flaii

My travel agent booked a flight for me in BASIC, I called Eurowings to ask the booking class, and was told that it is "PA" class (I checked my ticket and it says the same thing: PA). I want to earn United MileagePlus miles, and the following earn elite miles:

Best Fares: D, J
Smart Fares: I, C, H, Q, V, W, S, G, K, L, T, X, Y, B, M, N, E, F, O, R

So I asked the Eurowings agent how much it would cost to upgrade to Smart Fare, something I saw was possible on the website. He informed me it would cost 22€, which was quite reasonable, but then checked and saw that the booking class remains "PA." He said my only option to upgrade the fare class is to upgrade to Y class, but that would cost over 400€.

From this other thread, it seems that even Best Fares can be sold as "PA" class. I'm confused because 1) I'd never seen a two-letter fare class before, and 2) I would have thought that buying a Smart Fare instead of Basic Fare would earn more miles?

Does anyone have any experience with this? Any suggestions on how to upgrade the fare class to earn miles? (Apologies if in wrong thread - I've done a search and only found the above thread relevant)

sannmann

Basic fares on Eurowings do not earn United miles. Only Smart and Best fares do.

flaii

Yes, I realize that. That is why I called to ask about upgrading to a Smart fare, which is possible to do according to the website and phone agent. However, the agent said that even though I can buy up to a Smart fare, the fare class doesn't change, it's still "PA" class which does not earn United miles.

So my question was if anyone had experience with buying up to a mileage-earning fare class, and/or had experience with this "PA" fare class beyond the other thread I referenced. As the poster in the other thread shared, he/she was traveling on a Best Fare, and yet it was the same non-mileage-earning PA class.

davidcito

Looks like there is one more incentive to book BASIC vs SMART:

Based on this information, no more access to Lounges for SEN/HON on SMART fare starting March 26:

http://www.austrianaviation.net/deta...-statuskunden/

(sorry, German only)

Fireflyer05

I'm sorry, but you got it wrong. The article only says, that with the BASIC fare you don't get access to lounges anymore. In fact at the end it says, to still get access to the lounges you should book SMART or BEST.

flaii

Thanks for this new information. When the agent told me that upgrading from BASIC to SMART fare for 22€ didn't change the underlying fare class, I thought it wouldn't be worth it for just the small sandwich and seat selection, as my main objective was to change the fare class to earn miles.

But with lounge access in DUS (where I will be connecting) not allowed for BASIC anymore, that changes the calculus somewhat...

Concerto

It tends to be more and more the case that when buying upgrades the underlying class doesn't change, even with real airlines.

warakorn

I would assume this new restriction would also appy to UA*G and NH*G cardholders?

warakorn

That is weird. I just got PQM, PQS and Base Miles on two BASIC fares on Eurowings/Germanwings. Fare class was X.

flaii

Interesting. I wonder if maybe United just has a list of fares that earn miles and PQM, and they list them in their chart under different "Classes of service," but they don't exactly line up with the fare concepts that Eurowings markets.

I'm also beginning to suspect that Eurowings is kind of like Lufthansa, in that you can find that Lufthansa sells Light, Classic, and Flex fares all with the same fare class. I've come across this frustration before where a flight I wanted was "K" class (not eligible for UA miles), and I would gladly pay some more for a higher fare class to earn PQMs, but I simply can't change the fare class by paying more (except buying business class). At least Lufthansa makes it transparent on their website with the fare class display as you are searching for flights, while with Eurowings I don't know of a way to find the fare class prior to booking. See attached screenshot.

So maybe on warakorn's flight, Basic and Smart fares were both X class, which is mileage-earning in MileagePlus. I don't know for sure, of course, just speculating.

warakorn

I was baffled, when reading that, because I do not think that statement is correct.

It's not the fare family (Basic, Smart, Best) that determines mileage earning, but the fare code determines it.
Even a Smart fare may not earn miles.
On the other hand, Basic fares may earn miles.

warakorn

Today is March 27:
The access criteria have not changed on the Lufthansa website:
http://www.lufthansa.com/de/en/Lounge-types-and-access

notquiteaff

Eurowings site has this:

Concerto

Don't you think the whole thing is long overdue a simplification? It's a bit like trying to buy an urban public transport ticket in Germany. A recent article in the ADAC magazine stated that because buying urban transport tickets was so damnably complicated that the majority of drivers prefer to just drive into German cities and pay for parking (ADAC is the equivalent of AA in the UK).

flaii

OP here: in the end I did not upgrade from BASIC to SMART fare. As a data point regarding lounge access, I was able to access the Senator Lounge in DUS today (March 31) without any issue using my BASIC boarding pass and UA*G card. Sitting here now enjoying the food spread

Well put! And as this other thread which I had referenced shows, it's possible for a BEST fare to have the same non-Mileage-earning fare class as BASIC, in both our cases, PA class.

I just wish 1) it were possible to see the fare class prior to purchasing, and 2) there was a way to pay more to upgrade the fare class. I would have been willing to pay more to earn UA PQMs.