First Class Cheaper Than Economy: Find Out When and How

First, the good news: the final price you pay in economy can sometimes be almost as expensive as what you would spend in a premium cabin. But why would that be good news for you? Let me explain. Now, the bad news: the price you pay for premium cabins won’t get any penny less expensive. The second part of the bad news: the price you pay for economy class may be much higher than you may think. 

From the beginning: this part may seem pretty obvious at first, but while paying for premium cabins, you pay for a lot of things which are not included in the base economy price. Examples include extra luggage, meals, seat selection, extra legroom, entertainment, etc… A lot of us probably go into booking tickets with the mindset that you definitely can’t afford first/business class, so you will book economy class and select add-ons which you would like without even contemplating business class. This is the wrong strategy, and will not get you the most out of your money. What I am getting at is that the economy class ticket that you pay for with add ons may be close to or even more expensive than the premium cabin ticket. Now, I will take you through a step-by-step process which will help you determine whether this strategy is worth it for you.

The Steps

1. 1. Compare: This is not a very complicated step, but always, always, always, alwayscompare the price difference between first class and economy. It could be that it is only a bit more expensive than economy and that you can afford to pay for it at a glance. If this is the case, do it. (If the price is way too high and there is no way possible that you could afford it, stick to economy and don’t do the math. It would be a waste of your time.) Unfortunately, most of the time, this is not the case, so stick with me if you want to know what to do next.
2. 2. Know your add ons: Now that you see that first class at a glance is a bit too expensive for you, know what you are going to pay for in economy class. Many people often upgrade to extra legroom economy (like Economy Plus) to make economy less painful with more legroom and recline. This is one of many possible economy add ons: extra legroom economy. Other possible add ons include extra luggage, meals, priority boarding, entertainment, seat selection, extra amenities, lounge access, etc… Most of these are available in premium cabins with no extra charge.
3. 3. Add them up: Add all of the extras which you would like up and add it to the base price of economy. You will get a number which is closer to the premium cabin price. If it is higher than the premium cabin price, pay for the higher class of service! 
4. 4. What you get in First: Unfortunately, most of the time (99%), the economy price with the add ons is not higher than the premium cabin price. This is because, in the premium cabin, you are not only paying for the highest level of economy, but you are also paying for better service, a comfortable (sometimes flatbed) seat, and good food. However, now, you should subtract the amount of money in the highest level of first class from the amount of money in the premium cabin.
5. 5. The Most out of Your Money: If you are willing and able to pay that amount of money more for the seat, food, and service, go for the upgrade. Now, you are seated in a higher class of service, which you thought you would never be in, but you only paid a bit more money than you would have spent for in economy! 

Reminders: 

1. Due to the significant price differences on long-haul flights between economy and business class, this strategy mostly only works on short haul flights.
2. If you buy the bare minimum on flights in economy, and only want the bare minimum, this strategy does not apply to you.
3. Remember that some business classes are created better than others. In examples, Qatar’s short haul business class is much better than Lufthansa’s (See Airline Database)
4. Remember the difference between want and able to purchase an upgrade!
5. Without going into great detail, remember that if you do collect miles for a specific airline, you earn more miles in a premium cabin than in economy class. 

Example A: Traveling From New York to Portland for 1 Week on Delta

Random Scenario: You live in New York City. You are traveling on your own to Portland, Oregon for one week, and you don’t have any Delta status as you are not a very frequent flyer, so you don’t get any of the premium benefits. You look on Delta’s website and decide to originally go for Delta Comfort + as you prefer extra legroom. It costs $438 roundtrip in Delta Comfort +, and you advance to the flight confirmation page. You see that first class for a roundtrip is around $500 more expensive than Delta Comfort +.

On the flight confirmation page, you see the price for Delta Comfort +, but what you may not realize are all of the additional baggage prices which you will have to pay. You are taking two checked bags, which will cost you $60 each way, or $120 round trip, bringing your price up to $558 roundtrip.

You now play around on that page and see an upgrade option and select it and see that the price of first class would be $936, including two bags, opposed to Delta Comfort + with two bags at $588. That would be a $348 price difference. You plan to buy a meal which costs around $10 on each flight, totaling to paying $20 total for meals in Comfort + in total on both flights. This reduces the price difference to $328.

Now it is up to you: $328 difference from economy to business, a substantially smaller price difference than the around $500 price difference originally contemplated. That price difference is for a bigger, wider, more reclinable seat, better service, and a full restaurant quality meal. Now, when contemplating this upgrade, you have to think if you are able, and if you are able, are you willing to spend $328 more for first class. Not everyone would take this upgrade, but more would take this $328 upgrade over the $500 upgrade. This is not the best example of what you can get out of this strategy, but I included it because most short-haul flights have price differences in the same ballpark as on the one that I included. 

Example B: Booking one way from Washington DC to Houston

Second Scenario: You are traveling from DC to Houston on United out of Washington Dulles. You are not a frequent flyer, so you don’t have any of the premium benefits of being a United Frequent Flyer. You are flying in the morning on a Boeing 767-300er and originally decided to take Economy Plus, costing $305 in total, as shown in the two pictures below.

However, if you look back at booking First Class, you would have seen that it costs only $72 more than Economy Plus. Since you would have bought a meal in Economy for $10, it would have only cost around $62 more than Economy Plus.

First/Business Class on the Boeing 767-300ER features flat-bed seats. So, if you booked Economy Plus, you would be getting a tiny seat, a tiny bit more legroom than regular economy, a bad meal for purchase. For $62 more, you get a flat bed seat, a good meal, premium check-in (think of the time saved not spending in lines) more miles earned than in economy class, and superior service, all which I value way above the additional $62 paid. This is probably one of the best deals which are involved with this strategy.

Bottom Line:

There aren’t that many times where First Class is only a bit more expensive than economy class. There are times for where you should seriously consider booking First such as in the Delta example, but where it is still a bit of a stretch to most Economy travelers. However, there are also some times where Economy with its add-ons is almost as expensive as First/Business, where you should book First/Business instead of the economy.