FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,512
Now here is my thinking bit by bit:
- I also agree it makes sense that AF only offers this on flights with no First Class but...
- Can we then say that AF is still offering to sell the 'ground' part of the Premiere ticket where it cannot offer the 'flight' part?
- If so, AF values that 'ground' part at €800 each way, i.e. €1600 on a return trip.
- By all accounts on this forum, the 'ground' part is supposed to be by far the better part of the P experience while the flight part is quasi-universally deemed disappointing
- Yet, all of us seem to agree we would not pay €800 for the 'ground upgrade' each way (or €1600 return) (some have said they would pay with miles, but my guess is it is not so much a question of 'exchange rate' as a question of 'available balance' - depending on travel patterns, many have more opportunities to accrue miles than to spend them, and ones your 'bank account' reaches a certain level, 57k can look like relatively little).
- The difference between a Z fare and a P fare on CDG-JFK is €8000. OK, people will tell me that Z has more restrictions so let us compare with the C fare. The difference between CDG-JFK in C and in P is €5000 with comparable flexibility.
- If €1600 is ascribed to ground services, then €3400 is ascribed to flight service differences only, i.e. €1700 each way. Or let us say €1500 each way to account for incidental benefits such as extra mileage etc.
- Would any of us accept to pay €1500 for an upgrade to a P seat (without the ground services) on CDG-JFK? I'd be ready to bet not.
- So even if offered a choice to pick 'only' the part of the P service (ground or flight) we care most about without any additional cost for debundling (as in you should normally pay more for 'part' over the 'bundle', i.e if A+B+C is sold for an extra €5000, commercially, the prices of A alone, B alone, and C alone sold separately should total significantly over €5000), none of us would accept to pay any such service.
Conclusion: as we keep repeating over and again, regardless of how you look at it, AF P is waaaaayyyyy overpriced...