embarcadero1

I bought a business first ticket from SFO-ORD return. I was booked in Z class (per my receipt). The ticket cost about $1800.

I get a notice this morning that my flight (1597) has been cancelled and I've been rebooked onto a later flight. When I attempt to secure a seat, I discover that I've been rebooked in E-. Only center seats remain.

So I call to ask that I be rebooked in the class of service for which I paid. The agent tells me that the business first ticket I paid for is "a coach ticket that allows you to travel in first." I'm looking at the fare rules right now and cannot find any such language.

I've never heard of such nonsense, has anyone else? I don't understand how United can offer and sell tickets in F that can suddenly turn into E- tickets.

Has anyone else had this happen to them?

mherdeg

What is the fare basis that was used to purchase your ticket?

You can find this out by asking the agent for your "fare basis", or by looking at your e-ticket fare construction (folks these days plug their last name & e-ticket number into the manage-my-booking portion of the saudiairlines.com reservations site to do this).

To answer your question directly, yes, UA has, starting in roughly November 2013, aggressively marketed "upgrade baked in" fares which book into a premium cabin, but for which the underlying fare basis is a coach fare basis; these generally work but can cause some messiness during irregular operations. This fact is basically not disclosed to you online — if you search for a first class ticket on united.com you can go all the way from search to purchase without ever seeing the actual underlying fare basis behind the fare that books into Z. I'm astonished that this practice hasn't triggered regulatory scrutiny. Recommend you file a DOT consumer complaint, http://www.dot.gov/airconsumer/file-consumer-complaint .

See discussion on these fares at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...yup-fares.html , http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-up-fares.html ; buried in there are complaints from consumers about the kind of situation you see (where you are mysteriously told after irrops happen that you do not really have a premium-cabin ticket).

Kacee

You unknowingly bought what is called an "UP" fare. It looks like an F fare, but actually books into an underlying economy fare class. The only way to know this is to click through on the fare rules prior to purchase. More info here: united-files-new-buyup-fares.

These are quite prevalent, and IMO highly deceptive.

UA will still book you into the front cabin on a flight that has available Z class seats up front. The problem is that the aircraft onto which they rebooked you likely has no such availability. In this sense, it's just like any IRROPS situation, where the first available flight may well have no F seats available despite the fact you're holding an F ticket. They may, however, claim that no downgrade compensation is due you, since you're not holding a true F ticket.

If it's important to you to sit up front, I would suggest you look for alternative flights that still have seats up front (and preferably Z class open) and asked to be rebooked. The problem here is that UA tends now to fill its front cabin with upgraders at T-24, leaving no seats for such circumstances.

Again, I agree this is highly deceptive.

kenn0223

All the fares that book into Z that are filed for the SFO-ORD route are instant-upgrade coach fares. The only true first class fares UA sells on this (and most domestic routes) are F based fares; everything else (A, Z, P) are all upgraded coach fares. Based on the $1800 price point you gave, the best I can find is that you've purchased a Q3UP7Y3 fare ($1714/rt); is this right?

Unfortunately, the agent is right that you purchased a coach fare that allows you to sit in first. Are there seats available in the Z inventory bucket? What about in any first class bucket (F, A, Z, P)? If the answer is no to both questions I'm not sure what you expect them to do (since there are no seats). If there simply aren't seats in the Z bucket you should press them to open a seat or rebook you using one of the other inventory buckets.

If all else fails, you are entitled to a refund per the UA Contract of Carriage. Based on my limited review, it looks like the difference between Q3UP7Y3 and an regular Q-based fare (QA3KN) is about $1000 so that should indicate around a $500 refund for a downgrade on 1/2 your trip. I'm not sure how exactly UA calculates the fare difference so you'd have to see what you can get them to do.

jpc83

Thanks for the tip on saudiairlines.com . . . very interesting. Good luck with your ticket

Kacee

I second this recommendation.

btw, both AA and DL are doing the same thing, with similar consequences for flyers who unknowingly buy these fares.

hockey7711

Does this apply to the discount BF fares that book in to Z also?

PV_Premier

no, generally not - UP and UPDI fares are filed only domestically i believe.

OP, press UA hard on this one and file with DOT if they are simply unwilling to reaccomodate you in F. also, inquire about connecting itins with F availability.

mherdeg

Look at the fare basis before you buy. On united.com, you can click "Fare rules" and fill out a captcha pre-purchase to see your fare basis code.

There are some international premium-cabin fares filed with economy-letter fare bases — I have seen them to LIM, for example.

Kacee

The Bogota P fares are typically UPs as well.

I don't think they're showing up (yet) on the TATL and TPAC routes though.

kenn0223

I agree that UA could make it more transparent. But, I think, there is some responsibility on the buyer too (like the OP, should he have wondered why his fare was over $2000 cheaper than the F fare published for that route?). There is a reason the fare is cheaper (and it's not because the airline is in a good mood) and a prudent buyer would make sure they understand all the "features" of the fares available and choose the one that best fits their need and price point. No different than buying any other product. Some airlines have done a good job of disclosing the differences between fares, others like UA have not. Any regulation is needed, and I don't think it is, it should go towards requiring better discloses and not dictating what products the airline can offer.

Sykes

I haven't seen the /UPDI fares on TATL or TPAC, but the older -UP fares are very common. There have been Q-UP, P-UP, and D-UP fares filed to both NRT and LHR that I've ticketed relatively recently.

Kacee

The current disclosure is awful. I consider myself a very sophisticated consumer and was not aware of this practice until I read about it on FT.

UA should prominently disclose to consumers in plain English that they are not buying an F fare without requiring any click-thru. As it stands, you have to follow a click-thru secured link, and even then you have to know how airline fares work to know what UA is actually selling you.

I really don't think it's an exaggeration to say that 99.9% of the people buying these have NO IDEA what they are getting.

spin88

I third the recommendation. DOT needs to know that this is a problem, and that these are being sold as First Class fares, with the only "disclosure" being a link burried in 10 pages of 8 point type. They will take action with enough complaints.

it is very deceptive by UAL how these are marketed.

channa

In fairness, it's marketed as "First Class: $500" or whatever, not "Free Upgrade Fare: $500."