Hi. My name is Paul and I'm a kettle. I retired 5 years ago and travel only once a year. DAY-ATL-DUB. I go for C+ on each of the legs but next year I want to treat my wife (and coincidentally myself) to Business Class. We'd leave May12 and return June 12. Currently the Economy fares are hovering around $1165 plus the C+ upgrade costs. Business class is steady at $4188. I checked comparable dates and flying days and the Business fare of $4188 seems to be the lowest that it's going to be-sometimes $1500 lower. The money is sitting in the bank earning negative interest so I don't mind paying now. Any thoughts?
The second part of the question is a little more complex. My only option on the ATL-DAY flight involves a 6+ hour layover in ATL. There is a flight that departs ATL 50 minutes after the scheduled arrival of the DUB flight. Because this is an 'illegal' connection it isn't an option to book. I did manage to find a helpful redcoat in Dublin this year who kindly re-booked me when we saw the plane was leaving on time. If the DUB-ATL has a schedule change and the earlier flight becomes a 'legal' connection would Delta allow me to change to that flight without penalty?
Thanks for any advice.

On the $4100-ish biz-class fare, it's hard to say because I'm not familiar with prices out of DAY. If you think the price is good, and you want it, then I don't see the problem buying it. One thought is if you want or can travel over Thanksgiving weekend, there are likely to be very attractive biz-class fare on sale in about one to two months. Just monitor the premium class mileage run forum.

Second question sounds like you want to do a Same Day Change on an international flight. You can't do that, but it is theoretically possible an agent might allow it if you ask. Personally, I don't see a six-hour connection in ATL as so horrible. You can eat a leisurely lunch at One Flew South if the Skyclub does not appeal.

Correction: Houserulz77 is correct. I thought you wanted to SDC in DUB. You probably can SDC in ATL. A few agents might be overly strict about the prior international leg and the rule interpretation; if so you can try again at another Delta service center or at the departure gate.

It's very possible the price will fluctuate a lot over the next 10 months. There are a lot of airlines who can offer a sale and immediately influence the price. I'll let others with more experience offer a suggested price to shoot for and/or drop-dead date to book.

You could certainly change your routing if the schedule changes significantly, and if there really is time, you could always pay the $50/pp to Same-Day-Standby/Confirm on the connection. I believe they will allow this after all the international segments have been flown. OF course it can be tricky with baggage, which I'm sure you will have for a month long trip.

Something else I was wondering about, considering your just a regular member, and you're paying cash, would you consider flying AA, UA or EI?

I think Delta is likely to be a better ride than any of the other airlines. UA, that's just crazy talk nowadays

Thanks for the very helpful comments.
I've looked into other carriers. My issue is that I am a photographer and travel with a rolling case that I don't want to gate check. Delta flies MD88's on the DAY-ATL leg and they fit in the overheads. United Express is the other carrier out of DAY and they fly either CRJ700 or Embraers and they don't have the overhead space.
When I worked I traveled extensively and sometimes bought an extra seat for the gear when i had to fly the smaller planes. Now I can't justify doing that so I limit my own choices.
Aer Lingus has some very attractive fares. If I can get over the fact that it's a 5:15am arrival in DUB I might do that and gate check the case on the one leg of the smaller plane.
Thanks again. I do appreciate the advice.

EI also now has lie-flats. The solo window seats appear to have oodles of room.

It may be worth checking prices out of CMG, CVT and IND.

Bob H

I assume you mean CMH, CVG, and IND.

Going out of a larger airport with more competition would be helpful. I recently flew R/T Delta One for me & the Mrs from PHL-VIE for $1600/each. Was cheaper than many had paid for coach

Don't jump. Life is never that bad, even in Y.

Ok, transcons inmiddle seat on a CR2 is pretty close to jump worthy.

That's good advice. Look for price competition - and sometimes vastly better routings that bigger stations can offer.

The answer for the OP's question on Business class pricing is unknown - and unknowable. Nobody - and no airline - can predict pricing with high accuracy for travel ten months away on routings with ten or more possible carriers (even limiting things to sensible two-segment and time-efficient itineraries). OP should look for sensible routing & pricing combo today, buy that if it appeals, and not look back. No buyer's remorse.

Orbitz, Priceline, and ITA are your friends.

I wanted to bring a friend to the U.S. from Thailand, and the U.S. cartels wanted crazy money for a BKK/LAX ticket in J.

Shopped Priceline and snagged a $3k (+/-) fare on OZ, which included the A380 ICN-LAX, and the flight earned UA miles to boot.

To thine own wallet be true.

Look for cheaper tickets from some other airport, such as other airlines' hubs. This requires giving yourself lots of "connecting" time since you'll have separate tickets and possibly separate bag check fees. You could easily do an overnight somewhere and still save money on some fares. DUB especially have been very cheap recently on some routes. Go to the MR and MR discussion fora for ideas on coach fares an the newish premium fare deals subforum as well as the discussion forum for business class. Often DL matches fares from competitors' hubs.

I see ORD-DUB on the AA non-stop for $2482. I haven't looked at award availability, but if it exists you could fly DAY/CMH/CVG-ORD non-stop in Y for 4500 Avios per person per direction (18k Avios RT for both of you) or drive about 5 hours or buy cash tickets on UA or AA.

Not IND, we're consistently 18-22% above the national average and Delta is consistently the most expensive choice here...