almost never see First Class loopholes nowadays. That’s for two reasons. First, most airlines have done away with First Class, and second, First Class fares are rarely discounted.
Book Star Alliance to Asia and Get Europe for Free
First Class to Europe on SWISS is a special experience. It’s very spacious, very luxurious, and starts at $7,900 just to Europe and can jump quickly to $11,000+ if you’re not careful. Let’s take a look at an average SWISS fare below: Chicago-Zurich round-trip.
Now let’s look at a flight from both Chicago and New York to Zürich, but adding on Tokyo — in First Class… It’s just $124 more.
From New York Still just $124 to add another continent (in First Class), and a boatload of elite credit
So you can look at this two ways: add Europe to a Tokyo trip or add Tokyo to a Europe trip. It’s essentially only $124 more.
Not everyone’s going to want to do this, but some will. Some of you will love sipping champagne in First Class on a SWISS flight and looking forward to one extra segment on your way back to the U.S. And get this: You can actually stop in Zürich either direction. Compare flight schedules to plan which direction you want to stop in Europe.
Nothing Neutral About Racking up United or Other Star Alliance Elite Status Credit
For just $124 more, on this First Class ticket to Asia via Zürich from the U.S., you can easily earn 35,595 United miles and 7,119 PQP. For perspective, that’s 52 percent of what’s required to get the top tier with United, or to get gold status. All from just one flight.
Accidental Elites
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I argue against elite status all the time (just click on those “yeah” links). But I know many of you either a) don’t listen to me, or b) you fly on routes that are largely served by one program and you accidentally earn an elite card. You don’t have to confess your reason for going after an elite card; I’m “accidentally elite” with two airlines, American and United. All I’m saying is that many of you are going to drool over this First Class ticket. For just $113 per flight hour (not easy to come by), it is relatively cheap and comes with a heck of a lot of elite credit. Now, let’s talk about Business Class.
Working the Star Alliance Europe-Asia
“Destination Double Down”
in Business Class
This one is similar to the Oneworld deal on Finnair, covered here. Nonstops to Asia usually cost $7,000 or $8,000, but if you fly via Europe in Business Class, you can get New York to Hong Kong, Tokyo, or Seoul for as low as $3,379. If price or Oneworld airline elite credit is the driver, then look at the Finnair deal. If Star Alliance credit is the driver — or flying by one of the Star Alliance hub cities other than Helsinki, such as Frankfurt, Istanbul or Vienna — then you’re in for a treat with fares that aren’t far off the Oneworld Destination Double Down fare.
So, as you can see in the screenshot below, here are the best fares and some sample routings on Star Alliance’s finest.
Turkish $3,812 Round-trip Business Class using the Destination Double Down Strategy
New York-Istanbul-Tokyo
SWISS $4,781 round-trip Business Class using the Destination Double Down Strategy
New York-Zurich-Bangkok
Austrian $4,795 round-trip in Business Class using the Destination Double Down Strategy
Chicago-Vienna-Tokyo
Lufthansa $4,886 round-trip in Business Class using the Destination Double Down Strategy
Chicago-Frankfurt-Tokyo
So double down on these fares to score premium seats, extra destinations, and even elite credit. What could be a greater bang for the buck than that?