In this post I wanted to talk about a topic that’s near and dear to my heart — airports with consistently great airfare pricing, especially in premium cabins.
Obviously I prefer to redeem miles and points for premium cabin flights whenever possible. But with a bit of work, you can sometimes find first and business class tickets with incredibly attractive pricing, costing only a fraction of what you’d pay if originating elsewhere.
In this post, I wanted to look at this in a bit more detail. Which airports have great pricing in first and business class? Why is that the case? And does it even matter, if you don’t live near one of those airports?
In this post:
Why is airfare pricing so origin dependent?
Airline pricing is incredibly complex. Airlines don’t charge for tickets based on the cost of providing transportation, but rather price based on the desire to maximize revenue as much as possible. The goal is always to get the highest fares possible while also filling as many seats as possible — after all, when a seat goes out empty, that’s lost revenue.
Airlines do a lot of price discriminating to segment the market, and they do this in a variety of ways. One of those methods is knowing that the willingness of consumers to pay differs significantly based on where you’re originating.
Let me explain that in the form of example. SWISS has roundtrip first class fares from Cairo to New York via Zurich for under $3,800.
Meanwhile do you want to fly the same exact itinerary, but in the opposite direction? Well, that’ll cost you over $14,000.
That’s just one example. The same principle also explains why when you’re looking at a simple domestic itinerary, where a nonstop is often more expensive than a connecting itinerary. Yes, it costs the airline more to transport you on two separate flights, but airlines also know that people are willing to pay a premium for convenience, and therefore may price nonstops higher.
So just remember, on a micro level, airline pricing is never about the costs incurred by airlines, but rather about the willingness of consumers to pay.
Which airports have the cheapest fares?
Over the years, some airports have certainly earned a reputation for having cheap first and business class fares. Let me of course emphasize that this won’t be the case in every single situation, but still, it’s true more often than not.
Before I share some specific examples, let me note some general trends between markets when traveling in premium cabins. You’ll typically find that:
- Airfare is the most expensive if originating in the United States, so you’ll find that transatlantic fares are typically much cheaper if originating in Europe, India, etc.
- In Asia, itineraries are much cheaper if originating in Southeast Asia than in North Asia
- In the greater Middle East region, itineraries are typically much cheaper if originating in North Africa, India, Pakistan, etc., rather than on the Gulf peninsula
Now, to be a bit more specific, there are some airports that are known for having exceptionally good fares. Historically I’ve talked about the three “Cs,” which are known for their amazing first and business class fares. I’m talking about:
- Cairo, Egypt (CAI)
- Colombo, Sri Lanka (CMB)
- Casablanca, Morocco (CMN)
Now, I like the sound of all the airports starting with the letter “C,” though I should mention that in North Africa, Algiers, Algeria (ALG), and Tunis, Tunisia (TUN), also have very attractive premium airfare. While those are probably the airports where I see the most consistently good fares, I should also mention some more broadly useful airports for these purposes:
- If originating in Europe, you’ll often find the best fares in Northern Europe, like if departing Copenhagen, Denmark (CPH) or Oslo, Norway (OSL), or from Dublin, Ireland (DUB)
- If originating in Southeast Asia, you’ll often find the best fares from Bangkok, Thailand (BKK), Jakarta, Indonesia (CGK), and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (KUL)
Fortunately by using tools like Google Flights, it’s super easy to compare fares across various markets, and to find the good deals that are available. Let me emphasize that you’ll of course want to check the visa requirements for these airports based on the passport you have. And also just remember that transiting Cairo Airport isn’t always a pleasure…
Are there any practical implications here?
Understandably, many people are probably saying “I live in Houston, how does a good fare out of Cairo help me?” Well… that’s a fair point.
Admittedly I’m an outlier here, because I often take trips to review specific first and business class products, and want to do so as economically as possible. That often brings me through Cairo Airport, where I can almost always find a great premium fare for whatever product I want to review.
Now, while I’m an extreme example, I’m not alone. There are plenty of aviation geeks who want to take specific inaugural flights, and originating the trip at one of these airports is often the best value, by far.
