Anyone Fly First Class?

[NYCgrrl]

I've flown first class once domestically and it was on points: total waste.
Also flown 1st class overseas. Higher level of comfort all around and worth the extra funds on long flights. Would love to fly Emirates 1st class but it was still an elevated experience in their business class.

 

[Lynn CC]

I never have. I just don't want to double the cost of my fare...I'm 'frugal'!!! I'm flying Delta to Europe in the fall. My friend and I paid a bit extra for economy plus....a bit extra room, but not much. I figure that just a few extra inches will be enough.

Have fun in Europe!

 

[karen4546]

We fly first class on Delta from ATL to MCO. The aircraft from our home airport to ATL is a "puddle jumper" and no FC. The cost to upgrade is usually less than $100 per person roundtrip from Comfort and it includes 2 bags.

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

We always fly first class. ORD-MCO is at worst usually $325 o/w. AA usually has saver award flights available tho...and when they do...we usually transfer Amex points to BA to book. With their thrice annual transfer bonus we usually book First Class each way for 10k points.

There are so many ways to book the same flights that those who follow the " love credit card thread" will def enjoy enhanced travel.

 

[Summer2018]

We always fly first class. ORD-MCO is at worst usually $325 o/w. AA usually has saver award flights available tho...and when they do...we usually transfer Amex points to BA to book. With their thrice annual transfer bonus we usually book First Class each way for 10k points.

There are so many ways to book the same flights that those who follow the " love credit card thread" will def enjoy enhanced travel.

We only fly First Class. We are very tall and cannot abide coach. We always book through our travel agent and pay with credit cards.

About 7 months ago, I opened an American Airlines credit card to start earning miles. I have never used miles to pay for anything. I am an American Airlines miles virgin. For the first time, I will be using miles to fly from New York to Orlando, but I only have enough miles to fly coach. We are fine to pay the difference in order to upgrade to First Class, but I have read that we cannot do that.

This will probably come off as a stupid question, but could you please explain how I can convert my miles so that I can just pay with my credit card and make use of the 65,000 miles we have earned?

 

[Summer2018]

We only fly First Class. We are very tall and cannot abide coach. We always book through our travel agent and pay with credit cards.

About 7 months ago, I opened an American Airlines credit card to start earning miles. I have never used miles to pay for anything. I am an American Airlines miles virgin. For the first time, I will be using miles to fly from New York to Orlando, but I only have enough miles to fly coach. We are fine to pay the difference in order to upgrade to First Class, but I have read that we cannot do that.

This will probably come off as a stupid question, but could you please explain how I can convert my miles so that I can just pay with my credit card and make use of the 65,000 miles we have earned?

I did some research, and basically in order to upgrade to First Class, I would need to purchase more miles...a lot more miles. Unfortunately I cannot apply my miles earned to my account balance. I would like to just pay the difference in order to upgrade, but it sounds like there is only one way, purchasing miles.

 

[Jackiii]

Yes, but only going from MCO to SFO departing at 6:15 pm, we figured that the end of our Disney trip, we will need to relax and have more room on that 6+ hours flight home

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

We only fly First Class. We are very tall and cannot abide coach. We always book through our travel agent and pay with credit cards.

About 7 months ago, I opened an American Airlines credit card to start earning miles. I have never used miles to pay for anything. I am an American Airlines miles virgin. For the first time, I will be using miles to fly from New York to Orlando, but I only have enough miles to fly coach. We are fine to pay the difference in order to upgrade to First Class, but I have read that we cannot do that.

This will probably come off as a stupid question, but could you please explain how I can convert my miles so that I can just pay with my credit card and make use of the 65,000 miles we have earned?

You won't be able to convert your miles to another airline currency. You have a couple options that I can think of. First, AA will let you upgrade one way for 15k AA miles + $75 co-pay. You can call AA and ask them if the upgrades are available prior to purchase. Depending on when your flights are this might be available. I don't know if a ticket purchased via a travel agent can be upgraded this way....so you might want to book it yourself online if you go this route.

If there is saver awards available only one way you can always split the reservation into (2) one ways and use miles one way and cash the other. A saver award on AA in domestic first class should be 25k one way, per person.

EDIT: I saw your second post after replying to the first. Just an fyi, purchasing miles directly from the airline is usually a terrible value. The price you pay will be close to, if not more, than the actual ticket's cost if you just paid cash. I'm not sure when you are looking to travel, but there are MANY dates in the near future where Delta has first class NYC to MCO for $228 each way. Sometimes paying cash is a better "value" than using miles/points. I would almost never use any of my points when I could outright buy the ticket for that price.

 

[skittles67]

I traveled a lot with the company I previously worked for and always flew first class. When we fly to Orlando it's always on the cheapest flight I can find. It's only a 2 1/2 hours so it's not a big deal to us for such a short flight. We are planning an Aulani trip next fall so we will definitely be flying first class.

 

[SinCityMMAFan]

We only fly first class if we're doing a red eye flight. We fly out of Vegas to Orlando so it's a long haul and find with the first class seats we're able to at least get in a good nap so when we arrive in Orlando we're not exhausted and are able to head to the parks. Also we did some number crunching for our flights and found it to be not much more than the premium economy when figuring in the cost of bags. When we don't fly first class we end up taking Southwest and use our points to fly for free and that's usually coming back to Vegas from Orlando.

