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* – I’m just going to start this post off by saying that I did not LITERALLY spend (only) 80 cents for a first class flight.  If you came here expecting a report on how you could fly first class for only 80 cents, you might as well just stop reading right now!  My record for cheapest first class ticket was $85 during the “Great Dane” mistake fare from February 2015.

best-80-cents

A recent airline upgrade to flying first class cost me 80 cents out of pocket! Needless to say, that was the easiest decision I ever made!

My round the world flight

Many of you who read the blog know that I am in the middle of planning a round the world flight.  The basic framework involves a flight from the US to Southeast Asia using American miles (flying either Cathay Pacific or Japan Airlines first class), and then back to the US on Emirates First Class via Dubai, using Alaska miles.

If you’re interested in following through the logistics of the planning and booking of a ticket, you might be interested in some of the following posts:

It’s time to upgrade to first class!

Last week, I wrote about how there seemed to be a TON of first class award space on Japan Airlines flights from the US to Tokyo.  And amazingly, even though I had typically only seen space opening up 14 days before departure, there were 2 first class seats available on ORD-NRT on exactly the dates I needed!!

I wasted no time calling in to update my tickets from the business class that we originally booked to first class.  ‘

rtw-first-class-itinerary

This cost an additional 25,000 miles (going from 50,000 miles to 62,500 miles per person), but the weird thing is that the taxes and fees also changed – going from $67.10 to $67.50.  Needless to say, I was totally fine to pay an additional 80 cents to upgrade to first class!

I wish there was a way to be able to get in first class all the way to Singapore, but I haven’t found a good way (yet?).  I will be monitoring for space on Cathay Pacific first class to open up as we get closer to departure to see if we can get an even BETTER route!


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