Dammit, AA made it very clear to their agents that they were
not to use B inventory when rebooking non-basic economy passengers. My guess is that the inadvertent booking into B was the product of previous training to rebook into the lowest available inventory.
On an otherwise full flight with availability Y1 H0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 B1, I'd wager that most agents would instinctively choose B over Y, even more so if they're not fully versed in the basic economy product. I doubt many agents have even seen a passenger traveling on such a fare yet, and agents at stations that aren't BE markets wouldn't have had much of a reason to pay attention. The B inventory in markets where BE is not offered may be "phantom" and automatically tied to availability in higher inventories.
Originally Posted by
matrixwalker2012
Why not just rebook in full Y like they sometimes do? I find the IRROPS rebooking in Y does two things, it gives the tickets max flexibility and the extra EQMs can do a good job at getting most pax to shut up and not come back asking for more. If crediting to a different program, the extra miles gained from full Y can also do a good job at getting those pax to not complain.
AA discourages rebooking into Y if a lower inventory is available, in part because of the "unearned" extra perks like Priority and additional EQMs.