Originally Posted by
sdsearch
I think you're confused about first class. There is "imitation" first class, which is on most two-class flights within the USA. What is called "first class" in the USA is simply called "business class" everywhere else in the world. And even within the US, there are vast differences in the experience between first class on different planes.
The only flights that have a really better experience domestically in first class (or even in business class) are those that fly two-aisle planes with much better seats upfront (able to go lie-flat, as they're designed for international travel) and/or certain LAX-JFK and SFO-JFK transcons. If you're going to spend big money to experience first class, I suggest you hold off for a longer flight where you can experience that better first class.
On SEA-AUS, you're not likely to find it unless you create a circuitous routing to get you on one of those 2-aisle planes. That would probably require starting out really early, as AA only flies DFW-LAX 2-aisle planes in the morning IIRC, and you'd have to connect AUS-DFW first. But you'd have to fly AUS-DFW-LAX-SEA just have a chance at one leg on these planes with a much nicer first class. (Booking with AA or AS, as the AUS-DFW-LAX would be on AA but the LAX-SEA would be on AS. AA and AS are partners, so no problem booking a combination AA/AS flight.)
You might only find practical to do in one direction. It would cost less to pay for first in one direction and economy in the other. It would make more sense to fly the AS non-stop in the other direction, since coming from SEA you probably can't get to LAX early enough to connect to the last two-aisle LAX-DFW plane in that direction.
The problem with your plan is that AFAIK no domestic airline flies these two-aisle planes within the US except between their own hubs on certain routes (to feed into international longhaul connections at the second hub). DL hubs to a degree in SEA, but I don't know if they run two-aisle planes from SEA to anywhere in the US. No one flies two-aisle planes to AUS, it's too small a city for that.
I disagree with your characterization that one aisle is bad but two aisles are good. Certainly on DL this isn't true. IMO the worst FC seats in the DL fleet are found on the domestic 767, while the best are the A side of the CRJ-900 or, better, yet, the flat beds in the new 16 FC/BE 757. Sometimes you get lucky and find an international aircraft on a domestic route, such as the 777 between ATL and LAX, but these are rare and special circumstances and unlikely to apply to the OP's AUS to SEA/GEG route.