Help! I have an elderly relative who won't fly in coach due to physical limitations. Do First Class Fares ever get discounted? Web-fares are horrendous. Do any of the sites like Travelocity, etc. discount first class fares? Is any one airline cheaper for First Class? Do the fares for first class get cheaper as the date to fly draws closer? Do travel agents have access to cheaper First Class Fares?

Thanks in advance!

Momtwo

Are they flying domestic in the U.S.? Domestic elsewhere? International? Because it depends.

In the U.S., for cities they serve, I've found AirTran to have a fairly affordable business class. In competitive markets, other airlines will match their prices.

Airlines have sales, too, sometimes on first class travel, both domestic and international. I'm not sure the best way to monitor them all, though there's the TravelBuzz forums.

For international travel, there are ticket consolidators that can get you discount on first class tickets, so you don't have to pay standard airline fares. As I don't have much experience using them to say who's good, or who to avoid, I'll let others chime in.

But more information would help.

For international travel, there are also a few airlines that offer "premium economy" products, with larger seats and more legroom, although not as much as in business class. For example, British Airways' World Traveller Plus seats have have 38" (instead of 29-30") of legroom, a more comfortable, slightly wider seat and a seat that reclines back 2" further than standard economy. Virgin Atlantic has something similar, as does Air New Zealand and ANA. As the other poster mentioned, some of the discount airlines (like Zoom or Air Transat) also offer a premium economy-type seat.

You will find discounted First Class fares on some Delta routes. The fare calss is 'A'.

Especially for international travel, you might consider upgrading with miles. It usually involves a somewhat more expensive (than discount Coach) fare and some miles, but you can get into Business class without the big expense.

Of course, we don't have any idea where you're based, are you a member of any FFC, etc. With what we have to go on, general information is the best we can do.

Some airlines, such as AA, offer coach class tickets that automatically book into first class on a space-available basis. On AA these are called YUP fares, and you can book them by selecting the option for "first class with restrictions" when searching for the flight, or by asking the reservations line for a YUP fare. Of course, these are fares that are not cheap, but they are usually cheaper than first class fares.

This would be a domestic flight mid October from PHX to ALB. Outbound on a Thursday and Return on a Wednesday.

Thanks for everyone's help.

Momtwo

I don't have a whole lot of experience booking discounted first tickets - but I can tell you to be very careful about the flight you book into ALB.

Many of our flights are on express equipment (read: no first class). Be sure that all segments on your itinerary have a first cabin!

Good luck,
Chris

Agreed. At some point you might be on a small aircraft. Is an option to buy two seats in Y? That's usually less expensive than an F seat. You didn't mention if it's a POS issue or otherwise.