Originally Posted by
hurnik
Oh, I did not know that. But even when I do that, the flights don't show up on DL.com.
Although I see the later post that the booking has to exist in all the fare buckets, which, IMO, makes it very difficult to find them, but perhaps I'm doing something wrong.
Although there appears to be some confusion on that as someone said you need the underlying UTXV buckets and someone else said you need only the U space in addition to Z.
But now I know.
Thank you everyone!
There are multiple Z class fares with underlying coach fare basis codes ranging from V to U (the fares shown below from EF are the Z fares on ALB-DEN). The cheapest Z fares have underlying coach fare basis codes of V, while the most expensive have U class underlying fare basis codes. In order to purchase a Z fare, there must be both inventory open in Z, as well as the underlying coach fare bucket corresponding to the fare basis code. If there is no inventory in U/T/X/V coach fare buckets, you won't be able to purchase any Z fares listed below even if there is inventory in Z bucket. Advance purchase requirements can also come into play. Many Z fares that have V fare basis codes also have a 21-day advance purchase requirement (as seen below in 4th to last column). So even if there is Z and V bucket open, you won't be able to purchase them unless it is more than 21 days out.
Here is inventory on DL4693/DL1172 on 09/08. Even though married inventory for FC is Z3, there is only coach married segment inventory in M class which means you can't purchase any of the Z fares listed above because they don't meet the dual inventory requirements. There must be at least U bucket open to purchase one of the Z fares and to purchase the cheapest Z fares that have V fare basis codes, there must be V bucket open. Basic Economy fares (E class) and Comfort+ fares (W/S class) also use coach fare basis codes and require dual inventory checks.
