Starting on Jan. 16th we’ll be changing around our fare classes for flights departing on or after Jan. 21st. In fact, almost all of them will be changing. For those of you that track this sort of thing, below is a quick reference of how our fare classes will be converted starting Jan. 21st, in their respective hierarchy.
Front Cabin
--------------------- J stays as J A converts to F C stays as C P converts to CN AU converts to CU D stays as D Z stays as Z R converts to A RN converts to AN F converts to R EN converts to O E converts to I
Main Cabin
--------------------- Y stays as Y YN stays as YN H converts to B K converts to M M stays as M MN converts to KN N converts to H B converts to K O converts to Q V converts to U U converts to V Q converts to G I converts to W S converts to E W converts to S T stays as T X converts to N L stays as L GN converts to XN G converts to X
Here are some important things you should know about this upcoming change.
If you're traveling on or after Jan. 21, your fare classes will change. All itineraries departing on or after Jan. 21 will be converted to the new fare classes starting on Jan. 16th. If you have an existing reservation for travel on or after Jan. 21, the only thing that’ll change is your fare class (if applicable) – your seats and eTickets won’t be affected. This process of updating the fare classes in our existing reservations will take several days.
Pardon our dust during the migration. During this fare class migration, some functions will be temporarily unavailable, most notably advance seat assignments (through any channel except check-in), our Elite Upgrade Automation (EUA) and the standby lists on continental.com/info. As you can imagine, these outages will lead to high call volumes as well during this period.
Upgrades for travel on Jan. 16-19 will be generous but unconventional. Our EUA and automatic OnePass reward waitlist clearance will be paused Jan. 16-19. Eligible customers traveling on these days will be upgraded using our most generous assumptions possible in advance of these systems going offline. Eligible customers not upgraded in advance will still be added to upgrade standby list upon check-in, and when applicable, cleared at the gate using our normal process. EUA and automatic reward waitlist clearance will resume on Jan. 19 for customers traveling Jan. 20 and onward. If this timeframe changes, we'll let you know.
Content on continental.com and elsewhere will be updated. As you can imagine, we have a lot of content that references our fare classes. This content will be updated as we get closer to the fare class changes.
Mileage and EQM earnings will be same, if not slightly more generous. With one exception, our Elite Qualification and base miles will not change. The one that will change is the new G class (currently Q class), which will increase to 100% Elite Qualification Miles (EQMs) instead of 50%, regardless of where booked. We still stand behind our rationale of offering lower Elite Qualification for those who book our most heavily-discounted fares and don't book at continental.com. That said, we've done some homework based on your feedback and will use this timing to redefine the boundary.
Thanks in advance for your patience while we complete this migration.
oooh ..maybe a sitcky for this? ......i have a feeling I'll be referencing that post a lot
and thanks for the info
Well, I'm sure the FAQ sticky will get updated with this info in the very near future. So we could always reference that, and it's one less sticky.
On a separate note, am I correct in assuming that this is being done in anticipation of the *A migration? Could anyone familiar with the UA fare code structure confirm or deny?
Location: A festering pit; a pustule of a fistula set athwart the miasmic swamps of the armpit of the Gulf of Mexico - a Godforsaken wart upon a dark crevasse of the World. (IAH)
Many of those fare class changes look suspiciously like *A/UA Fare Bucket Codes for similar fares (Discount F now A, instead of R, Full Fare = F, not A)...
The designators for reward buckets also look like something that ANA Tool would be able to pick up on. If so,
Moderator: Travel Technology, Travel Photography and JetBlue
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 29,405
Quote:
Originally Posted by dergon darkhelm
oooh ..maybe a sitcky for this? ......i have a feeling I'll be referencing that post a lot
There is a post about it in the FAQ that I will try to update soon.
For CO Insider, a couple follow-on questions...
MN converting to KN with K being the old B fare bucket suggests that CO is tightening the belt on non-elite EasyPass award inventory. Any comment on this observation?
Is it safe to assume that the 50/100/150% rules remain the same based on the old classes and where they map? So GWESTNL are the new 50% classes?
With all of these changes what is the expected impact on the systems that record the credits into he OnePass system? Are the new ones expected to be crediting correctly starting in two weeks?
When will we start seeing the classes changing for currently booked tickets on co.com? The 16th?
You going to make it up to BRU that zeekend for some quality beer?
Location: EWR-land -- You are in a little twisty maze of airline seats, all alike...
Programs: CO & NW forum moderator
Posts: 19,118
Quote:
Originally Posted by Anglo Large Clawed Otter
Many of those fare class changes look suspiciously like *A/UA Fare Bucket Codes for similar fares (Discount F now A, instead of R, Full Fare = F, not A)...
The designators for reward buckets also look like something that ANA Tool would be able to pick up on. If so,
That's what I was thinking too... X and O for awards matches what a lot of other airlines (including many in Skyteam) use.
Ugh -- time to learn a new alphabet...
__________________ OnePass -- Arcane rules, fine blue carpets!
I support meaningless jingoistic cliches
Wow: Star MegaDO 2009 - Tschüss
Location: A festering pit; a pustule of a fistula set athwart the miasmic swamps of the armpit of the Gulf of Mexico - a Godforsaken wart upon a dark crevasse of the World. (IAH)
Thanks for the notice on this Scott. I actually have a question related to this. I'm traveling EWR - IAH on 1/17 and IAH - EWR on 1/19. As a plat, I'm not too concerned with my chances for an EUA however I'm traveling with my girlfriend and was hoping for a companion upgrade for her. I intentionally booked this trip on 767's for the bigger F cabin but do you think this change will decrease the chance of the companion upgrade being possible? Any suggestions??
FYI, I separated the reservations....I hope that was the right thing to do in this unique situation.