 

[Summer2018]

You won't be able to convert your miles to another airline currency. You have a couple options that I can think of. First, AA will let you upgrade one way for 15k AA miles + $75 co-pay. You can call AA and ask them if the upgrades are available prior to purchase. Depending on when your flights are this might be available. I don't know if a ticket purchased via a travel agent can be upgraded this way....so you might want to book it yourself online if you go this route.

If there is saver awards available only one way you can always split the reservation into (2) one ways and use miles one way and cash the other. A saver award on AA in domestic first class should be 25k one way, per person.

EDIT: I saw your second post after replying to the first. Just an fyi, purchasing miles directly from the airline is usually a terrible value. The price you pay will be close to, if not more, than the actual ticket's cost if you just paid cash. I'm not sure when you are looking to travel, but there are MANY dates in the near future where Delta has first class NYC to MCO for $228 each way. Sometimes paying cash is a better "value" than using miles/points. I would almost never use any of my points when I could outright buy the ticket for that price.

Thanks so much for the info. I ended up calling AA. I was told that I could book coach with my travel agent and she could call to upgrade us to first class.

I didn’t realize that the upgrade would only be one way. We would want first class seats both ways obviously.

I need to speak with my husband and see what he thinks. If the miles didn’t expire, I would just save them up until they were worth more.

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

Thanks so much for the info. I ended up calling AA. I was told that I could book coach with my travel agent and she could call to upgrade us to first class.

I didn’t realize that the upgrade would only be one way. We would want first class seats both ways obviously.

I need to speak with my husband and see what he thinks. If the miles didn’t expire, I would just save them up until they were worth more.

AA miles expire with no activity after 18 months. Since you have the credit card miles earned from there count so as long as you buy a pack of gum once a year your miles won't expire.

As far as upgrading with miles, you also need to make sure there is availability to upgrade. Just because there are open seats doesn't mean they are available for upgrades. When you call just ask the agent if there are seats available to upgrade with miles. For 2 people round trip it would be 60k miles + $300.

 

[DVCjj]

I've flown First a couple of times from MCO to the ORD only when this criteria was met:
- flying through the dinner hour thus getting dinner
- VERY close to departure date, UA and AA have each offered in the past for +$90 each (a steal) but now like +$179 - not a steal - Not doing
- totally exhausted and obvious the plane is insanely crowded and just don't want to deal with
- ticket bought at a very reasonable price

 

[ColoradoMom12]

It depends a lot on the distance we’re traveling and the time of day. For shorter trips, we fly coach. I do business class for international (transatlantic- I have yet to cross the Pacific) flights. For domestic flights within the continental US, if we are traveling late at night or after a very busy day, I book first class so that we are more likely to be able to relax and possibly nap. Otherwise we’re fine with coach or just take Southwest where the seats all the same and free checked luggage is included!

 

[Summer2018]

AA miles expire with no activity after 18 months. Since you have the credit card miles earned from there count so as long as you buy a pack of gum once a year your miles won't expire.

As far as upgrading with miles, you also need to make sure there is availability to upgrade. Just because there are open seats doesn't mean they are available for upgrades. When you call just ask the agent if there are seats available to upgrade with miles. For 2 people round trip it would be 60k miles + $300.

I use this credit card all of the time, then pay off a big chunk if not the entire balance every month.

I would much prefer to save these miles and use them when they are worth more.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Lynn CC]

I did some research, and basically in order to upgrade to First Class, I would need to purchase more miles...a lot more miles. Unfortunately I cannot apply my miles earned to my account balance. I would like to just pay the difference in order to upgrade, but it sounds like there is only one way, purchasing miles.

United Airlines wouldn’t let me upgrade to 1st. When I booked our flights with miles. I called & they said it could not be done even though there were seats available.
I’ll never make that mistake again, DH had to fly coach, even though I got him extra legroom he was not happy.

 

[Summer2018]

We just booked our trip to the Poly this morning. I'm saving up my miles for a future trip, so we booked first class tickets on American Airlines LGA to MCO in June with our credit card. We have the first row seats with plenty of legroom right near the bathroom. We are so excited!

 

[AngiTN]

United Airlines wouldn’t let me upgrade to 1st. When I booked our flights with miles. I called & they said it could not be done even though there were seats available.
I’ll never make that mistake again, DH had to fly coach, even though I got him extra legroom he was not happy.

AA and delta both let you upgrade with miles
This is a good reason to not use United

 

[AngiTN]

I use this credit card all of the time, then pay off a big chunk if not the entire balance every month.

I would much prefer to save these miles and use them when they are worth more.

Thanks for your help.

Not sure they are ever worth more. We’ve had AA card for a long time. 25k is usual 1st class rate. 12.5k for standard. for example. We got 60k sign up miles. It’s 2 round trip domestic tickets

 

[Lynn CC]

AA and delta both let you upgrade with miles
This is a good reason to not use United

I had no idea, thank you for that info!