Originally Posted by
divjnky
I've looked but can't seem to find the answer I'm searching for (the forums are huge!!) on the boards. Can someone give me a relatively simple explanation of what the different airline fare classes are and, more importantly, what they mean should mean to me???
New here, sorry if this belongs in another section.
Welcome to Flyertalk!
IŽll give it a shot (please note: IŽm simplifying things a little):
1) 50 years there was one fixed price for a certain route. Nowadays an airline has several dozens of different prices. There are two major reasons:
1. "price discrimination": airlines want to maximize their profits while different customers are willing to pay a different amount, e.g. a business traveller booking a flight one day in advance is likely to be willing to pay ten times as much as a student looking for the cheapest fare 6 month in advance
2. different fare classes come with different terms & conditions, generally the more flexible a ticket is (i.e. dates can be changed, ticket doesnŽt have to be bought weeks/months before) the more expensive it will be
The T&C (can the ticket be refunded? can the dates be changed? etc.) are determined by the fare class / fare rules associated with a particular fare class. E.g. "Y" is often used as the most expensive economy fare class.
The fare class you book determines:
- whether your ticket can be refunded, dates can be changed (at a fee/no fee) etc.
- whether you earn miles and if you do, how many
- whether you can upgrade using miles, upgrade certs etc.