<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by jfrench1000:
Regarding the "Z" fare class:
I was told by an international agent that the "Z" bucket reflects seats available as upgrades when you purchase a full "Y" fare. I am watching an IAH-NRT flight in November that is the key part of an eight-segment international itinerary that I am willing to pay $300 to upgrade on (each way).
It likely reflects the number of seats that the CO capacity-control gurus decided to release.</font>
Although some code letters (J, Y) are universal, some are airline dependent.
In Nov, Dec of 2002, Z fare on CO was a very heavily discounted business class fare.IAD-LHR was about $1250. Those tickets put one in J class on VS in CO's solid block.
UA and LH list Z class(I think deeply discounted business class), IAD-Europe-IAD from now to the end of the year. They have probably filed a fare for the code, but I do not think tickets can be procured for that class at the moment. LH Z tickets are available for some flights Europe-USA-Europe, at the moment. They are deeply discounted business class fares.
I do not think one gets into Z class business on a Y class ticket on international travel, other than perhaps by corporate contract agreement.