Everybody loves to travel First Class, and nobody wants to pay for it. And now, you don’t have to: let FareCompare.com reveal the secrets of traveling like a king, without paying a kings ransom. Discount First Class airfares, known in the airline industry as “Y-Up” and “Q-Up” airfares, are not hard to find if you use FareCompare.com’s handy tools. And we’ve made it even easier, with this step-by-step guide:

Guide to Finding and Purchasing Cheap First Class Seats

These discount first class tickets are the airline industry’s best-kept secret. Called Y-Ups, they price like a coach ticket, they look like a coach ticket, but when you sit down, you are one seat behind the pilot — and they serve warm cookies.

FareCompare.com is the only web site that tracks over 100,000 of these confirmed discounted first class airfares. Y-Up airfares are intentionally published by the airlines to look exactly like a coach ticket, but the seats are allocated in the first class cabin. This sneaky little trick allows corporate travelers to legitimately & inexpensively get around their “No First Class Travel” policy.

Y-Up airfares are deeply discounted first class airline tickets available for travel within/between the United States and Canada. They do NOT apply to international coach, business or first class air travel.

Y-Up fares are not perfect for every occasion. Some are very low at $280 roundtrip; most Y-Up airfares are very similar in price to the business walk-up and 7-day advance purchase airfares. The price of Y-Up airfares is driven by competition within certain markets. So, don’t be disappointed if the price isn’t what you expect for the places you want to go.

Always check Y-Ups when traveling at the last minute, or if you miss your flight. You may be rewarded with a confirmed first class seat for around the same price.

Frequent flyers may also find that Y-Ups are the same cost or less than entering into the uncertain first class upgrade lottery, and are confirmed in first class cabin, before frequent flyer upgrades

Top 10 Discount First Class Airline Ticket Tips

• Seat inventory for Y-Up airfares is almost always available — even on full flights, peak days and times (Mondays, Fridays, Sundays, Holidays) or last-minute trips.
• Frequent corporate travelers have the most to gain from Y-Up airfares. For the same or cheaper price than they are paying for refundable and last minute coach tickets, they get a confirmed first class cabin seat BEFORE frequent fliers are automatically upgraded. You don’t have to compete against the 60 road warriors that are vying for upgrades to 10 first class seats when you purchase a Y-Up.
• Most airline and travel agents don’t know about Y-Up airfares. You should ask for Y-Up airfares by name as most agents are not trained to offer these even though they may be cheaper.
• Most “self-serve” corporate booking tools do not check for Y-Up airfares. You will need to call your corporate agent and ask for them specifically.
• Most Y-Up airfares are one-way. If you miss your flight be sure and ask the airline ticket agent to check for a Y-Up. Many times the Y-Up first class airline ticket will be cheaper than the walk-up coach ticket for the flight replacing the one you missed.
• In many cases Y-Up airfares are refundable and are always exchangeable.
• If there is a super cheap Y-Up airfare, it is normally due to a promotion or an airline attempting to match a smaller competitor that has first class cabin seating on the same route.
• Make sure the planes on your itinerary have a first class cabin. You may end up on a regional jet on a segment of your journey that does not have a first class cabin.
• Y-Up airfares are great for special occasions and in some cases are a better deal than using your frequent flyer miles for a first class seat (honeymoons, anniversaries, …)
• Y-Up airfares are booked in the first class cabin; you will get frequent flyer mileage based on buying a first class ticket (usually 2 times the mileage award of a coach ticket).

The remainder of this document describes the Farecompare.com tool for finding and booking first class Y-Up airfares to your favorite destinations.

Step 1 - Select The Discount First Class Y-Up Tool

You can access the discount first class Y-Up Tool from the FareCompare.com home page.

http://www.farecompare.com or directly at this link

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Click the “First Class Search” button located in the “Discount First Class” box in the middle of the home page. You will be taken to a result page that has the cheapest Y-Up airfares listed for the default Departure city. Farecompare.com technology uses a ‘best guess’ to choose your Departure city and number of passengers. See screen copy below and resulting Y-Up airfares (sorted by price lowest to highest) from default airport.

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Step 2 - Change Your Departure City and Number of Passengers (if necessary)

The Search bar at the top of the page allows you to change the Departure city if our ‘best guess’ wasn’t quite right for your itinerary and number of Passengers. Type in the new Departure city and/or number of Passengers, then click the “Search” button.

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Step 3 - List Desired Results Using Sort Feature

Click on the underlined column title to sort data by column heading. Using the sort feature helps you find your “Destination” city alphabetically or shop for the cheapest discount airfares across the country.

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The “Round Trip” prices are the cheapest Y-Up first class fares. As a reference, the cheapest “Walk-Up Coach” prices (zero day advance purchase) are listed to compare against the “Round Trip” prices. Each Y-Up “Fare Class” code is listed. Note that the airlines use several other prefix letters other than a “Y” when filing Y-Up fares.

Step 4 - Select Destination City for First Class Fare Search Results

Clicking on the underlined “Destination” city takes you to the Fare Search result page for round trip prices in coach and first class. Our example “Destination” city, as shown below, is Kansas City.

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The cheapest price for travel by month in coach and first class are displayed by row as in the screen copy below.

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You can view Y-Up first class fares for your favorite airline by selecting it in the “Airline” select box and First Class in the “Cabin” select box. Press “+Add Row” to view results.

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If your trip is one-way, press the “One-Way” button on the Search bar at the top of the screen. Then click “Search”. When changing your trip from round trip to one-way, you will have to select First Class in the “Cabin” select box in the toolbar below the airfare grid to display first class fares again. Press “+Add Row” to display Y-Up first class one-way fares.

Step 5 - Select Your Desired Departure Month

Clicking on the cell below your preferred departure month will display prices by day in a calendar. You can click the cell for cheapest Y-Ups on All Airlines or if you have a favorite airline already displayed, click the cell on its row below the departure month.

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See screen copy of resulting calendar below:

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Step 6 - Select Departure Day to Display Airline Prices

Each day on the calendar contains the cheapest airline ticket price for travel departing that day. Clicking on your desired Departure day reveals the airlines with prices on that day. You can compare up to 3 days.

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Step 7 - Display the Return Day Calendar

Click on the “Select Return Day” box to display the prices by calendar for Return days on or after your selected Departure day.

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Step 8 - Select Your Preferred Return Day

In a similar fashion as selecting your Departure day, you can select up to 3 return days for comparison.

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Step 9 - Request Flight & Price Information

Clicking the “Find Flights” box will retrieve all first class flights and display the results. See screen copy in Step 10.

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Step 10 - Select the Best Itinerary for Purchase

An Itinerary Search result page will be displayed with the cheapest first class fares by airline and number of stops. Review Flight times and details, then choose your preferred itinerary by clicking the “Select” box.

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Step 11 - Review Itinerary and Complete the Purchase

Farecompare.com will direct your itinerary request to the airline or online travel agency website for purchase. From there you will provide passenger and credit card information. Be sure to confirm that flights are in the first class cabin on the itinerary review page before you purchase. The airline or online travel agency website will electronically ticket your trip and give you a record locator number. Remember FareComapre.com doesn’t sell tickets, we just help you find the best deals, coach or first class — your purchase is on a supplier or online travel agency website.

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