CaptJOB

Okay back again here with likely my last question as crediting AC flights to United is too convoluted for my liking. I booked two RT tickets in PE LAX-YYZ-DUB for this summer(direct with AC). Looking at the reservation it say cabin type N which I assume is the fare class? If so this $1500 ticket receives no credit on UA which is crazy to me and I probably would have tried a different carrier. If this is true I'll just credit it to Aeroplan which is fine but I'll kiss my chances of requalifying for UA Platinum goodbye.

Seems like there were some changes in March that made this go from an almost $2k PQP per ticket situation to $0. As always an insight here is appreciated.

WineCountryUA

Just poking around a bit AC N fare is PremEcon in some places, and Award/Upgrade space in others -- has AC made some changes that may npt be reflected in the UA earning tables. I would assume a paid Prem Econ fare would be PQP earning

VegasGambler

It looks like AC used to use N for discount PE; now they use A. Any chance the fare class got changed from N to A on your ticket (I assume you bought before the charge?)

CaptJOB

So all I know is that when I look at the reservation on AC it say the cabin type in N and in the box next to that it say Premium Economy(lowest).

I did buy this ticket on 11/1/2021. Hopefully that won't make it so I don't earn any PQPs. I assume WineCountryUA is right though and this will earn something. Hopefully it translates to A fare earning.

Revenge

I have a related question I hope someone can answer. Do flights operated by Air Canada subsidiary airlines including "Operated by Air Canada Rouge" and "Operated by Air Canada Express - Jazz" (with AC flight numbers and booked on a ticket issued by AC) still earn UA MP PQPs and PQFs as if they were Air Canada mainline flights?
Thanks!

emcampbe

yes. Jazz is the equivalent of a UA express operator for AC (eg, Skywest or Gojet). Rouge should earn as well - at one point, I thought Rouge had its own earnings table, but appears it’s just one now for all of AC.

Note that if you are on an AC ticket number, both the fare class and fare brand will determine the amount of award miles earned, and therefore, the amount of PQP earned (this may also be different based on destination - domestic Canada flights for example may earn less than transborder or international flights - and even if the domestic flight is part of an international itinerary, that domestic segment will still earn the lower amount). So a Economy standard ticket in S class, for example, will earn less than an S class ticket booked in economy flex (in that case it’s 50% for a ticket booked in standard vs. 75% in flex).

they like to make it a little complicated these days. In order to make it even more confusing, if you have UA segments on the itin, and it gives you the estimated mileage accrual numbers on the UA website/ (UA) ticket and receipt, it is very often wrong for partner segments - will likely post correctly, but the estimate beforehand is often wrong. For example, I’m flying an itin this summer long haul that’s booked with AC and where the very last segment is operated by UA. I’m expecting, based on the earnings page, to earn about ~ 8400 award miles and ~ 1700 PQP (exact amount will depend on how much revenue is appointed to the UA segment, which will change the numbers for that flight). However, UA accrual estimates on the my trips page is telling me I will earn ~6700 award miles and ~ 1065 PQP. Obviously, that’s a bit of a difference.

Revenge

Thanks for confirming. That's very helpful.

Yes I did notice the fare brand distinction was added to the partner earning table, Quite complex!

VRFast

The A (100%) and K (75%) fares are definitely mileage earning on AC, and I thought that was the qualifier for earning PQF? The non mileage earning fare classes on AC are F,I,N,R,X, for flights on or after 3/23/2022.

gokeeper

A was AC's lowest Economy booking code before AC moved it to Premium Economy and replaced it with G not long ago. So the ticket OP had should be a deep discount economy ticket, most likely on Basic Economy fare family. (Fare family is aligned at least in each direction, the claim UA agent made is not true.)

According to https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...r/qualify.html

We know UA domestic BE fares did't earn PQF, looks like this now applies to partner flight as well, at least to TATL LGT fares.

emcampbe

G is not necessarily basic. AC used to (maybe 3-5 years ago) had fare classes that strictly were within each fare 'brand' of 'family', but then 'unbundled' so to speak so that fare class was independent of fare brand, and could be used across either. For milage earning purposes, if you forgot the fare brand, you can look at the last digits of booking code which will correspond to the brand - and this is used in the 014 earning table which can help determine what your earnings are.

For example, I'm doing SFO[-YVR-NRT]-SIN on a standard fare booked via AC in G, which is a 'TG' as the last digits of fare code - that designates it as 'standard' (so G is not exclusive to basic). That should mean each segment (on the AC legs) earn 50% of flown mileage for award miles, plus 25% bonus for me as a silver, and then that number/5 to calculate PQP.

jsloan

The PQP calculation is from the base miles. The 25% Premier bonus will not be included in PQP.

Revenge

So if I'm reading all this correctly....
To ensure you're earning a PQF on AC in fare codes M, U, H, Q, V, W, G, S, T, L, A or K, you need to make sure you're not booking into a Basic Economy fare brand (BA) but rather into Economy Standard fare brand (TG).

emcampbe

correct.

on the premier qualifying page, there is a footnote that reads the following in reference to PQF (holding mine):

There are a host of reasons I’d never book an economy basic fare, this is just one of them. I hate that they exist, because while I think there are maybe some who it may be ok for, I think in most cases, people are booking these when they see it’s the lowest price without reading the details of what they don’t get but might need.

myshaft

Flying AC YYZ-YVR next week. IIRC, only AC Standard Fares with Canada (footnote number 9 on the UA Air Canada mileage page) will earn 25% of miles but Flex and Comfort 75, 100% respectively for a domestic leg?

Say Vandelay

I am looking to book an AC flight DCA-YUL. If I am reading this thread correctly, if I book Economy Standard through AC for $356 I will get 97 PQP (50% of the RT distance then divided by 5 for preferred partner). However, if I book it for a little bit more ($399) through UA operated by AC, I will get 298 PQP (fare less $101 in taxes) because it is 016 stock. Is that correct? Thanks!