So when I go on aa.com and look for RT flights between PHL and ORD, I can go under the "Lowest Fare" tab and see flight after flight for $255. There are two subsidiary tabs, "Main Cabin" and "First". When I click on "Main Cabin", the following info appears:
Main Cabin
Preferred seats on American flights
Eligible for upgrades on American flights
Up to 1 EQM per mile flown on eligible flights
Flight changes allowed (fee applies)
Now I go back to the top tab and switch to "Refundable". There are now three subsidiary tabs: "Main Cabin Flexible", "Main Cabin Fully Flexible", and "First Flexible". They price out at, respectively, $725, $1835, and $985. Let's ignore the fact that "First Flexible" is little more than half the price of "Main Cabin Fully Flexible". (Hey, if puritanical corporations are dead-set against lower rung employees enjoying any of the pleasure of First Class, far be it from me to criticize American Airlines for profiting from this righteousness.) Instead, let's click on "Main Cabin Flexible". We see:
Main Cabin Flexible
Preferred seats on American flights
Eligible for upgrades on American flights
Up to 1 EQM per mile flown on eligible flights
Flight changes allowed (fee applies)
No, I did not just re-paste from the same copy cache. I have checked and double-checked: The front matter provided by American on their $255 "Main Cabin" ticket and their $725 "Main Cabin Flexible" ticket is the same.
I give. Why would you ever prefer a "Main Cabin Flexible" to a "Main Cabin" ticket? (No points for saying "to trick employer into subsidizing status by racking up more EQDs.") I know, I know ... read the fine print somewhere else. But in search of what?