I checked United and Delta and they don't seem to be matching - on the days where American has $437 fares, their business class prices out to $1,700 or more and I checked JFK-Los Angeles and a couple other cities, but none seems to be as cheap as this- or even close. While $872 for a first class round-trip transcontinental still is a decent chunk of change, it's a huge discount from normal prices. These fares book into P class, which gives a 50% class-of-service bonus and 1.5 Elite Qualifying Points per mile.
$437 is the lowest price I've seen, but there are a number of other dates where the price is anywhere between $513 and $605.
I used ITA software to check out all available dates for these fares and only see them between October 27 and January 8, 2013. To use the ITA software to find dates where this fare is available, go here and then select one-way search (since these fares are eligible on one-way trips) and enter either JFK-SFO or SFO-JFK. Select " See calendar of lowest fares", choose first class, non-stop and un-select "Allow Airport Changes." Then search.
The results will show a ton of $180+ fares, which are mistakes and shouldn't be included in a first class search. To get rid of these bogus results, go to the Airline tab in the top right and un-select Alaska and JetBlue.
You should then see a calendar of all the dates with $437 fares.
You can't book the ticket directly through ITA, so I recommend going directly to AA.com. They allow free 24-hour holds on flights, so I'd recommend booking quickly, or at least putting an itinerary on hold, because something tells me this won't last quick!
Hat tip DennisSFO on Flyertalk for posting this great fare!
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