How much more business costs vs economy on the exact same flight. Lower delta → higher score.
How we score every same-flight gap.
GapScore turns the upgrade question into a single number from 0 to 100. Five signals, each weighted and tuned per route. Every result card shows the same breakdown when you open it.
Business price divided by flight duration. Long-haul lie-flats reward the highest per-hour value.
Lie-flat, angled-flat, recliner. Pitch and width fed in from the cabin dictionary.
Where today's fare sits in the last 90 days for the same lane and cabin.
Score is reduced when an exact same-flight match is missing. We use the closest comparable instead.
How to read the score
- 85-100Strong upgrade. Book it.
- 70-84Worth it on long-haul or red-eye.
- 55-69Marginal. Compare per-hour cost.
- 0-54Pay for economy. Stretch the savings elsewhere.
A worked example
DXB → BKK, 6-hour flight on an A380. Economy at $420, business at $1,418, Apex Suite product. Here is how that scores.
- Premium uplift: 238%.Route 90-day median is 270%. Score is 22 of a possible 30.
- Per-hour cost: $236/hr business vs $70/hr economy.Apex Suite at $236/hr beats the same-cabin tier on similar 6-hour routes. Score is 22 of 25.
- Seat quality: lie-flat 1-2-1 Apex Suite.Top of the lie-flat tier. Score is 20 of 20.
- Historical percentile: 14th percentile.Today's $1,418 is cheaper than 86% of fares for this route in the last 90 days. Score is 14 of 15.
- Confidence: exact same flight match.No penalty applied. Score is 10 of 10.
- Total: 88.Verdict: strong upgrade. The result card calls this a "GapScore 88" with the verdict word "Upgrade worth it".
GapScore questions, answered.
Why one score and not a list of numbers?
Booking a flight is a yes-or-no decision. A single 0 to 100 score is the fastest way to read the upgrade value. We still show the dollar delta, percent uplift, and per-hour cost on the card. The score is a summary.
Why 85 / 70 / 55 as the thresholds?
Backtested against historical price data and a panel of mileage-runner advice. 85 and up consistently matched cases where the points-and-miles community said 'book it'. Below 55, the same panel said 'stick with economy'. 55 to 84 is the genuine grey zone.
Does GapScore favour long-haul over short-haul?
Indirectly, yes. Per-hour cost rewards long flights with lie-flat product, because you sleep for value. Short-haul business is rarely lie-flat and rarely scores above 70 unless the absolute uplift is tiny.
Can I see how each input contributed to a score?
Yes. The result card has a methodology drawer that shows the five inputs and their contribution to the total. The page above explains the weighting and how each input is normalized per route.
Does GapScore change for the same flight over time?
Yes. Historical percentile and route median shift as new fares are observed. The other three inputs (seat quality, premium uplift, match confidence) only change if the airline changes the product or the search context changes.