headingwest

I'm quite annoyed about this. I recently booked flights to Corfu with the intention of using my complimentary upgrade vouchers. Expedia, which is usually very good at showing the correct booking class, showed the flights as in Y bucket (or so I thought!). Everything showed Y, right through to the actual confirmation e-mail, but when I checked on Aegean's 'manage my booking' the flights are actually in P. Not the end of the world as upgrading those legs is not good use anyway - unless you just need to use up vouchers. So on this occasion it seems Expedia Y actually means Y=economy cabin, and not Y=Y fare.

So today I booked a return trip VIE-ATH with Expedia, this time displaying the J fare. Now, could then mean J=Business Class, obviously not, the full ticket cost Ł98.30 return. So I assumed that this time J actually refers to the fare class (i.e. fare bucket). When I get confirmation from Expedia, then checked Aegean's 'MMB', sure enough it booked in J.

I called up to upgrade (after checking I availability) but was informed that the flights weren't eligible because it was booked through an agent. Suffice to say that I'm not happy. I've never had a problem upgrading from online travel agent tickets before, so this is very annoying. I didn't bother arguing with the agent, but I've sent a complaint to customer services about the second booking.

Be careful when booking with Expedia if you want to upgrade.

jerry_greece

*For the domestic flight: I can imagine that the issue that these flights are sold/marketed as OA fights, thus they are not available through the usual distribution channels. For me, it would be suspicious the fact that the price was much lower than the usual. Full-Y fare is more than 100 euro! If you bought P, then that should be something like 50 euro?

*For the J-international flight: J is indeed an IT-fare (made available for online OTAs). Although I agree with you on this (it is not clear how these fares are available), A3 is within their rights according to the T&C. However, given my latest experience with this J-fare, it was something like 52 euro right? I would consider using an upgrade challenge for this. Given the lowest available bid (that would be 85-90 euro), the overall total makes it quite affordable (given that the coupons also have some "value").

Xandrios

Thanks for the heads up. Specifically the Expedia Y-class is a tricky one; If important to you I would contact expedia: They delivered something other than what you booked.

Regarding the J fare things are slightly more 'grey area'. Its virtually impossible for the pax to know that this is a special kind of ticket, unless you accidentally read about it. It did come up here on FT recently, but only very few people would be aware.

However, basically, the J-fare is a group ticket. And group tickets are excluded as per the coupon rules: Free, award, group, charter flights and barter tickets, are not eligible for this offer.

headingwest

Ł57.07 for ATH-CFU return. To be honest, I did think it was strange, but as Expedia usually (always) displays the correct booking fare, I thought it was a mistake fare. I wrote to Expedia, telling them that they should provide what was advertised, but got no reply....what a surprise!

Interesting. If J is a special fare, why don't they include it on the list of exemptions on the upgrade vouchers (along with U,P,T)? This actually annoyed me more than the OA booking, because the agent effectively missold me the flights in that case. Aegean should be clearer about the rules.

Yeah, I should have done some research here first. I didn't realise the J fare is not eligible. Does that mean no miles either?

Oh well, I shall just have to try and recoup some of my money back (with a few stiff drinks) in the lounge before the flights!

yauee

curious , why don't book directly with aegean ?

GBobon

@yauee, you cant choose the booking class on A3 website... but if you use ITA Matrix + powertools it should work. @headingwest was looking to book a ticket in an upgradable booking class (different than U, T, P)

yauee

Expedia singapore can't choose booking class either.
Maybe i stupid, when i saw UTP on A3, i just dont book GoLight , go for Flex. so far no problem to utilise 4 upgrade vouchers for the this few years

GBobon

yes, but UTP in Flex is more expensive than S in GoLight. If you use ITA Matrix and you add booking class S manually in the advanced options you, if available, you can book the ticket on Expedia using Powertools
(if youre not familiar with ITA Matrix and Powertools check this post: ITA-Matrix-PowerTools - Userscript for Orbitz/DL/UA/AA/BA/CZ/IB/LA/LH/LX/TK)

Xandrios

The J fare is not listed as being excluded for mile earning, however I'm sure that there is a note somewhere that group/barter tickets may not earn any miles.

Personally I would not be surprised if you do get miles for these, but, I'd be careful not to depend on those miles too much..

I generally do the same. P/U in flex are generally cheaper than S, though S is cheaper than T in flex.

Having said that, the flexibility also has its value for me - so generally I buy flex, even if there is an S fare available that it a little cheaper.

headingwest

Umm....price!

For VIE-ATH return Aegean was quoting 181.47 EUR for T and S fares. So to be able to upgrade I would have had to choose the 'Flex' option for the T fare at 40 EUR extra. Compare that to Expedia's Ł98.30 for both flights in what I thought was an upgradeable fare it was pretty much a no brainer.

The ATH-CFU return was actually cheaper on Aegean's site by about 4 EUR but in P fare. I chose Expedia because it displayed Y fare, which is eligible for upgrade. Little did I know that they weren't actually selling me Y!

hsumh316

I was thinking about booking with expedia for my trip but was worried that it wouldn't be A3 (390) or OA (050) ticket stock.

headingwest

The bookings I made were on 050 and 390 stock, so no worries there...just make sure you get the right booking fares!!!

One bit of good news, I called Expedia(co.uk) and asked about their cancellation policy, specifically under the 24 hour period. I was told that I could cancel the flights but a Ł25 fee would be deducted. I pressed the agent on the '24 hour cooling off period' and to my surprise she said she'd waive the fee. I'm not actually sure if they have a 'cooling off' period but she waived the fee anyway. So I'll get a full refund within 72 hours (as the payment wasn't actually taken, the amount was just blocked). All in all a very good result for me, and surprisingly painless (no questions asked and the whole telephone call took less than 5 minutes).

This particular incident (specifically the J fare) left a bitter aftertaste. Aegean needs to be clearer on this, if J isn't upgradeable, then it should be listed on the voucher terms & conditions.

a330300

Would suggest giving Priceline a go, if you don't need to select Flex on Expedia.

Was able to use ITA + Powertools to force an S GoLight fare, when U was being offered on the Aegean site. Priceline's fare class is a bit tougher to verify, but you can view the fare basis and fare rules on the payment page for final verification.

GBobon

+1

headingwest

I've never tried using Powertools. I have been able to choose S fares using the ITA Matrix and then paste to Book With Matrix, but the prices always come out in US Dollars. Is it possible with Powertools to get quotes from OTAs in EUR or GBP?