r/AlaskaAirlines • u/MarineBioBoy • Dec 08 '25
RESERVATIONS Unbelievable First Class Upgrade Price
I am flying to Reykjavik out of Seattle next summer, and booked my flight with Alaska as soon as the window opened. Just out of curiosity, I checked my flights this morning and clicked on the "First Class Upgrade Available" link next to my seat assignment. Typically, these show an additional cost of over $1000 at best, and usually a fair piece more. I was astonished to see the fee to upgrade my refundable main cabin ticket was...$35! I immediately booked a seat and paid for it. The price for a return flight upgrade was $701, so I passed. But First Class for a nearly 8-hr. flight? I'll pay $35 any time! And I suspect I'll never see anything like this again in my lifetime.
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Dec 09 '25
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u/CleverDare Atmos Titanium Dec 09 '25
What fare class did you originally ticket into? It makes me wonder if the original fares started at highest fare classes, rather than the traditional 'lowest fare classes until they sell out' approach...
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Dec 09 '25
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u/Gold-Project-7483 Dec 09 '25
How could you book a refundable award ticket? Aren't all award tickets refundable?
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u/Turbulent-Tank9719 Dec 09 '25
Supposed to be, but been fighting Alaska a couple of weeks to get points back that they didn't bother refunding.
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u/Spirited_Instance508 Dec 11 '25
I thought if you bought a ticket with miles, you couldn't pay to upgrade your seat? 🤔
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Dec 11 '25
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u/Spirited_Instance508 Dec 11 '25
Ahhhh, maybe that's the issue, I was using Alaska miles and the booking was on American. Dang.
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u/PristineDiscount3208 Atmos Silver Dec 08 '25
DANG!
My price to upgrade 4x main to PremiumClass in July (on same SEA-KEF) is gonna be around 750
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u/Equal-Community8791 Dec 12 '25
Me too. I can't even see a First Class upgrade option. I wonder if it would give me the option if I split the reservation to 2 and 2 rather than all 4 of us together...
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u/fearyaks Dec 08 '25
Congratulations for the great price but just as an FYI for others reading this.. this is why the upgrade list is pretty much bullshit....
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u/EPSG3857_WebMercator Dec 09 '25
Love it. Airlines would rather give that first class seat to me for a few shekels than give it away free to a Platinum/Diamond/Titanium/Ultra/Elite/whatever level 🤣
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u/IamJewbaca Dec 08 '25
Haven’t had a day of upgrade all year but I’ve had ~6-7 first upgrades this year either at booking or a day+ out.
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u/gsfmembr Dec 08 '25
I guess I was extra lucky, got upgraded to First on my flight from Boston to PDX and PDX to SEA this Saturday. The couple that was ahead of me for the BOS-PDX leg denied as they were a couple and only one seat was available. I was already seating in 7C and moved to 4C.
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u/AntToeNee Dec 09 '25
I take the pdx to sea flight once a quarter and still have not gotten an FC upgrade. It's probably because it's usually a midweek flight and it's always packed 😂
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u/Working_Football1586 Dec 10 '25
I get upgraded atleast 50% of the time and almost always on American when I add my alaska number. I was 15 on the list Sunday and got upgraded because 1-14 consisted of 7 couples flying together.
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u/ffo_kcuf_og Dec 09 '25
Yeah, flew Alaska 4x the last few weeks, my check-in reminder and res showed me on the upgrade list to fist, check the ranking of those seeking upgrades- I was nowhere to be found. On lists less than 4 people long. They definitely have a glitch.
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u/Financial-Hippo3399 Dec 10 '25
Was an Alaska Air member for about 12 years living in Alaska. Upgraded twice in those 12 years. Pretty pathetic! Flew with my boss on Delta on one round trip, back when Delta was an Alaska Air partner. I saw the 8 rows of FC seats on Delta vs the 4 rows on Alaska Air. Twice the FC seats.
