Brush up on the facts about first-class fares

Looking for a good way to start the new year with a bang? If you’ve ever wanted to experience the luxury of first class without paying high prices, winter is a great time to travel in the front of the plane.

We are seeing discounted front-cabin fares on domestic flights, with open seats almost every day of the week. The best deals are in January, and at press time, many of these promotional fares were valid through May 30.

For travel February through May, the cheapest first-class fares are more limited and may only be available on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. First-class fares will be slightly higher for travel on other days of the week. If you want a long weekend, you may have to go Saturday to Tuesday to take advantage of these fares.

On many routes, Delta is offering the best fares, but other carriers are also offering discounts. At press time, many of these fares required a 14-day advance, but on some routes the advance purchase was seven days and on others it was 21 days.

One thing to be aware of when booking front-cabin fares is that on domestic routes, most airlines call it first class, but once you go outside the U.S., it’s usually called business class.

If you flew from New York City to Dallas and the same plane then went on to Cancun, the front cabin of the flight from New York to Dallas would be called first class and on the flight from Dallas to Cancun, the front cabin would be called business class.

The front cabin is often called business class on international routes because many businesses balk at paying for international first-class seats.

United calls the front cabin BusinessFirst on domestic routes, but it offers the same kind of seating and service as domestic first class. If you price a United seat in first class, you may get an inflated rate, but if you look at business class you should get a much cheaper fare than first-class rates and you will still fly in the front cabin.

For example, if you request the cheapest first-class fare on United for flights from Dallas to New York LaGuardia, the price is $1,065 round trip. If you request business class, you can book the same front-cabin seats, but the price drops to $521 round trip.

Another thing to keep in mind when looking for fares is that Virgin America offers a unique first-class product.

Virgin America’s first-class seats offer more legroom, with a seat pitch (the amount of room between your seat and the seat in front of you) of 55 inches. That’s more than what the legacy airlines offer. For example, many Delta domestic flights have a seat pitch of 36-37 inches in first class and American averages 38-40 inches in first class.

Virgin may be more expensive than Delta first class in January, but it may be worth the added price for the extra room. Out of Dallas you’ll find these special fares on Virgin America to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington Reagan and New York LaGuardia. Remember, Virgin America flies out of Dallas Love Field, so you’ll need to use airport code DAL when searching for fares.

When looking at fares, keep in mind that you can find these fares seven days a week during January and up until Feb. 11. During the rest of February, March, April and May, seats are much more limited.

Many of the cheapest first-class round-trip airfares to the East Coast, the Midwest and the West Coast are averaging around $459 to $559, including travel to most Florida cities, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Diego, San Francisco and dozens more cities.

If you’re heading to Cancun, American has a business-class fare almost seven days a week for $709 round trip. If you want to go to Honolulu, at press time American was charging a whopping $3,783 round trip for nonstop first-class seats, yet Delta had one-stop service for $1,549 round trip in first class. That’s a savings of more than $2,200 just for making a stop.

When you fly in the front cabin, you not only get wider seats with more legroom, but you also get on and off the plane first and you get three free checked bags. You’ll also get my favorite item: free adult beverages that normally sell for $7 each in coach.

Remember that if you’re paying for extra bags and preferred seating on your next flight, you may be able fly away in first class for less than coach prices.

(Tom Parsons is CEO of https://www.bestfares.com. Email him at media(at)bestfares.com.)

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