Chandra Shirashyad

Hey all!

Planning to buy one way business class tickets for my parents (Bangalore to San Francisco). Would it save me any money buying premium economy and upgrading later at the airport? Which airlines allow this kind of upgrade and which don't? Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks!

Mwenenzi

Which airlines fly BLR-XXX-SFO? [research for you to do and tell us]
Upgrades are never guaranteed.
Your strategy has a very low chance of success. And even then it may not save money.

purch

Your biggest problem will be that for international tickets, one way is usually more expensive than a return ticket.

If you can get past that, then you should not wait until the airport to try the upgrade. In fact you should try check the award availability first before buying any ticket, and then buy the ticket for the dates where you see availability. Then you can upgrade it immediately after buying.

In the worst case, but the ticket and keep checking for upgrade availability from the booking date right up until departure - don't wait until the airport to do it.

In any case, as said above, upgrades are not guaranteed. It's usually possible to find a discount return business fare for less than a one way premium economy - if it's possible to do a return trip then this would be better in my opinion.

nux

What prices have you found for one way business class tickets?
What prices have you found for one way premium economy class tickets?

If you want to guarantee business class, your best option is to pay for it from the beginning.

skywardhunter

OP doesn't mention intention of upgrading using miles and I think refers to paying fare difference.

@OP, do you have an airline in mind? Which airlines fly from BLR that even offer PE and connect onwards to SFO? The primary carriers to the US all don't offer PE (EK, EY, QR), nor does AI which flies direct via DEL.

Unless the fare goes down it's unlikely to be cheaper and you may be out of luck or get bad seats.

purch

True I didn't think of it from that point of view. I understood op is trying to save money over buying business tickets - the only way to do that is to upgrade with miles from economy or PE, or as I suggested, buying advance discounted business as opposed to last minute upfare to full-fare business, which would be the most expensive possible way to do it.

On the other point, I think the European carriers have fares ex-India to the US. BA, VS and LH would be 3 possibilities which might have PE on those flights.

skywardhunter

Ex-India. Not sure which of those fly to BLR however.

Annalisa12

Can you buy a one way ticket to the USA? I would of thought the USA wants to know you are going home.

skywardhunter

Depends on the visa and return can be on a different ticket.

nux

AF, BA and LH all operate from BLR.

purch

A cursory glance indicates that AF, BA, LH and CX have possibilities in PE from BLR (CX only in PE on HKG-SFO).

But anyway that's beside the point. I think OP needs to give a bit more details about what he is actually trying to do, beyond the basic idea of upgrading.

Annalisa12 - Good point but not always. I reckon there are a number of scenarios where you wouldn't need it. perhaps the parents just received their green cards for instance.

Artpen100

Sometimes it can even be cheaper to buy miles with cash (many airlines allow it) and get the one way tickets with those miles than it is to buy a one way ticket. (Because award tickets are usually at a set number of miles per leg without regard to whether there is a return flight.)

But basically, the poster needs to look at all their airlines and options and try to get in business class at time of booking. The way every airline works upgrades will be different. After that, it is a flip of the coin whether you can upgrade or not or for what price.

Chandra Shirashyad

Lots of responses. Thanks guys! I see a lot of questions. My parents are coming here with Green Card. So we don't need return ticket. I checked the prices on Kayak. I am getting BLR-SFO premium economy for about 1100USD on British Airways and 1365USD on Air France. When I look for Business class the cheapest I am getting is on Air India for about 2200USD and 2500USD on Cathay Pacific.

So I was wondering if I should buy premium economy on BA or AF and upgrade with cash (I don't have any points or anything like that) at the airport. Is that even possible and if so, would it save any money? I hope that clarifies the question. But based on some of the answers above, looks like it is not going to save any money...

wrp96

Even if they don't need the return ticket, you might try pricing out a roundtrip fare anyways and just throwing away the return ticket. It is possible that you might find a cheaper price that way even for business class, than buying a one way premium economy ticket.

Upgrading with cash in advance most likely would be the difference between the fare you've already paid and the business class fare - so no difference vs. buying it outright.

Sometimes BA does offer cash upgrades at the airport on day of travel. BUT, there is no guarantee one will be offered and the price for the upgrade BLR-SFO may not be any better than the price difference in purchased in advance.

ROW2Aisle

You'll find some very inexpensive oneway premium class fares out of CMB and so consider purchasing a separate sub US$120 economy BLR-CMB. Interlining of baggage may not occur at CMB and you'll have a reduced baggage allowance on the BLR-CMB segment and your parents will have to collect their baggage at CMB and recheck it for their onward journey to SFO. This routing makes the journey longer with additional connections but at least your parents will find the flights comfortable and will have access to lounges at connecting airports.

You can price the tickets at ClearTrip.