Originally Posted by
whooperatw
No I understand. I also saw previously where G was available but the search engine wouldn't accept it when Delta went to GAP fares, not just A/P for domestic first class. I believe it may be the same bug here now that Delta has aligned domestic first class fare buckets with business class buckets, leaving the GAP buckets for Premium Select.
I am seeing Z availability for 2 people ATW-ATL on my dates I am interested in, but when doing the search it only returns I for the companion certificate. My only other thought is there is another restriction on the availability of the the Z fare with companion code, though I suspect the search engine isn't looking for Z since the terms didn't have Z in it previously and at the moment still don't. In this case it is about a $190 price difference, not insignificant if still a $535 dollar savings over buying the two tickets outright.
I think the source of confusion may be the fare ordering (looks like G was added around 2014). It's FPAG, not FGAP. You couldn't book a G fare (the lowest FC fare) even when they were available as you had to book into A. Now that they are JCDIZ fares, the situation is analogous (you have to book into I, even if there is lower Z fares available). Why should they make Z fares available when they didn't make G fares available?