That's a good point: $900 for F on PDX-SAT isn't awful. It's on DL and there are some options for mainline metal the whole way (via SLC).

I'm still not a fan of buying domestic F - it just isn't worth much to me in terms of hard cash - but if it is a "need" then this isn't bad value.

I've flown to SEA when I "needed" to be on a flight (walk-up, in coach) and paid almost $900 R/T before. In that light, this isn't a bad fare. Sometimes I agree that F fares are totally artificial - nobody's buying them except corporate customers who get 20-40% discounts off of list fares. But this one isn't really in that realm....

If you do not have the miles for it, or cannot otherwise pay for it, you don't belong there...no matter how much you "need" or want to be there. That's why it's exclusive, and that is the incentive. If it were cheap, it would be like steerage, albeit with bigger seats for the COS's.

No, but understanding what particular facet of FC is needed may help us to suggest alternatives.

For example:
Extra legroom, look for E+ or an exit row.
Extra width, buying 3 Y seats for the 2 pax.
Making an occasion special, consider a lounge pass for pre-flight.

And so on...

LOL'ing at the idea of F on a U.S. carriers' short-haul domestic service being considered "exclusive". :D

Thanks to everyone for the replies! We want first class just because we hate flying coach and would rather get a tooth pulled than fly coach. If need be, we will pay through the nose to fly first class but I just wanted to make sure I wasn't overlooking any options to get in there for a bit less.

Do people sell miles on Ebay for example? Is that something that is even allowable?

People actually pay for domestic F!?!? I thought they were just given away to status pax as part of the business model.

I've never paid for domestic F and, since having shiny cards, have never sat in the back.

Yes, it is done. However, it is against the program rules for every frequent flyer program and puts you at risk for having all miles confiscated and your account closed. Don't do it!

Another option, if you have the miles, is buy the coach ticket and upgrade using miles. Read some of the stickies on how to earn miles cheaply and quickly.

Airlines bristle at the concept of selling miles on eBay. While it's not technically illegal in many jurisdictions, it's against the airlines' terms and conditions. Since miles aren't assets or property of the account holder, if the airline catches people buying/selling miles they can and will cancel the tickets, delete the miles of the account holder, or take other action detrimental to your trip. When that happens, the person who bought the award ticket is pretty much SOL.

I still think you might be overestimating what you will get if you fly first class on a regional jet or a U.S. carrier's narrowbody.

Yes - I've seen more and more cases in the past 10 years or so where airlines are trying to get real cash for F seats. They've figured out that corporate travel booking engines won't let you book a fare bucket starting with "F" (or presumably A, P, J, C, etc.), but they'll have no problems booking you into something like a "HUP" or "QUP." Effectively, a first class seat for someone willing to pay more than the discount coach rate but less than full F fares. A way to get, say, $900 R/T on PDX-SAT from someone used to seeing walk-up coach fares that are probably in that same ballpark.

I used to buy QUP often on United for MCI-SEA. Not coincidentally, it was always about $100 R/T above the walk-up WN fare and on par with what YX was charging at the time (when YX was offering a quasi-F experience).

As a revenue passenger I always thought that was a smart move. I imagine it made life harder for some upgraders though.

Oh, yes.

Of course Not!

This thread should help:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...ing-miles.html

Or you can dig up other threads on this topic in MilesBuzz! Forum and read further. (Key word search of "selling miles" in title will give you 25 results)

have you used travelocity/expedia to see the fares on multiple airlines...

perhaps look at other dates if they will work...

If you want to fly F that badly and a bit cheaper, I hope you have a US account since the bonus promo on buying miles ends in two days. You can buy 100K miles for ~$1450 reach can be redeemed for 2 R/T tickets from PDX-SAT on those dates you mentioned. It requires a stop at PHX each way but will be on mainline flights.

"Exclusive" is not a synonym for "good". "Exclusive" means to "exclude"..as in excluding non-frequent fliers, or those without sufficient funds. Those principles apply to domestic F, even when domestic F sucks by comparison to intl F..that said, it beats the hell out of coach or Low Class Carriers.

I have NEVER seen anyone selling miles on Ebay. Even now, I just looked up miles for most major carriers and nothing on Ebay remotely relevant comes up. The only thing people usually sell is club passes and drink vouchers and such.

In that sense, then every product is "exclusive." The Diet Coke I'm drinking is exclusive only to the club of drinkers who find it worth 50 cents and have the funds to pay for it.

Space-available F cabin buy-ups for on short narrowbody flights are about $75-100 per segment these days. UA served up an offer of about $100 for a two-hour segment - and I was on an award ticket! (I declined.) The airlines are trying to find ways to get value out of the seats and they're finding that on many routes and aircraft types F isn't perceived as being very exclusive at all.

They're still mostly successful at preserving int'l C/F as an exclusive product worth a significant premium.

^^^