ChugiakAk

How good is a meal at Canlis to someone who lives nearly 1500 miles away?

Agreed that the corporate decision is ridiculous and petty but I doubt corporate even cares what we think

nawlins

I was surprised when I was able to use a companion cert with an upgradable fare DCA-HNL for October. Upgraded on all legs. Tickets were $460 + companion charges. There were however no instant upgrades available on the return legs even when F was wide open. It was an old companion cert.

mplflyer

I have a companion certificate which expires Sept 19 2012. I really don't have any specific plans for it, but I don't want to lose it or the chance to use it for an F redemption. If I book a one way itinerary with the cert in F now to a low cost destination ( to minimize my cash outlay until plans are certain), can I later change it to a return once I know my plans?

baliktad

Yes, if you book a flexible ticket, you can change it later. This includes full Y fares and F fares. However, to keep the companion fare discount, you must always CHANGE the ticket, do not CANCEL the ticket. Any time you make a change, the companion will still cost $99, and you will only pay the fare difference between the old and new flights.

HikerT

Yup, to extend the companion ticket just buy the cheapest flex fare you can find (and keep extending it out until you find the flights you want). Pretty sure the only catch is you can't change the companion.

ChugiakAk

Flight 84 from ANC-SEA did the usual spiel for the BA card today and made it clear that the companion ticket was for coach only. Noticed that there were no takers either

mplflyer

Thank you Baliktad and Hiker T for your responses. I think I will go ahead and book a BLI-LAS one way in F and change it to what I want later.
Cheers.

baliktad

If you're just buying a ticket to preserve your companion fare with no intention to actually fly the route, may I suggest buying a Y fare for a short, frequent route as far in the future as possible? For example, SEA-PDX one-way next July. As long as you book a Y fare, it will still be fully refundable or flexible to any other ticket. This has a couple of advantages:

- it will be cheaper for you initially to buy SEA-PDX than BLI-LAS
- buying 2 F seats is 12% of the cabin - this can mess with revenue management and U space for other elites
- the risk/loss to you in case you totally space out/forget about the ticket is much less

Just make sure you select from the "Full Flex" column when purchasing your ticket. You'll still be able to change the ticket later to any other type of fare (discounted, full fare, or first class) later by paying the fare difference for 1 passenger.

mplflyer

Thank you. Those are some good points. I will go Ahead and do that^

Westcoaster

My AS Visa expires next month so I wasn't surprised when a replacement card came in the mail today. I was surprised, however, to see the claim in the accompanying literature that the companion ticket discount code is good on any paid published fare including coach or first class.

Yup, it says the companion cert can be used for first class.

Somebody forgot to update the form letter. I thought about calling to let AS and/or B of A know but I frankly don't want to take the time. Both Caroline Boren from AS and Jake Frego from B of A signed the cover letter so who knows which company is responsible for the wording.

I guess I'm just venting here while trying to decide whether I want to keep the card...

dave1013

It would be interesting to see what would happen if you tried to capitalize on the mistake, I.e., try to buy an F ticket. Possession is 0.9 of the law and when the web site shuts you down from buying an F ticket, I think you could make an argument that you have the offer in writing (regardless of it being past the cutoff date) and by jingo, it needs to be honored.

There have been several instances where airlines honor tickets bought aT ridiculously low prices due to error. This should be no different. Just my opinion.

Westcoaster

Now aren't you devious. A lawyer, perhaps? I hadn't thought about trying to get them to honor it. They sent out the letters a few weeks back telling us about the change so I imagine their lawyers figure they've covered their behinds.

I wonder whether anyone at AS or B of A will be concerned when they realize their letter is wrong.

dave1013

Devious yes, lawyer no.

Eastbay1K

You cannot. I just received a code in the past few days (yes, escrewed by a couple weeks by 2 F codes) and the F column is el blanko when trying to make a reservation.

dave1013

That's what I expected would happen. Did you get the same letter as Westcoaster?