But even beyond those of us who are such enthusiasts, I think there’s a general case to be made for the value cheap premium fares can provide. For example, if you’re planning a vacation to a destination with great premium fares, you can always redeem miles for one direction of travel, and book a cheap premium cabin fare for the other direction of travel.
There’s also something to be said for nesting tickets somewhere with cheaper fares. For example, say you often travel between the United States and Europe. Let’s say you live in Los Angeles and travel to Dublin often.
Rather than consistently booking tickets from Los Angeles to Dublin, maybe book a one-way award ticket, and then start planning your trips as roundtrips originating in Dublin instead, with your “layover” being your time at home in Los Angeles.
Why? Well, Aer Lingus’ roundtrip business class fares from Los Angeles to Dublin are typically close to $4,000.
Meanwhile fares in the other direction of travel are roughly half that.
That’s quite a difference, eh?
Bottom line
Airfare pricing can differ drastically based on where your travel is originating, even if you’re going between the same city pairs. There are some great opportunities to take advantage of this, by positioning yourself to airports with cheap fares.
Admittedly this isn’t practical for everyone, and in most cases won’t make sense. Still, I figured it was worth discussing this in a bit more detail, and explaining why Cairo Airport has basically become my second home when traveling. 😉
Have you ever booked a cheap premium fare out of one of these “special” airports?
If originating in Europe, BUD can also be a great bet.
Lucky didn't mention it, but Manila can also be a good place for booking relatively cheap premium airfare. SQ flights are particularly noteworthy for this, in fact.
Yep! I booked a RT Etihad Biz from MNL to GVA for $1450.
That's heck of a deal
Also worth pointing out that roundtrips can often be cheaper than one way tix. I recently needed to book a one way ticket from Europe to the US, but found it was a couple hundred dollars cheaper to book a roundtrip with the "return" to Europe for early November.
I routinely find return J seats CGK to ORD or SFO or YUL for about $3300. Great deals if you look. If I try to book from DPS the fares double.
Georgia (Russia) has a similar fare anomaly. Return flights to Batumi from W Europe are almost double those to Tbilisi (which is further).
Georgia is NOT Russia!
Great post! Even for me I am looking to try different first class products as a 'holiday' and positioning to these airports are one of the best ways to do it.
Though it would be good as someone else pointed out if you could do another post or update this post to reflect how it actually works in practice. I know you have written extensively about Cairo but more generally like do you stay in...
Great post! Even for me I am looking to try different first class products as a 'holiday' and positioning to these airports are one of the best ways to do it.
Though it would be good as someone else pointed out if you could do another post or update this post to reflect how it actually works in practice. I know you have written extensively about Cairo but more generally like do you stay in hotels and plan an overnight, do you leave a buffer, do you not check bags and just transit at the airport, do immigration officials ever question you, obviously different countries have different visa rules etc.
Bangkok, Saigon and Kuala Lumpur are no long cheap airports to find J fares. Jakarta is the only one, hands down.
I don’t know, but your website is getting to be very annoying with all the pop up ads… it almost impossible to read an article with more than a dozen pop ups appearing one after another! Just something to consider
Here's something to consider: an ad blocker. If you're on a Samsung, just as an example, open Settings, choose Privacy Dashboard, and swipe Block Pop-ups to the right. Voila, no annoying ads on OMAAT and no download required.
AMD and KTM are also good candidates.
You mentioned tools such as Google Flights. Perhaps you would like to expand on what tools you regularly use.
I like the Dub to Lax booking idea.
Don't even THINK of applying for an Algerian visa just to use Algiers as the base for a RT to the World. Things are extremely disorganized, corrupt to the bone, and also practically impossible if you are French (the former colonial power) with a lot of hostility towards France 62 years after the "Algerian War".
In addition, the hard and soft products on Air Algérie (often needed) make Air Koryo feel like Emirates.
Ok, so I would expand your comments/strategy to award redemption on Outbound flight and then look for opportunistic one way fare back to the US from the cities you mentioned.
