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Did I just get lucky or is this going to be the norm? $8 for first class upgrade

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Did I just get lucky or is this going to be the norm? $8 for first class upgrade

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Old Oct 17, 2017, 5:12 pm
  #1  
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Did I just get lucky or is this going to be the norm? $8 for first class upgrade

Attached. Can we get more of these?
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Old Oct 17, 2017, 5:17 pm
  #2  
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Originally Posted by unknown00
Attached. Can we get more of these?
I'd hardly consider over $500 for a STL-DFW roundtrip lucky, whether in Y or F.
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Old Oct 17, 2017, 5:19 pm
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AA 2190 is St Louis to DFW.

The fact that you'll pay $500+ on that flight, even if it is in a bigger seat, is not lucky at all. Typical fares are $100 or so.
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Old Oct 17, 2017, 5:22 pm
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Originally Posted by JJeffrey
I'd hardly consider over $500 for a STL-DFW roundtrip lucky, whether in Y or F.
Originally Posted by nomiiiii
AA 2190 is St Louis to DFW.

The fact that you'll pay $500+ on that flight, even if it is in a bigger seat, is not lucky at all. Typical fares are $100 or so.
This is my first time flying this route in 2017 and these are business trips so cost is irrelevant to me. I'm use to paying $1000+ for 1hour roundtrip flights. I don't know the normal rate of this route. $8 for first class upgrade is just crazy to me
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Old Oct 17, 2017, 5:38 pm
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Originally Posted by unknown00
$8 for first class upgrade is just crazy to me
The economy fare is probably a full Y fare, and the first class fare a discounted I fare. Sometimes, they just match up like that.
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Old Oct 17, 2017, 5:45 pm
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Not too unusual if they're only selling full Y.
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Old Oct 17, 2017, 5:50 pm
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Originally Posted by unknown00
This is my first time flying this route in 2017 and these are business trips so cost is irrelevant to me. I'm use to paying $1000+ for 1hour roundtrip flights. I don't know the normal rate of this route. $8 for first class upgrade is just crazy to me
Strictly speaking, it's not for an upgrade- it's that the discount F fare is only a little more than full-fare Y. Many reports of the occasional case where it's actually lower than the full Y fare.
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Old Oct 17, 2017, 5:53 pm
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Originally Posted by fanger
Strictly speaking, it's not for an upgrade- it's that the discount F fare is only a little more than full-fare Y. Many reports of the occasional case where it's actually lower than the full Y fare.
Yup. Happened to me couple times. When I was trying to book the lowest fare on my employer's TA, the system automatically switched to F because Y is more expensive.
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Old Oct 17, 2017, 7:25 pm
  #9  
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Not weird at all. You posted without the details expanded, so we can't see the fare bucket. But, chances are that Y or something close to it is all that is left and the seat in F is either an upgrade or cheap F.

The difference is more than likely that the Y seat is fully flexible while the F seat is highly restricted.

But, if you know that you are not going to need to change, I would certainly book the F seat. Whether the entire thing is a good deal is not material if it's a trip you must take and the customer, e.g. your employer doesn't worry about money.
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Old Oct 17, 2017, 7:36 pm
  #10  
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so Y class was almost full. The trend these days, seems to be that everyone is trying to upgrade for dollar/miles/points & no one wants to pay for premium economy/business/1st class. Many airlines now have an auction bidding system in place for upgrades & if any upgrades left, many will take miles/points or dollars at check in. Some airlines are even offering guaranteed empty seat beside you for miles/points/dollars. With the worldwide recession kicking in, this is going to get more pronounced & we'll probably see some other new ideas to fill up front, without doing it free.
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Old Oct 17, 2017, 7:41 pm
  #11  
 
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To answer the OP's question, no you didn't get lucky and yes this is the new norm. You must have missed the announcement where AA said they are going to be a non-profit airline. They figured that the front of the plane has to go the same place as the back of the plane so it's not really costing any extra.

Under their new non-profit manifesto this simply means that first is available for just a few dollars more.
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Old Oct 17, 2017, 7:57 pm
  #12  
 
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Originally Posted by nomiiiii
AA 2190 is St Louis to DFW.

The fact that you'll pay $500+ on that flight, even if it is in a bigger seat, is not lucky at all. Typical fares are $100 or so.
Assuming you're talking about a one-way...rt is usually $200-300 (but I've seen it as low as $160). Granted it's ambiguous whether OP is looking at a rt fare.
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Old Oct 17, 2017, 9:18 pm
  #13  
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I had an AA flight from MEX recently where Business was less than 1/2 of Economy. Having flown quite a lot of AA recently, I've noticed a few expensive cities where flying F (well, usually D) is often just $100 (10-20%) more than Y.
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Old Oct 17, 2017, 10:53 pm
  #14  
 
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Originally Posted by unknown00
This is my first time flying this route in 2017 and these are business trips so cost is irrelevant to me. I'm use to paying $1000+ for 1hour roundtrip flights. I don't know the normal rate of this route. $8 for first class upgrade is just crazy to me
Hope your employer would let you book that! Mine would probably balk, not because of the $8, but because it would be an "F" ticket which is not allowed on domestic routes. Only once (when Y was completely sold out) did I get an F domestic seat.
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Old Oct 17, 2017, 11:06 pm
  #15  
 
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Originally Posted by Gig103
Hope your employer would let you book that! Mine would probably balk, not because of the $8, but because it would be an "F" ticket which is not allowed on domestic routes. Only once (when Y was completely sold out) did I get an F domestic seat.
If employer doesn't, purchase Y and then call AA and upfare ticket on your own dime.
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