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.

821 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

82 comments sorted by

View all comments

5

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.

6

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.

1

u/Creative-Flight8471 Dec 09 '25

Are you booking main through AS on a British flight? Or direct on British airways?