Originally Posted by
daniellam
If flying business class is important to you and since OZ has decent D and Z fares, why not just buy the OZ ticket yourself out of your own pocket and not ask your employer (who is subject to the Fly America Act) for reimbursement (tell their travel provider not to book any air transportation for you)?
This may be cheaper than booking a US carrier codeshare flight number in full Y and asking them to up-fare it C at the higher codeshare prices.
Because I'm not paying to fly for work, nor do I have 5k lying around to spend on it myself. I'd pay for an upfare at a decent price, which is what I'm seeing out of UA currently.
The thought did cross my mind to use miles though.
If were flying for my own pleasure, I'd probably use miles or shop for a decent Z fare.
The good news is it's looking like my boss (who's also going on the trip) is willing to spring for C. Bad news it's gonna be on UA.
Funny thing is that codeshare Y price with OZ is competitive with a Y/B on UA metal (both around 5300-5700). It's just when you jump up to C it adds anywhere from 3-5k for the "privilege" of using a codeshare. I know UA/US are taking their cut out of it - just seems ridiculous to charge that much of a premium - especially when they're pretty much getting money just for selling space.