Originally Posted by
rickg523
Why different airlines use DIFFERENT letters is a Corporate thing. Sort of like Tall, Grande, and Vente standing in for Regular, Medium and Large at Starbucks.
But.... actually in each of those cabins there's maybe half a dozen fare classes. Those are denoted by letters. Read along on FT for a while and you'll learn just how different J is from Z, though both are Business Class.
It would be nice if fare class designators were standardized across airlines, but that would be a complete anomaly in the world of airline pricing.
A friend of mine learnt about the different fare classes the hard way. I kept telling him to book NOW for a trip to Disneyland for 4 people in September. Of course he didn't. He kept telling me about their Virgin tickets for AUD$1200. When he looked at them late July the only seats available were AUD$1700.