Originally Posted by
Kacee
I just booked SFO-RDU via EWR and the ps segments are a T fare basis booking into C. So these just keep getting weirder and weirder.
This is a great fare btw, at $1107 RT.
Yeah. I was all ready to confidently write that you can't route /UPDIs onto p.s. and then was reading the fare rules again. Cat 4 absolutely used to have a line prohibiting travel between SFO and EWR, just like the SFO-LAX prohibition. The new line makes absolutely no sense. It reads like a blackout for an int'l config aircraft, but those flight numbers don't even correspond to the 3-class 772 which is flying SFO-EWR. The fact that those flights don't seem special is what convinces me it's a mistake and will get fixed.
But then, why blackout EWR to SNA? What's so special about that? The /UPDI Cat 4 block changes slightly by fare (probably dropping blocks
sometimes based on the routing rules of the fare). EWR-SNA has a set of /UPDIs which are relatively specific to that routing. Sometimes I wonder if even UA can't clean up their mess all the time.
Notably, I think you found a loophole also with this /UPDI routing. I assume you grabbed
TEA21AFN/UPDI (booking code A). I realized a few weeks ago (there's a thread on it somewhere) that if you can book into A on one leg, an A fare allows C inventory on one or more other legs. SHARES is treating this as routing a 3-cabin First fare into full fare basis of a lower cabin when connections are missing that cabin (like getting full Y on an CR2 with a premium through fare).
Originally Posted by
exerda
Thanks for the information--there's quite a bit of it there.
One caveat I'd add is that lie-flat on the 752s does not seem to be restricted; I've flown many segments on IAD-SFO & v-v and several on IAH-IAD which were booked in A or P over the past few months, all via /UPDI fares.
The 3-class 777s do seem to be a glitch or missed coding when they're bookable; I did it on IAD-SFO last year via an A fare for the same price as the 739s on the same route (and not through a swap, either; it was the normal equipment at the time). However, within weeks after that, they seemed to fix the bug and all the 3-class F went sky-high.
Yeah, it's always hard to tell. UA is a little silly in blocking the int'l configs by hand, and if you can book one on a normal fare, do it! Other airlines use seemingly more sensible approaches; e.g. here is a Delta /UPDI using Cat 12 to surcharge lie flats:
Code:
A SURCHARGE OF USD 100.00 PER FARE COMPONENT WILL BE ADDED
TO THE APPLICABLE FARE FOR TRAVEL IN AIRBUS INDUSTRIE
A330-300 EQUIPMENT.
AND - A SURCHARGE OF USD 100.00 PER FARE COMPONENT WILL BE
ADDED TO THE APPLICABLE FARE FOR TRAVEL IN BOEING
777-200LR EQUIPMENT.
AND - A SURCHARGE OF USD 100.00 PER FARE COMPONENT WILL BE
ADDED TO THE APPLICABLE FARE FOR TRAVEL IN BOEING
767-400 EQUIPMENT.
AND - A SURCHARGE OF USD 100.00 PER FARE COMPONENT WILL BE
ADDED TO THE APPLICABLE FARE FOR TRAVEL IN BOEING
777 EQUIPMENT.
AND - A SURCHARGE OF USD 100.00 PER FARE COMPONENT WILL BE
ADDED TO THE APPLICABLE FARE FOR TRAVEL IN BOEING
767-300 WINGLETS EQUIPMENT.
AND - A SURCHARGE OF USD 125.00 PER FARE COMPONENT WILL BE
ADDED TO THE APPLICABLE FARE FOR TRAVEL IN BOEING
747-400 PASSENGER EQUIPMENT.