Who wouldn’t want to fly up front and earn miles for the same price most people paid for coach. I recently wrote an important post with information on Finding Cheap Business & First Class Fares, sometimes as low as coach. The most common feedback I’ve received is that everyone is thrilled to know where the fishing hole is, but they have no idea what anything means and therefore haven’t been able to go fishing.
If “(BUSINESS) OW RT AMS,CDG,FRA+ – GRU,GIG+ ~1808 A.I. Route Thru N.A. ( 1 2)” looks like nonsense, this post is for you.
Generally, what is being illustrated on the Premium Fare Deals Forum of Flyertalk (in order) is: The Cabin, The Airline or Alliance, The Possible Routings, The Pricing and any applicable Stopovers. In this example they make it clear by writing “Business”. In many examples they will put Y (coach), J (Business), F (First) instead. Next in this example you see OW which means One World Alliance and RT which means Round Trip. You are now introduced to the routing AMS, CDG, FRA-GRU, GIG. These are all airport codes. If you don’t know what the airport code stands for look it up on here. In this case we are talking about Amsterdam (AMS), Paris (CDG) or Frankfurt (FRA) to Sao Paulo (GRU) or Rio De Janeiro (GIG). FInally, we are presented with the price of $1808 all in with a “Route Through N.A.”, which means you can stop over in North America on your way. Two vacations in one! In the end, this person has presented you with flights that can originate from Paris, Amsterdam or Frankfurt, arrive in America for a short stay, depart America for South America and then return to Europe, all in Business Class all for $1,808 USD. WOW. Worth sorting through the bullsh*t. You could fly from Paris to Chicago, spend a few days in Chicago, fly to Rio for a beach vacation, fly back to New York on the way home for a few days vacation and then back to Paris. For fares this good, it can be worth buying a cheap flight to “position” yourself at the applicable starting airports. Of course you should always search the ITA Matrix and play with your location and currency…
If you are ever presented with a term, code or short hand you don’t understand, check the Flyertalk glossary and or Airport Code Database. I may have mentioned that I hate Flyertalk, most of it’s users and the general sentiment of the community, but it’s hard not to love the opportunity to take advantage of stellar sales before it’s too late!
As Always, Get in Touch: GodSaveThePoints@gmail.com
