Save up to 62% on First and Business Class fares — and how to easily find them.
By now FCF readers know all about flash fares and how fast they can disappear. We haven’t seen the best of them in a while. Recently, fares haven’t been quite as low and they have been hanging around a bit longer than usual, so we refer to them as tactical fares. But you still have to jump on them before they’re gone.
Case in point: the $3,489 United Business Class fares to the South Pacific we alerted you about in April that were available for only a week or two and then disappeared. And just last week, we were in the middle of putting together an article for some deliciously low $3,394 First Class fares that also didn’t stick around for long. So we scrapped that piece.
That prompted us to dig deeper using Google Flights and find that there are still some low First and Business Class fares available using our handy-dandy U-Turn strategy. So we’ll show you how to find these fares.
1- Flip the script and save
We wrote recently about our lucrative U-Turn strategy in Business Class, FCF’s U-Turn Strategy Can Net First Class for Less than Biz, and FCF’s Three U-Turn Strategies That Can Net First Class to Asia for Nearly the Cost of Biz.
The U-Turn strategy profits from the knowledge that Europe-U.S.-Europe round-trip flights cost WAY less than those for U.S.-Europe-U.S. The idea is that if you make a “U-Turn” and start your trip in Europe, you end up saving a lot. In this report, we’re looking at the U-Turn strategy in First and Business Class.
Of course, you need to get to Europe to start the strategy, and you’ll end up in Europe at the end of the round-trip. So you’ll also need to book trips to Europe and back to the U.S. That will turn some people off.
But as we’ll demonstrate with the “keep it going” strategy, you can launch more “U-Turn” trips from Europe, saving more with each one you do.
2 – Strategy to find the lowest fares
If you searched for fares on Google Flights, you would see that British Airways offers a lower fare than American Airlines for round-trip from Europe to the U.S. For example, for a round-trip U-Turn from Dublin to San Francisco in First Class, British Airways charges USD $2,851, while American charges USD $3,710 for the same trip. If you booked directly on American, you would not know about the lower fare offered by British Airways for the same flights on the same dates. This is a perfect example of why FCF suggests not being tied to one loyalty program.
Sample First Class U-Turn Strategy Fare
British Airways in First Class
Dublin to San Francisco round-trip for USD $2,851
American in First Class Dublin to San Francisco round-trip for USD $3,710 for the same flights
3 – How to find low First and Business Class U-Turn fares from Europe to the U.S.: FCF’s 10-step guide
How to search for fares on Google Flights.
- Select “Flights.”
- Select Class.
- Input your departure city.
- Use a placeholder destination (any will do as it will be changed on the next screen).
- Choose random dates (any will do as it will be changed on the next screen).
Click “Search”
- Apply filters
- Change the placeholder departure city to Dublin and the placeholder destination from London to the United States by typing in “United States.” You can also look for a specific country by simply typing it in. For instance, if you want to see fares for South America, type in “South America.”
- Select “departure date” and the option for “Flexible dates” will become available for you to select.
- Select your date preferences. Either “All” for six months or a specific month to see the lowest fares within this time frame.
- View your results:
If Dublin is not your choice, change it to Nice. If Nice is not your choice, change it to any destination you choose.
More Sample U-Turn Fares
First Class U-Turn Fares Under $3,500
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Business Class Fares Under $2,000
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Keep It Going
As mentioned, it’s a start-in-Europe play, so you need to get there and back with either a cheap fare or by using your miles. But the savings can more than cover those flights. And once you’re in Europe you can keep the strategy humming, saving more with each round-trip. As we sing in the corridors of FCF HQ, “U-turn, you win.” Before I add, (beginning with a perfect middle C baritone note):
“C you up front…”
♯