P Fares on BF Marketed Segments
Sep 25, 2013, 6:15 pm
#17
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: WAS
Programs: UA 1K MM | Marriott LTT | National Car EE
Posts: 694
Was just able to send my details as I couldn't do so from the office network. I have purchased P class fares before and had no problems with those.
I don't think I'm the only one who this has affected. These fares seem to be widely available still for the routing.
I don't think I'm the only one who this has affected. These fares seem to be widely available still for the routing.
Sep 27, 2013, 2:56 am
#20
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: IAH / HOU
Programs: UA GS, DL-Plat, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Hyatt Somethingist, Marriott Titanium Lifetime
Posts: 2,853
I have booked in P a few times in the past two years and have always received the 50% bunus. BUT...I have never bothered looking at the fare rules or looking up the fares as published outside of united.com.
Sep 27, 2013, 9:52 am
#21
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: WAS
Programs: UA Silver, Marriott Titanium, Nexus, GE
Posts: 2,123
Sep 27, 2013, 10:00 am
#22
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist, Virtuoso Travel Agent, Commercial Pilot
Posts: 2,117
First letter of the fare basis doesn't matter per the rules ... it's booking code of the operating carrier which is P. It looks like the OP encountered the unfortunate combination of a software glitch and a poorly trained agent. Hopefully UA Insider can help.
Sep 27, 2013, 11:06 am
#23
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: WAS
Programs: UA 1K MM | Marriott LTT | National Car EE
Posts: 694
No response yet, but no rush on my part. Does this booking class / fare basis (which is still new to me) discrepancy feed into any of the mitchmu "when is a Z fare not a Z fare" scenario? I haven't tracked all of that thread yet.
Sep 27, 2013, 12:26 pm
#24
Company Representative, United Airlines
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Chicago, Houston, or somewhere in between
Posts: 2,176
We're still looking in to this issue, but I've passed your information along to the appropriate folks, and I hope to have an update over the next few days.
Aaron Goldberg
Sr. Manager - Customer Experience Planning
United Airlines
Sep 27, 2013, 1:57 pm
#25
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 4,645
When you get back to us with resolution, it would also help if you could provide more general guidance on exactly how a flyer can determine what fare they are buying.
Can you give us a 100% foolproof method of determining, for a given offer, what kind of "fare" (i.e. fare class, fare basis, or other derivative terms) is being applied, and from that, what mileage accrual will apply to the purchase, and from that, whether UA will treat it as what it was sold at or as something else?
In other words:
If a customer sees and offer to buy a ticket, and the fare shown to the customer says "Z", how exactly can the customer know whether or not that fare will get PQM at the rate for Z and whether or not it's really a Z or actually some kind of X-UP that's being sold at a Z even though it's not a Z?
We've been struggling with this scenario here ever since SHARES replaced Apollo. This is yet another iteration.
Sep 27, 2013, 3:10 pm
#26
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,850
....
When you get back to us with resolution, it would also help if you could provide more general guidance on exactly how a flyer can determine what fare they are buying.
Can you give us a 100% foolproof method of determining, for a given offer, what kind of "fare" (i.e. fare class, fare basis, or other derivative terms) is being applied, and from that, what mileage accrual will apply to the purchase, and from that, whether UA will treat it as what it was sold at or as something else?
In other words:
If a customer sees and offer to buy a ticket, and the fare shown to the customer says "Z", how exactly can the customer know whether or not that fare will get PQM at the rate for Z and whether or not it's really a Z or actually some kind of X-UP that's being sold at a Z even though it's not a Z?
We've been struggling with this scenario here ever since SHARES replaced Apollo. This is yet another iteration.
When you get back to us with resolution, it would also help if you could provide more general guidance on exactly how a flyer can determine what fare they are buying.
Can you give us a 100% foolproof method of determining, for a given offer, what kind of "fare" (i.e. fare class, fare basis, or other derivative terms) is being applied, and from that, what mileage accrual will apply to the purchase, and from that, whether UA will treat it as what it was sold at or as something else?
In other words:
If a customer sees and offer to buy a ticket, and the fare shown to the customer says "Z", how exactly can the customer know whether or not that fare will get PQM at the rate for Z and whether or not it's really a Z or actually some kind of X-UP that's being sold at a Z even though it's not a Z?
