Originally Posted by
Lefleur
Lufthansa will not let me pay for an upgrade to premium economy or business class because they said my ticket was purchased in the "basic economy" fare. Lufthansa does not allowed paid upgrades, etc., on "basic economy." I am using quotes here because that is the precise language/terminology Lufthansa used to me for this flight/fare.
Neither UA nor LH offer a "Basic Economy" product on trans-Atlantic flights. They
do offer "Light" fares. If you made your purchase on United.com you'd have gotten a pop-up message telling you about the conditions of a light fare, which include no upgrades, no changes, and a charge for the first bag unless you have status or a qualifying credit card.
However, I don't think you have a Light fare, because Light fares are not offered on the W fare class between the US and Europe. (They
are offered on W fares between Canada and Europe, though, so if your return flight includes Canada that could still be the case).
It's more likely that they ran into one of several other problems trying to upgrade you, including the fact that codeshare flights can't usually be upgraded. The board search you want is about upgrading codeshare flights, not "basic economy."
Originally Posted by
Miles Ahead
It's "Economy Light" in Lufthansa-speak.
It is quite confusing. Light gets you miles but not changability for a fee or checked bags. S class originating from the US is supposed to have these restrictions, or at least the possibility of these restrictions. If you have a point of origin in the US, the W basis is not supposed to have baggage restrictions. However, I had a W and it did. I needed to upfare to a V.
What was your itinerary? UA was very clear that they weren't going to offer Light W fares ex-US. I'll be really disappointed if they've changed their mind so quickly.
And, yes, it's "the possibility of these restrictions." Each S-Light fare should be paired with an S-Regular fare. Of course, judging by the problems they had when they rolled out Basic Economy, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they'd messed up the mapping somewhere.