canopus27

First of all, I don't believe it is true you can get Basic or Standard for every flight. They have been expanding the concept, but there are plenty of international flights for which I still don't see either basic or standard listed.

Secondly, you can't assume that the fare code names always follows a certain pattern. They do in many cases - but the fare codes are just a list, not a sequence that can always be decrypted.

For example, I just picked some random dates in August and (from EF) here are the validated fares for a YYZ-PEK RT. You'll see that there are numerous fare codes available for a single booking class - but those fare codes don't follow an obviously well defined naming pattern.



It's true that most north american fare codes seem to follow a slightly more logical set of naming rules ... but to cow's point above, I don't think the names are formally defined, and in general I think almost any name could be used - each with almost arbitrary rules and prices.

jc94

I believe Basic is on select routes, Standard is on all routes.

However, at some point before the flight leaves Standard is often "sold out". But I've both seen it available hours before a flight, and not available weeks before a flight. And anecdotally am not convinced it's purely load based though that's hard to be 100% sure on.
Like I can book YYZ AUS tomorrow in Standard, but if I look YYZ LHR 12/14 it's not available. Though, breaking news here, it shows as "Not available" and still on the UI. As opposed to missing. Basic doesn't show up at all for either of these routes (yet it does exist at times).

sokolov

Is that a route with branded fares?
The interesting part would then be to compare Basic/Standard/Comfort for the same day and fare. That's the pattern, if any, I'm looking for.

In the case of the two fare codes I mentioned above, I had to replace ...LGT with ...RCT in order to get Standard instead of Basic.

canadiancow

It's not even that the names can be different.

There's no reason they couldn't publish:
$100 SxxxxTG
$120 TxxxxFL
$130 SxxxxFL

If you take the cheapest fare (SxxxxTG) and just change the TG to FL to get Flex, you're paying $10 more than you need to, because there's a T Flex fare, but no T Standard fare.

You need to look up the fare table if you're going to do something like this. Or do a search on ITA specifying you only want Flex/Standard/whatever.

But even when the codes DO follow a pattern, you don't want to just blindly change letters and hope for the best.

I've seen the odd route where Flex is actually cheaper than Standard due to things like this.

But again, if you don't understand this, you're not going to save time or money by trying to do it yourself. Just call in.

ridefar

YEG USER

sokolov

I would love to do just that. Only yesterday did I go through the ITA fare operators, but I couldn't find an option to say I want Standard, or, ideally, I don't want Basic.

Would you mind telling me how I can do that there?
TNX

ridefar

Stranger

SparseFlyer

$45 sounds like TA fee

Also, new ticket # =/= new PNR.

vernonc

I wish AC call centre agents would upfare a TA issued ticket. Its hit and miss and depends who I get on the phone. My corporate TA is based in the US (NA TA) and is not well versed in AC fare rules and they have repeatedly told me stuff that I know is incorrect. So between the TA trying to decipher AC fare rules + the stuff that AC agents feed them its next to impossible to upfare without a high/incorrect change fee.

24left

@vernonc
It was actually you who I was thinking about when I wrote this line in my post upthread

The AC agent I spoke with was also confused and also originally assumed it was a change to a ticket and I said no. She put me on hold a couple of times to call the resource desk and when she came back on the line, some things were still not clear so she went back to the resource desk. What I wrote was what I got from the AC agent with help form the resource desk.

I can just imagine if she didn't know and had to look it up, what it is like with TAs

ridefar

Right, which is why at the end of the day I don't believe they had to do a ticket exchange, just an upfare for me.

In any event, the other thing AC does not do which other major NA airlines do, and which makes this whole thing much harder when dealing with AC, is to allow payment from two source or two credit card for one ticket.

In other words, UA can take payment: corporate cc and personal cc on one ticket. So your TA just needs to know that the economy fare is x, total J (C, P, Z whatever) is y, and can issue a ticket but charge x to the corporate card, and y to the personal card to pay for that J ticket. Which means you get a J ticket with, unambiguously, all the rules for that fare. AC doesn't do that. One payment type per ticket as a single purchase. Yes, you can pay for an upfare with a different cc, but there would be no reason to worry about upfares at all (at least if purchased at the same time as the original ticket) if AC would accept two payments for one ticket.

Stranger

24left

@ridefar
I made the call to AC because @danhslee's post got me thinking about tickets I upfare and one which would be a different type than I normally do.

The agent was pleasant, apologetic for not knowing the answers but given that I kew more about the rules that were part of ACpedia 671126, I told her she was wrong and it was not a ticket exchange.

At least she took the time to look up the info in ticketing and when it was still not clear to her, she called the resource desk.

When she came back the first time, the answer was still wrong as she did not ask them the right question. I explained it all, told her the rules as they applied PE to J for example and then she got the right answers, located the actual document, claimed it was a new title and replaced the old one and now had CO fares listed. So there were in fact changes to how AC lists Upfares/ Upsells, which might be too subtle for some to notice, but they were pretty clear. (I would welcome someone else calling and seeing if they get a different answer).

I then took a minute to explain to her why some do upsells and the benefit to both the traveller and to AC. She thanked me for taking the time to give her the examples.


As for forms of payment, AC has the following problem as I went through this a few times this year.

As explained to me by the concierge: AC takes 2 forms of payment for a new ticket. We can use a gift card, eCoupon for part of the payment and pay the balance on a credit card. I have no idea if a corporate card and a personal card would be accepted in the same manner.

However, when I went to do an upsell, I was told only one form of payment was allowed. So for example, if I paid with a credit card for the original PE ticket and now wanted to upsell/upfare to J, I was not allowed to use an eCoupon and a credit card for the difference. And this was the answer given to me by a concierge who called ticketing and that is what they told her.

Do I know if any of these answers are true or correct? No. But I will HUCA if I sense hesitation with a concierge or an agent. Do we know why AC can't process 2 credit card payments the way UA can? I don't.
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