New PE fare classes are out!
 

I just logged in my eUpgrade account and noticed this:

http://i.imgur.com/9JdsMzA.png

So, O fares have the same eUpgrade requirements as Latitude now. E, N become discounted (I assume) PE fares and have the same requirements as Flex.

I was able to confirm all my upgrades on my trip to HKG next week since I booked O class when that was the only one available.

Curious about the accrual rules (and price!) for these...

Seems only SEs will be able to upgrade E,N fares according to eUp website.

And the reason why FTers have been booking PE fares has mostly been elimintated...

Requiring the same amount of upgrade credits for E and N fares as for Flex fares doesn´t exactly encourage FFers to buy PE fares - it´s not as if PE fares are particularly cheap, though I guess it makes some sense when comparing the discounted PE fares on TPAC routes with the over-inflated Flex fares on TATL routes.

In any case I doubt many pax will buy fully-flexible PE fares (O).

Agreed...Although it will be interesting to see where O will be positioned relative to Y and B. Not sure what the advantage of O will be over Y/B if O is indeed fully flexible PE?

It seems the fares have not been loaded in the res system yet.

If I had to guess I´d say most markets will have at least two different O fares:

- one fully-refundable O fare which requires a return trip (and possibly min. stay / Sat. night) and
- one fully-refundable O fare which can be used for one-way bookings (no restrictions whatsoever)

The former would likely be priced somewhere between B and Y while the latter would be priced above Y.

Given that only O is being sold right now, and O is instantly upgradeable, could book some cheap J fares right now and not need a whole lot of eupgrade credits.

Q: From Mar 1, can E50K and E75K upgrade 'O' and 'B' fares using their e-upgrade credits, without paying $500/$750?

I think PE fares are exempt from the co-pay.

Thanks OP, just upgraded all my flights for HKG and CDG. Got those single seats everywhere.

I know that AC really doesn't like E75s / E50s but they seem to be taking it to extremes if this is the case.

So an E75 will be able to upgrade a Flex fare (with the crazy $750 co-pay of course) but not a PE fare booked in E or N?

I'm guessing that the current fares will be the "new normal" for E,N and we'll be seeing much higher O fares shortly. Time to book your affordable O fares while you still can!

Nice! Thank you gabdusch! I was also able to confirm an upgrade later in the spring. :D

Now let's just wait for AC to change all the rules on us, re-map an O booking to something else, the eUps not to work properly, to have to call in, etc., etc. Noooo, that would never happen. :rolleyes:

Agree. I was expecting the E75 and E50 to have to pay for the co-pay on the E and N fare, but not be able to upgrade at all is a first one...

Doing a little happy dance here. 3 TATL tickets booked and cleared today, with a bunch more to go!

Are there any good TATL PE fares out there?

YYC-CDG r/t 1550 all in. 125% AQM and instant J. Yeehaw!

Edit: Stopovers allowed.

And another TATL booked. Time for dinner, maybe more later.

Does this mean O is fully flexible now, like Y?

I doubt they will retroactively grant flexibility when they setup the buckets. Right now O is $300 change/$300 cancel on that YYC-CDG fare.

So did booking class O go up in price, or are E/N actually cheaper than booking class O?

Bleh... my HND-YYZ and YYZ-ZRH-YYZ are both waitlisted, but whatever - upgrade has been requested. Thanks, OP!

Hopefully AC clears some initial upgrade requests beforehand, though.

So what the booking window is for O fares for E50/E75?

AC.com still says 5/6 days, but also says 7 days for SE100, so obviously not correct based on OPs post.

Co-pays will apply to lower PE fares:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/22309654-post961.html

I would have thought that the lower PE fares would have had the same # e-credits as Flex (M), but it looks like it's the same as regular Flex fares.

O will go up in price when they start offering E & N, but they aren't offering them yet. Hence the (amazing) current situation, cheap PE tickets are booking into O so you can upgrade them right away, regardless of departure date.

Ummm, according to that post, co-pay will apply to E,N classes. But according to the eUp website, only SEs can even apply to eUp these fares.

Is this a sign of co-pay coming to SE? :confused:

No, it's a sign of them only having half-implemented E and N. Which is fine, since they're not selling them yet.

New fare classes have been introduced as of February 18, 2014:

From the e-upgrade page:
Fare types:
http://www.aircanada.com/shared/en/a...types_int.html

Fare search also shows Premium Lowest and Flexible options.

Lowest PE fares still get 125% AQM.

Anyone know of any routes with valid P/E/N fares?

Play Around With Fares
 

Folks, make sure you click the "flexible" option under PE as well. In some cases it's still CHEAPER than the "lowest" PE option. :eek:

You'll save upgrade credits AND money.

And in a sign of just how clear the options are, the page yvr76 links to still says "Low fares, 5 clear options," despite the fact that there are now 7 options.

QFT. Looks like everything hasn't been fully switched over yet, but here's a sign of things to come.

YYZ-YVR-HKG-YVR-YYZ in "lowest" PE -- $2,639
Same flights, same dates in "flexible" PE -- $2,094.

If that's a sign of what's to come with the new "lowest" PE fares, I can't wait to see what O is going to look like once the enhancement is finished.

$2,094 for "flexible" PE is a special. Has to be ticketed before Feb. 18, 2014 for travel until May 24, 2014 (departure). Under fare rules. So the "flexible" PE would be more tomorrow.

So it appears that "O" fares are still cheaper than many "E" and "N" fares YVR-HKG. They still have chargeable change fees too in the fare rules.

Yeah, I found the same fares you noted just by clicking around. Everyone's fares will vary, of course, based on time and dates. Not looking forward to full implementation.

Jump in today, if you can. Booked a couple of TPACs on the beast for which I would have avoided otherwise. Paid $2094 each trip, and used 16*2 credits in total.

Lots of R space on the flights I searched from YVR-HKG. As some have predicted, people are likely avoiding the HDs.

I can't possibly imagine O not being a fair bit more than Y. It's all the same flexibility and upgradeability, but you're in a better cabin.

Until now, O was often within 10% of cheap Flex, and cheaper than higher Flex fares, which is just insane.

Just a point of clarification, as we're in the midst of updating our systems:Details about how eUpgrade Credits are calculated are available here.

Curious if the co-pay from PE Lowest fares will be different than from Flex?

They aren't.

https://www.aircanada.com/en/aeropla...e/add-ons.html

I'm assuming there is no Add-on for E50/75 buying "O" fare class. I booked WifeLev to LHR this summer and got her confirmed upgrades there and back (using her eUpgrades as an E50) and there was no request for co-pay.

edited to add: (confirmed by link supplied by winnipegrev)

Buy your O fares now before they go through the roof.

Correct, O will not have any co-pay for E50 E75 S100. The only PE fares getting co-pay are E and N.