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Help With Crazy First Class Prices?

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Help With Crazy First Class Prices?

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Old Sep 14, 2011 | 10:46 am
  #31  
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Join Date: Aug 2010
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Originally Posted by namecheap
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?
OP - You've answered your own question. Carriers can charge off the charts fares for F because some, albeit very few, are willing to pay it. Why would they sell someone like you a seat for $1,500 when you are willing to pay $2,000?

Unfortunately, your comparison of fares is applies and oranges. The likely coach fare you quoted at $200 is almost certainly deeply discounted non-refundable and non-changeable. The same fare in Y (full fare coach which can be changed and cancelled for a full cash refund) is most likely $1,000, approx 10x the deepest discount. In that light, full F (which is fully refundable & changeable) isn't that much more. The more flexible your fare is, the more it will cost.

Other things to consider, if you can live with non-changeable / non-refundable are Y-UP fares where you pay the full Y and space available are assigned a seat in F at the time of booking. The carrier can tell you at the time you book whether this is doable. You will have to do the research and your best bet since you seem unfamiliar with the system is to actually call and pay the phone reservation fee.

Those on FT who talk about the lack of value in F fares may not have a basis for comparison. Whether a seat is worth $2,800 more in F than in Y is a matter only you as an individual can determine. Can you afford the higher fare? What will you give up to be able to pay the higher fare? If it's feeding your kids, don't fly F. If you have the money, sure -- do it.
Often1 is offline  
Old Sep 14, 2011 | 7:26 pm
  #32  
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Join Date: Jun 2009
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Originally Posted by pinniped
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.

Yes, every product is exclusive. Your diet coke would be exclusive in a famine stricken village in Ethiopia, as they would not have the 50 cents. Exclusivity increases with price, not quality.
pinworm is offline  
Old Sep 15, 2011 | 4:09 am
  #33  
 
Join Date: May 2004
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Originally Posted by element7
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.
Just because you've never seen it, it doesn't mean it didn't (or never) happen.

Not to mention by the time you look eBay up, something probably already happens to those listings :

This listing (XXXXXXXXXXX) has been removed, or this item is not available.

o Please check that you've entered the correct item number
o Listings that have ended 90 or more days ago will not be available for viewing.
For instance, if you had read this thread, you would have known there were more than club passes and drink vouchers being discussed in thread.
lin821 is offline  


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