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you buy cheap - you get cheap catastrophies

PookieMalibu25

I think I caught this same fare or the one before it in 2018. It was less than $3K. Flew 777 there and A380 home. Preferred the A380. Michelle Yeoh was on the outbound out of JFK and Juliette Binoche was on the return. Actually met her and exchanged contact info (if only to get a photo we all took). FAs were wonderful and kept in touch w them too.

cruser1

I'd love a discount on a La Premiere ticket, but that's like a pipe dream! I'm always on the lookout for deals on SQ Suites and AF La Premiere as I'd love to fly La Premiere again, but it rarely happens. Your best bet right now is probably to hope a buy-up to La Premiere from Business is available at check-in at the airport.

The last great deal on La Premiere is the one that's being discussed from like 2018 from Boston to Spain. There was an error fare in like 2016-2017 that I bought - a one-way from LAX to Paris or somewhere in Western Europe if I remember right was $800-something USD. That ticket was cancelled, but AF gave me 10k redeemable miles for the inconvenience since I had Flying Blue Platinum status at the time.

It's unfortunate AF has put all the red tape on La Premiere redemptions, but also understandable. If I'm going to redeem, I'd like 2 seats, not 1. I held FB Platinum status for 6-7 years, but stopped chasing FB Platinum status for this reason. I'll still fly SkyTeam occasionally, but I'm not going to make sure I reach a certain threshold to make status. Domestically I'm not going to pay the "Delta Premium" just to help maintain status either. When SAS joins SkyTeam this may change, but I'll wait and see.

The last time I flew La Premiere was in March 2020 as the world was shutting down. It was a fantastic flight! My wife and I flew Suites award tickets from Singapore to Zurich, then an AF award ticket - "business" from ZRH to CDG and La Premiere from CDG to the US. It was very odd going from everybody being so hyper-sensitive about COVID in Asia and Europe to home in the US where nobody cared yet and life was going on like usual (except for my manager who wanted me to work at home and avoid the office for 2 weeks because I could have COVID)! Nothing against Chinese tourists in Singapore, but it was great visiting Singapore at that time when they weren't able to visit due to COVID because there were so few tourists (we were there before COVID started to shut everything down and it was a pre-planned trip). We didn't have to wait in line anywhere we went!

PookieMalibu25

They have occasional fares out of the EU to Japan which are "cheap" by LP standards. On our trip to Marrakech, we flew J and I debated booking one of the LP equipped 777's out of MIA or IAD and to try and upgrade. Set some seat alerts in Expert Flyer and was (and still am) subscribed to the upgrade thread. Cheapest upgrades seemed to be, ironically given this thread, CDG to SIN which seemed to hover around $1800 one-way per person. Flying with Mrs. Malibu (who care less about class of service and more about whether there is champagne offered upon boarding the bird) I didn't see $3600 for 8 hours being worth it. That money was definitely better spent at Amanjena/Royal Mansour and on souvenirs. I do agree though, upgrade is your best bet if you're not going to pay full fare. I think if we take it again we'll try and get a CDG into Asia flight and bite the bullet for $10K or so for a special trip.

There was a sale that was from like somewhere in Kentucky (or something) to BIO. Not an error fare as it was $2K+ but availability was extremely limited. Can't recall when it was. The one thing about the op-up on LP, there's some kind of way they flag you if you take advantage of it too much. The general consensus seemed to be that AF was plying you with the upgrade with the hope that you pay full freight because you like it so much. They've got me, but it's definitely not going to be a run of the mill trip. It will be something special if I'm paying for a non-discounted fare.

As to SQ, it seems as though while the LH/LX companion fares are long gone, adjusted for inflation, this ticket is about the same price. We paid roughly $5,500 back in 2017 for our LX F flights and this is a tad more but right about the same. I've seen some of these in this price range in the last 24-36 months that let you fly SQ suites to Oz from SIN, but haven't seen a reasonable one in a while. ~$3,500 for LH F, FCT, SQ F, Private Room is a pretty darn good bang for the buck. I can easily eat and drink $1000 worth of food between the lounge and onboard. Plus, if F isn't full, I'm definitely ganking some extra amenities kits and pajamas (with permission of course). Right now I'm sitting on about 6 sets of F pajamas alone (4 LX and 2 AF LP). I get my money's worth for sure.