For example I booked Outbound flight May 31st SFO-BKK in business class using 75K Alaska Miles. I had the return booked with 85K Aeroplan points SIN-BOM-JFK. But then I stumbled upon a purchased ticket in Business Class one way on Singapore Airlines KUL-SIN-SFO using Amex...
Ok, so I would expand your comments/strategy to award redemption on Outbound flight and then look for opportunistic one way fare back to the US from the cities you mentioned.
For example I booked Outbound flight May 31st SFO-BKK in business class using 75K Alaska Miles. I had the return booked with 85K Aeroplan points SIN-BOM-JFK. But then I stumbled upon a purchased ticket in Business Class one way on Singapore Airlines KUL-SIN-SFO using Amex IAP fare on their portal for US$1800. Calculating the 5x Membership rewards and all the AS miles that would earned as a Gold 100K, this fare was much cheaper than the award redemption.
I have noticed that "lower fare" countries have significant local currency devaluations and airlines make the premium fares "more affordable". I also speculate that air fares are "regulated" by countries of origin and thus airfare cannot "float" on a weekly basis based on currency exchange rates.
One thing to mention is that you get a nice 30% discount originating from Canada if purchasing in US$. Challenge is the positioning flight from USA.
Lucky, Casablanca not anymore, at least not on Qatar Airways to the US. This was the case 4 years ago,then it disappeared fairly abruptly. Curiously, the fares from Marrakesh, Morocco, a stone's throw from Casablanca, remained extremely cheap for over a year after those from Casablanca increased dramatically.
The reason for the increase(s) was that fares remained cheap for Moroccans but not for foreigners,The trick was to still have low fares in Moroccan Dirhams, but...
Lucky, Casablanca not anymore, at least not on Qatar Airways to the US. This was the case 4 years ago,then it disappeared fairly abruptly. Curiously, the fares from Marrakesh, Morocco, a stone's throw from Casablanca, remained extremely cheap for over a year after those from Casablanca increased dramatically.
The reason for the increase(s) was that fares remained cheap for Moroccans but not for foreigners,The trick was to still have low fares in Moroccan Dirhams, but those could be bought exclusively with Moroccan credit cards. For the rest of us, although nominally in Dirhams, the prices are now much higher and converted "for show" into Dirhams from a level established in USD. These fares are payable with cards NOT in Dirhams.
Can those tickets be purchased locally using Dirham banknotes?
Great article, but scrub Bangkok (BKK) off the list. Post pandemic, the great J class fares have dried up. How do i know this? I knew about the cheap fares, and regularly positioned myself to Bangkok as my 'originating' airport for business class long hauls to Europe and the Middle East. Cheap J class fares are now over (but hopefully will return one day).
Lucky what are your thoughts about using a vpn to spoof locations to other regions to purchase tickets. i.e tickets may be cheaper if purchasing while location is in brazil vs usa
That's something I am wondering about too. I know airlines keep an eagle eye on one's location when booking.
Maybe a 3rd party booking like Google, booking.com etc. would overcome that issue?
I've tried playing this game and the savings seem to be negligible.
I rely on Istanbul (IST) since fares are pretty competitive, at least when it comes to flying roundtrip in business to the US (on BA, RJ, and a few other carriers). I usually preposition in IST because it is much cheaper than flying out of the Gulf. Have never found Islamabad to have cheaper fares to the US, however.
It’s been quite some time since you last wrote about this topic. Thanks for revisiting it.
WE WANT TIM DUNN!!!!
Kathmandu is another sleeper. I regularly see <$1800 fares in J to the US from there.
more like *C*athmandu and I right? ok ill see myself out
Great article. As a pricing professional, you nailed it - willingness to pay is often key to understanding pricing, not just in aviation but in many industries. At an all-hands meeting last year, though my company is not in aviation or even direct provision of transportation, we had a Delta executive come in to speak to us about their pricing practice. Absolutely fascinating discussion with the optimization of profitability across all passenger fare categories a...
