Originally Posted by yalie25
Professor Channa et al
While it's somewhat easy to understand the general differences are between the various fare class families (i.e. the QWISTX economy fares versus the BUNKVY economy fares), can someone explain what the differences are among the fare classes within one fare class family? For example, how is a Q fare different than a T or S fare?
For all intents and purposes, there is no difference. There might be minor variations in the fare rules (e.g., min-max stay, advance purchase, etc.), but I think the main reason the alphabet soup exists is two words --
Yield Management. This allows CO to manage revenue on a flight so that as it sells out at the cheapest fares, only more expensive fares are available. It also allows them to prioritize EUA...
Originally Posted by yalie25
Professor Channa et al
Second question--recently we learned that "H" class fare qualifies for 150% EQM, just like the Y fare. But practically speaking, what's the point of such a rule when you can't even search for H fares? At least with Y fares, you know that if you click the "fully refundable" box you'll get that fare class. But what's the point of this whole H class policy if you can't filter your results to give you an H-class fare?
There are actually a lot of H fares out there that are fully refundable/changeable. In those markets (I know I've seen it EWR-SFO in the past), if you search and check the "fully refundable" box, you will get the H fare, not the Y fare -- assuming you meet any advance purchase requirements of the H fare. There is a separate box on the search screen for the true Y fare. In this instance, the
only difference between the H and Y fares that i can think of is that the Y fare gets Elite members a confirmed upgrade at booking (and allows mileage upgrades at 5K o/w for regular OP members). They both get the same EQM.