Your ticket to a quick getaway or an elite-status accelerator
This article has no intricate strategies to impart or mileage-partner back-flips to recommended—just low fares and easy Upgrade Math. It’s simply about where the lowest published fares are right now to jump on while they last. To paraphrase the conclusion of Hawaii 5-0! “Just book them.”
Sample of Special Premium Fares to Seven Vacation Destinations in North America Under $997 R/T
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How to Calculate Free and Low-Cost Upgrades
When Business and First Class fares are this low, it’s interesting to figure out which fares offer the most for your money. Just do “a cost-per-flight-mile comparison.” Simply divide the fare by the flight-mile distance to find out how many miles you get per dollar. The lower the cost-per-flight-mile, the better the deal in many respects, especially for miles and elite credit earned. At times, the difference between economy and Business Class is only 3¢ per mile.
Take Dallas-Bermuda on American, which is about 4,318 flight miles (connecting in Miami) and has a Business Class fare of just $658. That yields a cost-per-flight-mile of about 15¢. The lowest economy fare (N class) on that same route is $523, and a cost-per-flight-mile of about 12¢. That is only 3¢ more for Business Class, or in this case, only $135 more round-trip—that’s just $67.50 one-way or about $12 per flight hour to upgrade to Business Class!
Wait! After you figure in all the fees economy class travel can involve (checked bags, meals, preferred seating, etc.) the cost to upgrade can often be close to zilch. That gives you an idea of just how low many domestic First Class fares are now.
Cost-per-Flight-Mile Comparison on American: *Dallas-Bermuda
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[aside headline="Another Fast Track to Elite Status" alignment="alignright" width="half" headline_size="default"]Some airlines offer an Elite Status Match program through which you can gain a second elite-status card. Most of these offers give you 90 days to fly a certain number of elite miles to gain elite status. For example, the current United offer has a June 30 deadline to request matching elite status. Once the request is granted, you have 90 days to fly 7,000 miles on United to gain Silver elite, which is valid until January 31, 2015, if the flight requirement is done on or after July 1. Please see links or phone number below for current airline matches offered and their restrictions: Link for Delta match, United match, US Airways match. For American call 1-800-882-8880 for a potential status challenge.[/aside]
Forget About Using Free or Upgrade Awards
Why Not Free Awards: Because the value is only about 1¢ per mile—American charges 60,000 miles round-trip for a Business Class award to the Caribbean. You get much more value by using them for higher priced destinations, such as the South Pacific or Africa.
Why Not Upgrade Awards: Because buying an economy ticket plus paying a co-pay can be more than a published premium fare on many North American routes, especially once you add in the replacement value of the miles used for the upgrade.
Low Premium Fares are Elite Status Seeker’s Fast Track
You don’t have to wait till the end of the year to do an elite status run. You can use your quick summer getaway to reach your elite status goal. (Yet I’m not suggesting elite status programs are advisable for very many of you, because I don’t believe they are, as you know, if you’ve been reading FCF for long. These comments are for the half of you so locked into elite programs that FCF’s counter-culture advice on this particular topic is too hard to swallow.)
American example: Dallas-Bermuda goes for $658 (inclusive in Business Class; just $135 more than coach) round-trip and earns 150% Elite Qualifying Points (EQPs); that equals 6,477 EQPs, and is 26% of the elite miles needed to get entry-level status or move up to mid-tier status.
Delta example: Los Angeles-Cancun goes for $937 (inclusive; just $273 more than coach) round-trip and earns 150% Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQMs); that equals 8,448 MQMs, and is 34% of the elite miles needed to get entry-level status or move up to mid-tier status.
United example: Washington, DC-Grand Cayman goes for $864 (inclusive; just $348 more than coach) round-trip and earns 150% Premier Qualifying Miles (PQMs); that equals 7,023 PQMs, 28% of the elite miles needed for entry level-status or move up to mid-tier status.
US Airways example: Philadelphia-Los Angeles costs only $997 (inclusive) round-trip in First Class and earns 150% Elite Qualifying Miles (EQMs), that equals 7,191 EQMs, and is 29% of the elite miles needed to get entry-level status or move up to mid-tier status.