WSJ: first cheaper than coach
 

Article in today's WSJ that competitive pressures have caused some airlines to price some first class fares cheaper than coach.

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,the...nside_today_us (subscription probably required)

In Mr. Waters's case, US Airways and other carriers were matching cheap first-class fares offered by America West for trips that have to end by March 31. US Air lowered first-class prices in nearly 100 markets; other airlines did the same. Tuesday, a search for Philadelphia-San Diego nonstop flights on Travelocity, US Air's cheapest unrestricted coach offering came up $2,412 for a flight departing Jan. 27 and coming back the next day. But search Travelocity for a first-class seat, and you get $524.

Do United or American honor the FF miles accumulated on trips purchased through third parties (e.g. Orbitz, Travelociy, etc.)?

Absolutely!!... assuming the fare basis code allows the accumulation of miles (see the fare rules to confirm).

Yes and no.

Yes, if the third party is a travel agent or an open site such as Expedia and those you list - where you choose the airline and flight, get the price, then book the seat(s).

No, if it's a closed site like Priceline, where you give it the date, it finds a cheap flight, and you have no control over which airline you end up on.

I've actually seen that on some business trips I've taken. With corporate policies requiring coach travel, the airlines still get their high fares, while the first class discounts go for the taking. (And who ever expects to find the chepare fare in first?)

Does anyone know of any site that lets you find out what the cheapest flight for a given itenerary (either on a specific airline or on all airlines the site surveys) is REGARDLESS of class (ie, one where a cheaper first class or business class price would show up automatically, and be identified somehow as first class or business class)?

Many sites make you choose the class on the very first page, then you make other choices on later pages, so it's a lot of re-specifiying you need to do if you're going to manully check one class after another.

After reading about this site in a thread over in the AA forum and then doing some experimenting on my own, I can now answer my own question:

http://www.thestoremaker.com/cgit/po...ntid=aircenter

lets you (a) choose Class of Service as "Any", and then (b) if you choose Search By Fares, you'll get a listing all the fare classes. Until you learn the class code to actual class conversion for each airline by heart, the business and first class fares may not jump out at you, but if you move your move over each fare class code it'll show you the "plain English" name of the actual class.

Stefan - That is a nice way to check for slightly more expensive fares that may be upgradeable, or earn more miles. Thanks!

And, it's not just the airlines. Twice recently I've been on eurostar and found 1st class to be slightly cheaper than coach (or whatever it is called). This was only because of buy-ahead and particular oddness of dates/times-of-day I was traveling.