Ok, fareclassophiles - explain this one to me. For the last couple of years I've travelled frequently on UA codeshares with AC, usually a yyz-mia-scl or yyz-sfo-syd or yyz-den-las or.. well, you get the picture. The first leg is always AC metal, the second leg always UA, but it's ticketed as UA for the whole thing. No problem so far. Usually (in fact, almost always) it's been a V class fare.

I always arrive early and standby for the upgrade, because you can't do it in advance if it's a codeshare. This, I accept. Last week I travelled yyz-lax-koa-sfo-yyz, fare class V, ticketed UA but the yyz-lax and sfo-yyz portions were AC metal.

At YYZ we tried to upgrade (three of us travelling) and there was much head-scratching at the gate. Our tickets clearly stated V class on them, but the gate agents were insisting that this translates to an 'L' class in AC's world. In the end, they relented and upgraded the three of us, still scratching their heads as we headed off to the plane. (The flight was great, and we had two celebrities in J with us - Lloyd Robertson and Jenny Garth.)

Same thing on the way back last night in SFO, only this time we were shot down by the check in agent and the gate agent, who both explained that United V is ALWAYS Air Canada L.

Anybody else ever have this experience? As recently as January I had no problem with UA V. (I don't think this topic's been covered elsewhere, though I could be wrong, sorry if it is.)

I emailed the SE desk today for clarification. Are some V fares L fares? How would you know before you purchase it? So does that make a UA H fare an AC V fare? A Y fare an H fare? A J fare a Y fare? Ok, maybe I'm getting carried away, but I bought these tickets specifically because they were upgradeable. (well, also because we wanted to go to KOA, but.. you get the idea.)