Originally Posted by
ainternational
My post was meant to suggest that the OP do that for their dates and routing as an option to compare to the upgrade instruments.
Re your point on biz travel, I routinely book Z ex-SFO to NRT, PVG and LHR with less than a month's notice without issue. Cost though is around $5K. Ouch.
I've seen (and bought) close-in Z fare availability to Asia, but I never see z availability to Europe (or the Middle East) unless it's a least 30 days out, sometimes 45. But I'm searching out of SAN, perhaps that's the difference. I consider $5k R/T business fare to be a great price, I wish I could get that routinely. 80% of my INTL tickets are over $8000.