Picking flights based on planes
 

Hi All,

Long time lurker, 1st time poster.
I have just started planning a trip with a friend, who while normally a frugal traveler has advised me they'd like to "go big or go home" on this trip, and has expressed an interest in flying 1st class or business class on domestic flight from California (open to any airport from LAX to SFO) to Orlando (MCO). We are not committed to any particular airline and our budget, while not private jet big, is pretty flexible as well.
With so many options, I'm finding the process of looking up flight options and then going over to seat guru to check out the premium seats on each flight VERY tedious.
Am I doing this right or is there a magical app or site that would make my search easier?

TIA!

What site are you using to look up flights?

There is a bit of knowledge to learn about flights. By going big, I m assuming you want something more than just domestic first - i.e. lie flat seats? Or are you also looking for premium service as well? Fortunately LAX and SFO, especially LAX, have some premium flights, but they are not cheap. My preference is always for wide bodies (twin aisle aircraft), but there are now some single aisle aircraft flying with premium (lie-flat) seats too. I don't know if any of them fly direct to MCO, though, so you might need to make a connection.

If aircraft type is important to you, I would highly suggest ExpertFlyer. Not so much for flights, but it is going to show you just about every flight option between two airports out there. You can then use that in a site light ITA matrix to get prices.You will want to learn the aircraft type, though.

777, 772, 77w are Boeing 777 wide bodies. Most of these have some kind of lie flat seats (though be careful - some UA 777s only have domestic first seats)
788, 789 are Boeing 787s - definitely decent seats on these
359 are Airbus A350s, good seats on those, though not a lot flying domestically
33x - Airbus 330 familly, are also good, if anyone still is flying them.
The other planes that will have lie flat seats are any JetBlue Mint class planes (any of them have lie flats), AA aircraft with the code 32B, Some UA 757 (though certainly not all, you have to check each one, unfortunately), and DL 764 and 76W.

To get the best inflight service you need the premium routes - LAX to ATL on DL, LAX to MIA on AA, LAX to JFK/EWR on any, LAX to FLL on JetBlue,. and LAX to Washington Dulles (IAD) on UA. Every once in a while you will find one flying between LAX and CLT or PHL, but these will not have the premium service.You might also find some of these on the SFO routes, but not all get that level of service.

This is super helpful. Thank you!

If I were you, I'd do American Airlines LAX-MIA on a widebody with a ticket labeled as FLAGSHIP. This will get you a lie flat seat, access to the flagship lounge in both LAX and MIA, and a pretty solid on-board service experience. If you wanna go all out, then pay for Flagship First, which will entitle you to the premium dining experience in MIA (and LAX if it opens in time)

Slight correction, none of UA 777’s are configured in domestic first. Even the 777HD has lie flat seating.

Thanks. Sorry, I didn't realize they were still lie flat. I thought they just had extra legroom. Tobe honest I only walked through a cabin in one of those once and said "never"!

Its the pre Polaris seats from international airplanes. Was flying it monthly back and forth to Hawaii for two years. Perfectly fine IMO, and way better than domestic first.

In addition to the flight itself, consider your airport experience (dedicated first class check in area or special line, lounge access, etc.). FC on a flight that also has business class is likely to seem more special, other things equal. In terms of aircraft, look for international planes flying (your) domestic routes as they're likely to have flat beds and/or suites, but check this; do not assume.

just because the airline has an intl-configured jet on a domestic route does *NOT* mean that the service on that route is equivalent to that which they offer on longer-haul intl segments on the same equipment

also, remember that airlines are very likely to change schedules one or more times between booking and travel dates, and they’re not all equally willing to reaccommodate passengers based on equipment type or service/amenities … given OP stated friend is “normally a frugal traveler” it’s extremely doubtful they would be able to leverage status to get preferential consideration

for a California<->MCO trip, I tend to agree with FlyFreakquently that AA Flagship service LAX<->MIA is most likely to meet friend’s expectations with the least hassle in terms of routing

and with respect to my other comment, AA would likely rebook purchased Flagship J/F on a flight with similar service/amenities in the event of a schedule change regardless of friend’s status in the AAdvantage program

You might snag a widebody on LAX to ATL on DL, but unless something has changed very recently, it won't be "Delta One" service, but rather domestic first class service that happens to come with lie-flat seats.

To my knowledge, D1 is only available on certain coast to coast routes - LAX-JFK, SFO-BOS, SEA-JFK, and a couple of Hawaii routes. To my knowledge (and I am happy to be wrong here), the only domestic D1 route to or from ATL is Hawaii (HNL).

+1. The two best options are either this or on B6 flying LAX - FLL on their Mint product

How do you think this compares to JFK-LAX in Flagship? They fly the 3 class 321s on that route. You can catch the 777 from MIA to JFK, then the 321T to LAX.