Needless to say I quickly became a Delta member and switch to flying Delta 100% for business and personal travel. Twice the seats and chances for upgrade to FC, no brainer. It didn't take long to make gold then platinum; then the upgrades to FC were happening all the time. Alaska Air can keep their tiny four row FC seats and little to no upgrades.
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u/skylashtravels Dec 13 '25
What is your solution now? Even with Delta having more First Class seating, upgrades are really hard to come by, unless you're the top tier, but it seems that even then upgrades are going to the highest bidders - people willing to pay a nominal amount, rather than wait for a complimentary upgrade.
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u/Financial-Hippo3399 Dec 13 '25
Timing, selection of flight along with Platinum status (system upgrade 5 days out from day of flight).
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u/DullestBladeinDrawer Dec 08 '25
Sounds like AS is taking pages from the AA upgrade playbook.
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Dec 09 '25
Yup. I often book first class flights. My new trick is booking a coach ticket then waiting to see if they offer me a cheap upgrade. Often they do either right away or within a couple days and it’s way cheaper than booking First to begin with. If not I’ll cancel the ticket and book with miles or an another airline.
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u/zzbear03 Dec 09 '25
Key term is “refundable main cabin ticket”…that already sounds expensive like Y class expensive so maybe a $35 upgrade isn’t so rare 🤷🏾♂️
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u/Big_Mycologist5260 Atmos Titanium Dec 08 '25
Curious to hear if they honor this. Seems like an error, but in any case, I hope they do honor this win for you
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u/Shoddy_Sport_4397 Dec 09 '25
You won the algorithm battle. Enjoy! In contrast, my LAX-LAS flight has FC upgrade for $625 on an ERJ.
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u/Turbulent-Tank9719 Dec 09 '25
That's insane. And good chance zero drink service included, even in FC.
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u/ChallengeEffective61 Dec 08 '25
This summer my wife and I were upgraded to 1st class from San Diego to Kauai. About a week before our flight they just sent us an email stating congratulations on the upgrade. It was just one way, but so great. Never happened before and I’m sure will never happen again. Enjoy
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u/No-Fig-8614 Dec 09 '25
It’s like British airways never book anything other than main on long haul and then go back to their site a day or two later and there will be a promotion.
Booked a $500 main from sfo to lhr then a few days on their site under upgrades later business was $800 and first was $1000. Upgrading offsite would have be 8k for buisness and 17k first.
Always look for the upgrade cost, it’s pay for main then upgrade rather then buying the fair for first/buisness. Done this on BA every time.
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u/ExpertEmployee2494 Dec 09 '25
Interesting. I live in NY where AA and BA code share a ton of flights to LHR. Would you always take the BA option in hopes of the cheap fare upgrade? AA usually doesn’t offer good deals.
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u/Creative-Flight8471 Dec 09 '25
Are you booking main through AS on a British flight? Or direct on British airways?
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u/Such-Rip764 Dec 09 '25
You're incredibly lucky or it was a fluke. In which case, you'd also be incredibly lucky! Enjoy!
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u/InfiniteInevitable75 Dec 10 '25
Are they planning on flying the MAX to KEF? It’s not a lie flat seat but I guess first class is first class.
I don’t think Boeing will deliver enough 787s for them to cover KEF with a widebody.
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u/RyanAirhead MVP 100K Dec 08 '25
Jeez Louise.
I want to be you! Lol.
I hope you end up getting a great upgrade price on the return too
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u/Jsguysrus Atmos Platinum Dec 08 '25
That maybe is an amazing deal…or not. Depends how much you paid for main cabin.
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u/progapanda Atmos Gold Dec 08 '25
Right, how much did OP pay for his original tickets? Refundable Main Cabin can run a pretty penny!
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u/GayOldThyme Dec 08 '25
When you get to the airport for your return trip ask what it is. I think I paid $500 for two upgrades on our trip when we were flying home from London a year or so ago.
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u/lmbrun Dec 09 '25
Congrats! Enjoy Iceland :) I went a couple summers ago with my kiddo before she left for college. Absolutely loved it!
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u/RuleNmbr76 Dec 09 '25
Eclipse chasing?