We've been struggling with this scenario here ever since SHARES replaced Apollo. This is yet another iteration.
Hi Everyone,
I’ve done a little bit of research on this, and I wanted to share some background on the scenario vandrei shared.
At a high level, and as a some of you have noticed more recently in the thread, the buy-up offer we sometimes present immediately upon booking an economy ticket is indeed distinct from the one presented when viewing a reservation in My Account at some point after the flight has been ticketed and confirmed. For example, the offer at booking enables customers to the flexibility to confirm an upgraded seat on a segment-by-segment basis, whereas the one in My Reservations is based on the line of flight.
Additionally, from a functional perspective, the offer immediately upon booking does not change the underlying fare basis for the original purchased fare (even though the visible fare class is reflective of the buy-up inventory), whereas the one in My Reservations results in a complete re-issue of the existing ticket. It is this aspect of the functionality which drives mileage accrual, which is based on the original purchased fare for the offer immediately after booking, but based on the new fare class for the offer in My Reservations. These policies are disclosed in each offer’s respective (and indeed, different) terms and conditions.
Longer-term, the vision is indeed to align mileage accrual policies between the two types of offers. In the meantime, the tradeoff between the two offers continues to be one of additional miles vs. the flexibility to confirm on a segment-by-segment basis.
Aaron Goldberg
Sr. Manager - Customer Experience Planning
United Airlines
I’ve done a little bit of research on this, and I wanted to share some background on the scenario vandrei shared.
At a high level, and as a some of you have noticed more recently in the thread, the buy-up offer we sometimes present immediately upon booking an economy ticket is indeed distinct from the one presented when viewing a reservation in My Account at some point after the flight has been ticketed and confirmed. For example, the offer at booking enables customers to the flexibility to confirm an upgraded seat on a segment-by-segment basis, whereas the one in My Reservations is based on the line of flight.
Additionally, from a functional perspective, the offer immediately upon booking does not change the underlying fare basis for the original purchased fare (even though the visible fare class is reflective of the buy-up inventory), whereas the one in My Reservations results in a complete re-issue of the existing ticket. It is this aspect of the functionality which drives mileage accrual, which is based on the original purchased fare for the offer immediately after booking, but based on the new fare class for the offer in My Reservations. These policies are disclosed in each offer’s respective (and indeed, different) terms and conditions.
Longer-term, the vision is indeed to align mileage accrual policies between the two types of offers. In the meantime, the tradeoff between the two offers continues to be one of additional miles vs. the flexibility to confirm on a segment-by-segment basis.
Aaron Goldberg
Sr. Manager - Customer Experience Planning
United Airlines
Sep 27, 2013, 3:27 pm
#27
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: NYC/SFO
Programs: AA/AS/UA; Bonvoy
Posts: 282
Can you give us a 100% foolproof method of determining, for a given offer, what kind of "fare" (i.e. fare class, fare basis, or other derivative terms) is being applied, and from that, what mileage accrual will apply to the purchase, and from that, whether UA will treat it as what it was sold at or as something else?
Sep 27, 2013, 4:37 pm
#28
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 4,645
Sep 27, 2013, 4:37 pm
#29
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Houston
Programs: UA - 1K, Marriott - Gold, Hilton - Gold, Global Entry,
Posts: 632
So what is the official UA policy on buying a fare that books into P but really has a W or H or V underlying fare basis (that is never shown or known unless you click to view the fare rules) as has been posted upthread? This is different than a buy-up offer after or while purchasing a ticket. I've never had an issue, but if I'm buying a fare that is advertised/shown as a P fare, I sure as heck better get the bonus PQMs with it.
Oct 1, 2013, 10:13 am
#30
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Cambridge, MA
Programs: AA EXP, UA1k, AmEx Plat, Global Entry & Pre✓
Posts: 852
Booked in P, not showing mileage bonus upon booking?
I booked a first/biz fare to San Juan (via IAH) in P but the website didn't show the 1.5 EQMs. I called the 1k number 4 times, each time, less helpful than the last.
Am I not going to get the 1.5 EQMs bonus?
Am I not going to get the 1.5 EQMs bonus?