Where To Find The YUP Fares?
 

I got one of those "Do 8 Full Fare Segments, Get 50,000 Miles" promos. I know that I can do it fairly easily and inexpensively on a YUP fare. But I was just trying to figure out what markets had those fares.

I know it's probably the markets where AA competes with USAir, but I don't know what markets those are. So, I'm hoping to get a fairly comprehensive list going.

I know that there are YUP fares available from LAS-MSY, LAS-MCO, and LAS-BWI. I also see them on SNA-MSY. They also used to be available from JFK-HNL, but I'm not seeing them there anymore. Anywhere else?

BTW, I think I'm going to do the promo, because I can get 67,000 miles for $632 by doing it. The flight would be LAS-LAX-ORD-DFW-MSY-DFW-ORD-LAX-LAS. But I would not want to fly that back to back, which would mean spending at least a day in New Orleans. Not a bad thing usually. But that means taking up three full days, and I'd rather do a shorter trip, as I'm traveling quite a bit for the rest of the year already, and really can't afford the time.

YUP fares have nothing to do with USAir. :)

Generally, they are offered in lots and lots of markets - although the idea of creating a "list" is usually a worthwhile endeavor, in this case, the list, if complete, might encompass many thousands of city-pairs. :)

Your "comprehensive list" would probably result in a multi-hundred page thread. :D

Historically, NW is generally credited with starting YUP fares as several years ago it began offering a free space-available upgrade to anyone buying a full fare Y and connecting thru its hubs at DTW, MEM and MSP. Other airlines were quick to follow. Usually, YUPs are offered on connecting routes, but sometimes show up on nonstops.

The easiest way to find YUP fares is to search on AA.com (or other websites) for First Class fares by price. You'll know 'em when you see 'em, as YUPs tend to be much cheaper than full F. But to make sure, check the fare rules to confirm that the fare is a YUP.

Good luck. 67k miles for $632 sounds like the right price for me. If I were you, I'd jump on it.

Often offered in leisure markets where there is competition. Note the cities you listed in your examples: LAS, MSY, HNL - all leisure destinations where there is competition. Another one is SJU.

I haven't seen the offer to which you refer, but you might want to call AA to make sure that YUP fares count as "full fares." YUP fares can be restricted fares; I recently purchased a YRUP7ZN which IIRC is nonrefundable and requires a 7 day advanced purchase. I don't know whether AA would count such a fare as a "full fare"

They are full fare, earn 1.5 Q points per mile and are essentially full fare coach sold as F.

How I find YUP fares
 

Here's what I do:

1) Go to http://travel.edelman.org , and click on my link to Expedia.ca under heading published fares.

2) Specify an origin city and destination city that you'd like to check. Look for leisure destinations (HNL, LAS, MCO) and destinations with lots of competition (discount carriers' hubs, routes otherwise served by discount carriers, etc.). Specify AA as your carrier.

3) Browse the resulting listings looking for anything with a fare basis starting "YUP." If you find one, click on Rules to view the fare in USD, and the fare rules including minimum stay, routing, etc.

4) Repeat steps 2-3 as needed until you find a fare you like.

5) Book the ticket on aa.com, if you can manage to get it to autoprice, or via AA telephone reservations.

Try ATL
 

Earlier this year (Feb) I flew SFO-ATL for $579 r/t on fully-refundable YUP. The fare was competing with AirTran's biz class. Don't know if such fares are still around, but ATL is AirTran's hub so AA might offer some competitive YUPs into there.

Stupid AA.com :mad:

Ignore the part of my earlier post where I said:

since AA.com no longer offers that functionality. :mad:

I agree with bedelman's advice on how to find YUPs.

FWAAA,

I'm glad you amended your position, as this functionality has been lost from AA.com with the newest "upgrade" to the booking engine. Apparently someone forgot to tell the programmers that in many markets there is a first class fare offered that is not full fare.

Regarding potential markets in which to find YUP fares, there are a bunch of them between ATL and western destinations. Interestingly, AA has chosen not to match the YUP fares ATL-HNL any longer (they stopped doing so a couple of months ago). I'm not sure why AA would match these fares on business routes (e.g., ATL-LAX, ATL-SFO) but not on a leisure route like ATL-HNL.

----------- Never Mind----------

Since you're in SoCal, you might want to check out my personal favorite: SAN-MCO. There are frequently YUP fares in the $927 range. Not the cheapest YUPs but then again you can rack up a lot of mileage on the cross-country flights. Try routing through ORD...

Good luck!

i am trying to book a YUP for this:

ROUTING 2 FROM FLL-AA-RDU-
TO AA-STL/DFW-AA-SFO*
OR TO AA-CHI-AA-SEA-AA-SFO*
OR TO AA-STL/DFW-AA-SNA/SEA/LAX-AA-
SFO*
OR TO AA-CHI-AA-SEA-AA-SNA/LAX-AA-
SFO*
FROM-TO FLL-AA-RDU-AA-CHI-AA-SEA-AA-
SFO*


but i cant get the flights to price....any pointers?
do i understand it correctly that i could fly FLL-RDU-CHI-SEA-LAX-SFO?
if so, how do i book it? this would be perfect, since i need 10 full fare segments by 12/1 and this weekend would be great for a 2-3 day run...

thanks!

I knew that, because aa.com was where I used to find the YUPs. But now you can only search for full fare F on aa.com.

I can think of lots of leisure destinations from LAX, but there do not appear to be any YUP fares out of LAX.

That's definitely not right. LAX-BOS and LAX-JFK both have YUPs, as does LAX-HNL. LAX-MCO is especially cheap at $394 each way, fare basis Y26UPSP.

See my travel.edelman.org methodology, described in my 3:04pm post above, for a review of how to search for YUPs.