Great article. As a pricing professional, you nailed it - willingness to pay is often key to understanding pricing, not just in aviation but in many industries. At an all-hands meeting last year, though my company is not in aviation or even direct provision of transportation, we had a Delta executive come in to speak to us about their pricing practice. Absolutely fascinating discussion with the optimization of profitability across all passenger fare categories a degree of complexity that I do not have to worry about nearly as much in my business!
I have a great idea for a new post. With all of the newly minted BA Golds, what would be the cheapest for us to fly by October 14th?
HAHA. Yes!
Another yes!! And not everyone jumped on the status match right away. Some waited until the end of the promotional period.
Living as I do in a remote part of Spain (Canary Islands), I check several hubs for prices when booking C class seats.
The two obvious hubs for me - MAD and BCN - are usually pretty expensive and I have flown from AMS (HKG in Feb 2020) and FCO last year. The price from FCO to SIN last August was much, much cheaper than elsewhere in Europe (Saudia, which was great). Unusually, I did...
Living as I do in a remote part of Spain (Canary Islands), I check several hubs for prices when booking C class seats.
The two obvious hubs for me - MAD and BCN - are usually pretty expensive and I have flown from AMS (HKG in Feb 2020) and FCO last year. The price from FCO to SIN last August was much, much cheaper than elsewhere in Europe (Saudia, which was great). Unusually, I did find the best deal earlier this month to KUL was from Madrid (with Etihad)
I have never found CMN to be cheap, in spite of Morocco being a lower income country than Spain.
Absolutely and definitely not true from Casablanca! The pricing is similar ex-Southern Europe and often more expensive! I've been spending 20 years on a regular basis looking for those cheap fares and then have some extensive knowledge for that matter.
And I don't underscore ex-RBA which is considered as a premiuim high yield outstation by AF.
Do you have any relevant cheap fares examples ex-CMN? Maybe some super rare exceptions/price appeals like CMN-NYC-CMN with the...
Absolutely and definitely not true from Casablanca! The pricing is similar ex-Southern Europe and often more expensive! I've been spending 20 years on a regular basis looking for those cheap fares and then have some extensive knowledge for that matter.
And I don't underscore ex-RBA which is considered as a premiuim high yield outstation by AF.
Do you have any relevant cheap fares examples ex-CMN? Maybe some super rare exceptions/price appeals like CMN-NYC-CMN with the three alliances around 1700/1800€ all year but nothing really "cheap" in comparaison with ex-TUN or ex-CAI if you consider the global network.
Even super deals from CAI in F class are extremely rare and AF deleted "by principle" all fares less than 7000/10000€ even from North Africa. Preferring to have an average factor load of about 50% or less for all destinations (except the US) rather than lowering its prices in La Première as it used to do to have full F cabins.
Last but not least, your example with LX is not very relevant and it's the exception which confirms the rule since it's a mix with a what is considered as a short long-haul in EuroBusiness in A320 (which means Economy+) with a LX LH First Class. A typical local First Class pax in North Africa would never spend more than 2,5/3h MAX on those non-comfy pre-long-haul flights.
But since the US are a very big country, you don't have the same psychological sensitivity/prospesctive to what is considered as a definitely too long medium haul flight.
Last year there was deal for Kolkata, India to NYC on Singapore business class for around 1700 round-trip. Since I travel there multiple times a year booked a couple of these around different actual trips (since I reside at the "destination")! Booked Qatar qsuite one way for the "positioning" legs using aa miles!
The claim that airfares originating from the USA are 'the most expensive' is ridiculously simplistic.
The USA isn't a cheap market, but you can hardly claim that it always is the most expensive in the entire world. For example, DXB-NYC and back in BA A-class (discount first) in July is about 50% more than NYC-DXB and back.
By the way, the person who lives in Houston can always jump across and start long haul...
The claim that airfares originating from the USA are 'the most expensive' is ridiculously simplistic.
The USA isn't a cheap market, but you can hardly claim that it always is the most expensive in the entire world. For example, DXB-NYC and back in BA A-class (discount first) in July is about 50% more than NYC-DXB and back.
By the way, the person who lives in Houston can always jump across and start long haul tickets from MEX, CUN or some Caribbean island if they don't like the prices from the local airport.
Fares ex Argentina are also a lot of fun, AA business class is nearly double flying EZE-NYC-EZE than NYC-EZE-NYC due to the absurd impuesto PAIS which Mr Milei has 'forgotten' to abolish.
Just curious - What do you tell the immigration officer when they ask about why you’re in Cairo / Colombo / etc…
You're transiting. Most of the time you'll have your BPs on an app to even show them. TUN is an airport I've done it a couple of times - it's annoying but so cheap and you get a lot of status miles. They have never given me any problems aside for checking my bag for drugs (My Canadian passport always causes a secondary search for cannabis).
Can you do immediate return on two separate tickets without a bag checked and without entering the country without a visa?
Does this apply to award ticket fuel surcharges too? I want to try Emirates First but not if it's $800-$1300 in surcharges.
@ Super -- Unfortunately not. Surcharges do vary based on your origin, but airports with cheaper fares don't necessarily have lower surcharges. If you want to fly Emirates first class with low surcharges, book one of the fifth freedom transatlantic flights, as JFK-MXP and EWR-ATH have low fees.
It DOES apply to surcharges, both because they can vary from market to market (e.g. Lufthansa charge four-figure sums from the USA but not quite as much from Europe, and a bit less still from Mexico) and because there are a couple of jurisdictions which restrict (e.g. Japan) or outlaw (e.g. Brazil) surcharges.
Cairo is a lot more compelling w/ the Le Meridien attached to the terminal. Tunis is pretty EZ too and has some (much) more appealing flight times thru Europe to boot
@ Willem -- Indeed, the LM CAI does make things easier, and it's a very pleasant hotel!
I think TUN is actually pretty tough. No airside transit or airport hotel. The Saudia flights are so cheap but they leave at 11:40 AM so not much room to manoeuvre if on a morning flight. The lounge is also not so great. Never done CAI to know but TUN is no walk in the park.
The Novotel is also pretty good. There is a shuttle you can get to/from the airport. Just call the hotel when you arrive for your pick up location. Hotel also has great rooms which are comfortable and modern. And it's normally cheaper than the Le Meridien. The airport shuttle leaves the airport every 30 min, but if your running late, just order an Uber (it's crazy cheap in Egypt, a ride to the airport from...
The Novotel is also pretty good. There is a shuttle you can get to/from the airport. Just call the hotel when you arrive for your pick up location. Hotel also has great rooms which are comfortable and modern. And it's normally cheaper than the Le Meridien. The airport shuttle leaves the airport every 30 min, but if your running late, just order an Uber (it's crazy cheap in Egypt, a ride to the airport from the Novotel is $2 - that's including the huge airport surcharge).
Worth mentioning that the first class fare from Cairo to NYC via Zurich is only in First class from Zurich to NYC; the first leg is on A220 (Intra europe Business class / Blocked middle seats for 4 hours), thats the case for most north african routes
Being creative with your origin airport can be tricky for visa purposes. Some countries, like the US, need to see a return ticket if you are not a citizen or resident. Sometimes the check-in agent will check if you have a return ticket. In flights to the US, the agent at the gate checks the return ticket.
Normally this only concerns the country to which you are travelling, but there's never a need for an actual return ticket. If you don't have specific plans, a cheap onward international flight (e.g. Italy to Moldova, BKK to KUL) on a low-cost airline is normally more than sufficient to keep check in staff happy.
I'd recommend buying a refundable ticket with an airline rather than a cheap one-way nonrefundable ticket. With the former, just refund it once you've shown it to immigration, and you get all of your money back. With the cheap throwaway ticket, you will still lose some money.
That can often work, but even ostensibly refundable tickets sometimes come with admin fees for cancellations, so care needs to be exercised to ensure they don't end up costing more than the low-cost option.
https://onwardticket.com/
a few $ and you have an onward ticket for 3 days to 14
No need to mess with miles /points $