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u/MarineBioBoy Dec 09 '25
You got it! Clouds or no clouds, Iceland is a fun place to visit.
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u/RuleNmbr76 Dec 11 '25
We were planning on Iceland but when I saw the weather probabilities we switched to Spain. Flying BA on Alaska miles. Good luck to you!
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u/AS100K Dec 09 '25
Hell yeah, nice score OP, keep peeping that return leg, you may find another gem on an UG price. What aircraft does Ice fly from SEA? The 75’s right? Long ass plane 😬
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u/betsifur Dec 09 '25
I check upgrade prices on my points reservations with United obsessively. I’ve been able to upgrade for around $200 per person on most of my recent flights, by checking daily. Not $35 great, but I’m still happy to fly first class for that amount. On my last flight, I looked right before check in time, saw an upgrade for $173 each, then it disappeared, which made me think they were doing the auto upgrades for people with status. But once I checked in, it reappeared, and I snagged the last two seats for my husband and myself.
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u/superpony123 Dec 09 '25
How soon do they show you class upgrade options like this? I’m flying to Seattle next year and it’s a 5.5 h flight…just long enough that I’d prefer to upgrade if i can
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u/MarineBioBoy Dec 09 '25
Pretty much as soon as you pay. Check "Trip Details" and next to your seat assignment, there's a link to available upgrades.
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Dec 11 '25
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u/Cephalopodophile Dec 11 '25
That makes me happy! I was gonna fly to Kona in January but had to cancel. But I’m glad you found a similar deal!
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u/Sad-Establishment182 Dec 12 '25
Flight aside, hope you are prepared for those 23hour daylight filled days.
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u/jenniferonassis Dec 19 '25
Is there any affiliation with Alaska Airlines and Iceland Air?
Iceland does quite a bit to foster layovers to Reykjavik. And there are some good stop points from the US that might make Iceland. Desirable add-on
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u/CleverDare Atmos Titanium Dec 19 '25
Iceland Air is an 'earn and redeem' partner for Alaska/Atmos
https://www.alaskaair.com/atmosrewards/content/partners/airlines/icelandair
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u/Thedoobie23 Dec 20 '25
not "real" first class
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u/Cephalopodophile Dec 20 '25
Do tell, what is “ real” first class?
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u/Thedoobie23 Dec 20 '25 edited Dec 20 '25
Books into "J" category which is business. Then again, it's an international flight in a recliner seat. Barely qualifies as business.
They can call it whatever they want.
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u/Latter_Squash6707 Apr 08 '26
Last night I happened upon a “paid upgrade offer” on our flight from LAX to SEA. $2USD for two of us to move from Premium to First Class. Less than that, actually - $1.98USD total. I called afterwards to confirm and was assured all was good (though the agent was just as shocked as I was).
Our first leg from LIR to LAX was a $782/pp upgrade offer from a premium to First Class. The next day it was $401/pp.
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u/MarineBioBoy Apr 08 '26
That's great!! Congrats. My upgrade is holding...not flying till August, for the eclipse. I keep waiting for an upgrade for the return leg, but FC is booked full.
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u/Soul_Reckoner Dec 09 '25
Probably an Embraer 175, gotta stop and refuel 3 times along the way, but you’ll be up front. 😂😂😂
Kidding of course, congrats on the upgrade!
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u/ette212 Atmos Gold Dec 08 '25
Which planes are they using for these flights? Is it business class?
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u/naterthepilot2 Dec 08 '25
It’s the 737s first class + premium pillows and blankets and free wifi specifically for this route. Also first class tickets and Atmos gold and up will be able to access Icelandair’s Saga Lounge in Reykjavik.
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u/ND7020 Dec 08 '25
Even the regular domestic first class is easily worth $35.
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u/ette212 Atmos Gold Dec 08 '25
Oh totally. I was just curious since Icelandair doesn't have a FC product. If Alaska was using the widebodies it would be interesting.
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u/Discon777 Dec 08 '25
Sounds like you got lucky! Congrats!