The California Edition: What Bruce Lee would do, Transcon Part 2
Last month we showed New York travelers how Bruce Lee would handle ridiculous transcon fares.
Turns out, he'd do the same thing from California – just with different airports.
The move? Add a "free" destination to lower the fare.
The intelligence? Airline pricing isn't logic. It's patterns you can exploit.
California to New York
We already did the heavy lifting. Ran a zillion fare combinations. Found the openings. We've got your numbers.
This isn't about becoming a fare analyst. This is about using research someone else already completed.
That's Upgrade Intelligence. Not doing more work – doing smarter work.
THE FRICTION
(IT'S THE SAME FROM BOTH COASTS)
Business Class from Los Angeles to New York has been brutal:
- American Airlines: $2,470+ round-trip
- Delta: $4,300 to $5,800 round-trip
- United: $2,300 to $2,610 round-trip
For 11 hours of total flying. Across your own country.
Meanwhile, Delta charges $3,104 to Madrid. United charges less to fly you to Tokyo than at peak times to New Jersey.
The pricing makes no sense – unless you understand it's not about distance or logic. It's about demand, competition, and route economics.
Which means: Where there's friction, there's usually an opening.
THE STRATEGY (QUICK REMINDER)
If you read last month's piece, you know this already. If you're new: Here's the short version.
Airlines price routes based on algorithms that optimize for profit, not logic.
Sometimes by adding a destination – a third flight segment – the total fare is cheaper than flying direct.
Why? Because the airline wants to fill seats on less popular routes. Or because connecting through a hub creates pricing opportunities. Or because their algorithm just does weird things.
Bruce Lee call edit "be like water."
Instead of booking Los Angeles to New York round-trip, you book Los Angeles to New York to Cancun to Los Angeles on Delta and save 45%. Or stop in Phoenix. Or Boston. Or Fort Lauderdale.
Same origin. Same final destination. Same trip. But you add a "free" stop – and save hundreds or thousands of dollars.
Sometimes the savings are modest. Sometimes you knock 50% off. Sometimes you get a free vacation and still pay less.
WHO THIS IS FOR
In The Upgrade Process, Step 2 is about Desires – what you actually want, not what sounds good or what you're "supposed" to want.
This works if you desire:
- Lower fares without sacrificing comfort or class of service
- More experience wealth (an extra destination) without spending more money
- Freedom from the elite status charade that doesn't deliver anymore
- Flexibility to add leisure to a business trip you can expense
- A way to outsmart airline pricing instead of just complaining about it
This doesn't work if you need rigid routing, inflexible dates, or if you genuinely prefer simplicity over savings.
That's fine. Upgrade Intelligence isn't about what everyone should do. It's about what works for you, based on what you actually want right now.
THE CHEAT SHEET:
CALIFORNIA-TO-NEW YORK ROUTES THAT WORK
Below are real fares we recently found for March and April 2026. All Business Class. All on major carriers.
Fares change constantly – sometimes hourly – so treat these as proof of concept, not permanent inventory. The strategy works. The specific numbers fluctuate.
To find these fares yourself, use Google Flights' multi-city tool. Plug in your origin (Los Angeles or San Francisco), then New York, then the add-on city, then back home. Toggle dates. The algorithm does the work.
Or hand this special report to your travel advisor, assistant, or kid, and let them run the numbers.
American Airlines
Transcon Business Class pricing as you can see in the Google Flights screenshot below averages $2,490 for nonstop Los Angeles to New York.
FCF’s American Airlines Cheat Sheet:
Save Money + Get a Free Destination
Delta
Transcon Business Class on Delta as you can see in the screenshot below ranges from $4,800 to $5,800 for nonstop Los Angeles to New York. That's not a fare. That's a ransom.
FCF’s Delta Cheat Sheet:
Save Money + Get a Free Destination
United Airlines
United's transcon Business Class as you can see in the screenshot below runs $2,640 to $6,660 round-trip Los Angeles to Newark. Better than Delta, but still a premium for a domestic route.
FCF’s United Cheat Sheet:
Save Money + Get a Free Destination
HOW TO FIND THESE FARES YOURSELF
You don't need a PhD in airline pricing. You need 10 minutes and Google Flights.
Here's the process:
- Go to google.com/travel/flights
- Click "Multi-city" instead of "Round-trip"
- Enter: Los Angeles to New York to [Add-on city from table above or experiment with other cities] to Los Angeles
- Select Business Class
- Toggle dates – pricing fluctuates daily, so experiment
- Compare the multi-city total to the direct round-trip fare
- If the multi-city fare is lower (and you want the add-on destination), book it
You don't need permission to have more fun, more adventure, more value. You need options. You need leverage.
BE WATER, CALIFORNIA
Bruce Lee didn't fight force with force. He redirected it. Used the opponent's momentum. See openings others missed.
The airlines think this way already. They flow where there's demand. They charge what the market will bear. They discount where there's space.
Now you can, too.
The $4,800 Delta fare from Los Angeles to New York? That's friction.
The $3,040 fare to Ft. Lauderdale (Miami) with New York as a free stopover? That's leverage. That's options. A business expense. That's Upgrade Intelligence working with reality, not against it.
You've already decided to travel. Already budgeted the time and money. Already arranged the time off and the dog sitter.
Don't let that effort dead-end in a single destination when you could redirect it into something twice as valuable for half the cost.
"Be water," Bruce Lee would say.
The airlines already are.
Now it's your turn.