US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - H and A Fare Bucket Questions

I've been trying to book out my travel for January on US as unrestricted to take advantage of upgrades at time of booking (since I'm not so sure that a SP will clear on Mon-Thurs rt's PHL-PBI) and I keep running into the H fare bucket.

From the fare rules, it's completely unrestricted; however, for upgrade purposes it's restricted. Does anyone know what the purpose of multiple unrestricted fare buckets is? Our corporate engine won't allow me to book a more expensive fare for the purpose of upgrading so this is a real bummer.

I also ran into an H fare last week DCA-BNA and it upgraded into the E bucket, even though the rules were the same. Does anyone know why this might be?

... at this point, it's likely I'll just hold off on booking for a while, then jump on the A fare (which is equivalent in $ to H, but restricted). Which brings me to another question - since A accrues 150% of actual miles, how is preferred bonus calculated? On top of the class of service bonus?

For example, if I flew 1,000 miles on an A fare I'd get 2,000 preferred miles (200%). Would actual usable miles calculate as 1,000 x 150% = 1,500 + 50% SP bonus = 2,250?

I've been trying to book out my travel for January on US as unrestricted to take advantage of upgrades at time of booking (since I'm not so sure that a SP will clear on Mon-Thurs rt's PHL-PBI) and I keep running into the H fare bucket.

From the fare rules, it's completely unrestricted; however, for upgrade purposes it's restricted. Does anyone know what the purpose of multiple unrestricted fare buckets is? Our corporate engine won't allow me to book a more expensive fare for the purpose of upgrading so this is a real bummer.

I also ran into an H fare last week DCA-BNA and it upgraded into the E bucket, even though the rules were the same. Does anyone know why this might be?

... at this point, it's likely I'll just hold off on booking for a while, then jump on the A fare (which is equivalent in $ to H, but restricted). Which brings me to another question - since A accrues 150% of actual miles, how is preferred bonus calculated? On top of the class of service bonus?

For example, if I flew 1,000 miles on an A fare I'd get 2,000 preferred miles (200%). Would actual usable miles calculate as 1,000 x 150% = 1,500 + 50% SP bonus = 2,250?

There are multiple types of fares that are unrestricted - H is one of them and in GoFare cities you will find various lower fare classes that are indeed unrestricted (I believe I had a K that was unrestricted and refundable as well). Some city pairs don't even carry Y/B fares for them - only N fares which are the unrestricted fares for that city pair.

The quick answer - If you want to upgrade at booking you pay the higher unrestricted fare.

-JC

Be careful reading fare rules. Fare rules often use the term "upgrade" to mean upgrading to a higher fare class, not upgrading from Coach to First as part of your Preferred benefits. For example, you in general cannot buy a non-refundable fare and then change the ticket so that you are buying a refundable fare. You'll need to buy a new refundable ticket and use the non-refundable ticket on a future trip.

I've got that the class upgrades must be Y, B, U, or N. I'm just not clear on why you would need multiple unrestricted fares. For all the simplification GoFares promises, it seems to fall short on delivering. Would it kill them to have no more than, say, 7 fare buckets for sale? Makes me wonder how much overhead is generated by "yield management"... :rolleyes:

I've got that the class upgrades must be Y, B, U, or N. I'm just not clear on why you would need multiple unrestricted fares. For all the simplification GoFares promises, it seems to fall short on delivering. Would it kill them to have no more than, say, 7 fare buckets for sale? Makes me wonder how much overhead is generated by "yield management"... :rolleyes:

They would feel much pain to condense into a simplified fare structure systemwide as of right now. As you're noticing there are overlaps in fare types for some city pairs that have similar types of fares but vary slightly.

-JC