US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Flights.com, DMUPSYS, and USE2 fun...

So in July, I'm headed to London for the American Coaster Enthusiasts "European Odyssey" (http://www.aceonline.org/europe2002.htm)

Knowing I'd want to upgrade these flights, and that upgrade seats would vanish on the busy summer flights (and as a "mere" Silver I'd be low on the waitlist), I went ahead and shopped for fares now.

Flights.com ended up having a "reasonable" fare ($685, which came to $820 by the time you added all their "fees", still less than the $1080 USAir offered directly). This is an H class fare. I'll note here that I'm only a somewhat satisfied customer with Flights.com. It took 2 days for me to hear back at all once I put a request in for the ticket. It took another 10 before I found out if my trip was actually ticketed or not, and only then when *I* called *them*. At that time I was told that a receipt was being mailed out to me, as well. Yesterday, after another week, I asked them if I should have received the receipt yet, and the reply was "Oh, whoops, we forgot to send that out, we'll send it now." So although my trip has indeed been confirmed, I wasn't happy with the lackluster feedback they provided along the way.


Anyway, as a USAir customer who qualified for Silver on the challenge at the end of last year, I have a pair of good old-fashioned DMUPSYS certificates that don't expire until 2003. I went ahead and confirmed my upgrade with these, as they're not subject to the 7/3/1 window.

Then I found out about the USE2 reward code (20K miles for a one-way upgrade to Europe on that H fare). At first I thought it would be subject to the same 7/3/1 window as North American (or the new DMUPSYS02) upgrades, but comments here on FlyerTalk seemed to indicate otherwise.

So this morning I called USAir to ask about the USE2. The woman I talked to confirmed that yes, I could indeed upgrade and confirm NOW with the USE2. 40K miles (not that I was using them anyway), but it saves my good old "works on more discounted fares" DMUPSYS certificates for another trip. I sense a London mileage run in the fall to keep status... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif


My point? Just to say that I think the USE1 & USE2 upgrade rewards are pretty darn cool, if you have the miles... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif


[This message has been edited by GregLeg (edited 02-26-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by GregLeg:
Flights.com ended up having a "reasonable" fare ($685, which came to $820 by the time you added all their "fees", still less than the $1080 USAir offered directly). This is an H class fare.</font>

I always thought that flights.com was a consolidator. I now see on their web site that they also offer published fares. Is the ticket that you bought a consolidator fare? If so, I didn't know that one could upgrade certain consolidator tickets. Do post the details.

Thanks,

Sandeep.

He specifically noted it was an H-class fare. Its seems more the general rule that they sell published rather than consolidator fares.

there is an option to buy tickets from 'major US carrier' or 'major European carrier'. I am guessing that these are consolidator tickets.

Yup. Before deciding to purchase the tickets, I made sure to bring up the "Fare Info" screen, noting the fare code (H in this case) and reading the rules to make sure it didn't say anywhere that the fare couldn't be upgraded.

Note that while these tickets were upgradable (the rep I talked to when I upgraded certainly didn't note any problems), USAirways DOES have language referring to tickets purchased through places like Priceline:

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Standard Award travel and special fares, like those purchased via auction at priceline.com (E, W and Z fare classes), as well as transatlantic E-Savers® and other transatlantic fares in V class, are not valid with upgrades.</font>

I think the key point to note there is such tickets have their own fare class. Does anyone know what the class is (if there is one) for consolidated tickets?

[This message has been edited by GregLeg (edited 02-27-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by hscottm:
He specifically noted it was an H-class fare. Its seems more the general rule that they sell published rather than consolidator fares.

there is an option to buy tickets from 'major US carrier' or 'major European carrier'. I am guessing that these are consolidator tickets.</font>

I looked at some flights to Europe a couple of days ago. The flights were for travelling out in May and returning in July. The US Air web site quoted me around $900 to LGW and around $1400 to AMS. However, flights.com had fares around the $600 range in H and K classes. I couldn't find any H or K class fares for that price for stays longer than a month on the US Air site or on travelocity. That leads me to conclude that these fares must be consolidator fares. I know I can get miles from consolidator fares, but I didn't know that I could possibly upgrade.

GregLeg, does your ticket show the fare you paid or does it only show the amount for taxes and fees. The former could be rebated ticket and the latter could be a consolidated one.

Thanks,

Sandeep.



[This message has been edited by sandeepn (edited 02-27-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by sandeepn:
GregLeg, does your ticket show the fare you paid or does it only show the amount for taxes and fees. The former could be rebated ticket and the latter could be a consolidated one.</font>

Actually, I'm not SURE yet. It's an e-ticket, and I still haven't even received my receipt yet! (The credit card has been charged, though, and in talking with USAirways about the upgrade I've verified that the flight IS confirmed).

If I find out anything more, I'll post.

FWIW, when I've travelled on US using unpublished student fares, they were always booked in K class. I was able to get an upgrade to Envoy the one time I tried using an SWU on such a fare (and on the return got bumped up for free when coach was oversold http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ).

Yonatan

I'm considering buying a ticket on Flights.com in K for SFO-LGW in July and want to use one of the old SWU's.

Assuming O availability, should there be any reason to think that this ticket from flights.com (although technically unpublished) isn't actually upgradable? GregLeg -- what did your tickets end up looking like?

As long as your fare code on the ticket is a K, then you should have no problem being eligible for an upgrade. Consolidator and other 'bulk' fares are in a different fare class. The reservations agents are looking soley at the fare class to determine upgrade options.

Actually I thought the consensus was that V tix were still eligible for upgrade under the old (not new) SWU's. This might start to be a factor as V and K fares start to diverge during high season.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PHL:
As long as your fare code on the ticket is a K, then you should have no problem being eligible for an upgrade. Consolidator and other 'bulk' fares are in a different fare class. The reservations agents are looking soley at the fare class to determine upgrade options.</font>

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PHL:
As long as your fare code on the ticket is a K, then you should have no problem being eligible for an upgrade. Consolidator and other 'bulk' fares are in a different fare class. The reservations agents are looking soley at the fare class to determine upgrade options.</font>


That's really good news. Another reason to fly US :-)

Sandeep.

I should have clarified - the old DMUPSYS certs can be upgraded from any published fare(as low as V), and any time prior to the trip as long as there is upgradeable inventory available.

The new DMUPSYS02 certs that come in this year's kits specifically state which fares can be upgraded, and when based on what your status is. K is the lowest fare you can upgrade on, which is a little higher than the V fares.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PHL:
I should have clarified - the old DMUPSYS certs can be upgraded from any published fare(as low as V), and any time prior to the trip as long as there is upgradeable inventory available.

The new DMUPSYS02 certs that come in this year's kits specifically state which fares can be upgraded, and when based on what your status is. K is the lowest fare you can upgrade on, which is a little higher than the V fares.</font>

V class CAN be upgraded on domestic flights, but is not upgradeable on Int'l.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by noah:
GregLeg -- what did your tickets end up looking like?
</font>

As far as I can tell, it's a plain H-class fare, and my upgrades have been confirmed.

USAir actually IS publishing this fare (or one really, REALLY close to it) on their web site now, many weeks after I'd purchased it from Flights.com. But in the meantime, I've gotten my seat assignment in Envoy http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif