Originally Posted by
hotscot
This may be a naive question.
I see talk about booking/upgrading or changing to different flight 'types' or classes signified by letters.
Is there a guide to what they mean?
And can you change to a different 'class' after booking? (And is it beneficial?)
I'm lost, sorry.
Y is economy. PE (or PP specifically for United) is premium economy. J is business. There is a glossary somewhere but I can never find it.
When you upgrade you are changing to a higher class of service. There are a few different ways to upgrade. You may get an offer to pay cash for an upgrade that's immediately confirmed. You can pay miles + copay (cash) to upgrade, but if there isn't upgrade space available they will waitlist it and it may or may not clear. With no status, it's less likely to clear (people with status will be ahead of you on the waitlist) If it doesn't clear you will be fully refunded, but you end up flying in your originally purchased class of service, so you have to be ok with that. If you absolutely must fly business class, you should either buy business class (expensive!) or look for flights where upgrade space is available, buy the tickets, and upgrade immediately (possibly cheaper, but can be difficult to find)
For longer flights, PE can be affordable and is a lot more comfortable than economy; it may be a good middle ground