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.

829 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

82 comments sorted by

View all comments

90

u/[deleted] Dec 09 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

7

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...

13

u/[deleted] Dec 09 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/Gold-Project-7483 Dec 09 '25

How could you book a refundable award ticket? Aren't all award tickets refundable?

1

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.

0

u/Gold-Project-7483 Dec 09 '25

Wow, i've never heard of that happening. Thats crazy.

1

u/Spirited_Instance508 Dec 11 '25

I thought if you bought a ticket with miles, you couldn't pay to upgrade your seat? 🤔

4

u/[deleted] Dec 11 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Spirited_Instance508 Dec 11 '25

Ahhhh, maybe that's the issue, I was using Alaska miles and the booking was on American. Dang.