FlyerTalker70

It's good to see that AC has the decency to include 3 checked bags in their BE fares. That being said, the limited milage accrual is less than ideal (UA awards 50% on Basic Economy, or a minimum 100% for all other revenue fare classes).
Same story on UA. However, one major difference for UA compared to AC, is that their non-basic economy fares allow for the possibility of free same day changes systemwide. IMHO I don't see the purpose of having a fare with change/cancellation permitted if the fee and co-pay virtually wipes out any savings you get. Better to just travel in Basic Economy if you don't mind not being able to change your flight/routing during OLCI.

I would also be curious to see how OPUPs are impacted by basic economy. If a dime a dozen SE 100K was travelling in Basic Economy and Y is oversold, would they be offered an OPUP to J or would they be at the back of the line for it?

Safe Travels,

James

5mm

if the dime a doz SE just fly Basic economy , they will not be SE next year.

SayItAintSo

Just found out some **amazing** news! - Basic Economy does NOT count towards segments (AQS)

I usually clear the AQD hurdle pretty well as I do a few trans-pacific/atlantic trips a year and hit 115 segments last year.. but seeing that about 5 of my 16 trips so far this year were BE, that is an unhealthy ratio for my being able to requalify for SE next year.

As our company's booking tool looks for the lowest price, I cant risk that my spend will go to non-status legs, so will probably try United, or maybe switch to OneWorld if I can avoid Westjet **SHUDDER**.

It's going to be hard as we've been together a long time, but I think my SE status and I are headed for a divorce :P

yyznomad

Sorry you found out the hard way. But yes, unfortunately the Basic Economy category is bare bones.

jasdou

Symmetre

What are you afraid of? Competence? Friendly service? Decent OTP?

jc94

Select International Routes: Applies to select routes between Canada and destinations over the Atlantic.

Someone else may be able to find a reference to what these actually are, but I've never found it defined. Knowing AC it's probably a single low rev route. Or they change it regularly.

jasdou

jc94

Well the OP above had issues so perhaps they can confirm which of these TATL/TPAC trips caused an issue (if any).

I don't know what route it is and isn't operated on but the fact that AC says selected routes, would indicate it's not all. I've never flown nor do I intend to fly BE to test this out though and my colleague was able to convince the bean counters to put him into Standard TATL ($60 more and includes the bag, we'll ignore his 3 free bags here lol)

The Lev

eigenvector

Booked through AC reservations specifically specifying standard not basic.

Checked confirmation a few hours later, it was booked in basic.

AC says basic fares aren't changeable, so they can't touch the ticket except to cancel and rebook.

But after cancelling, they can't find inventory any more on one of the partner flights on the itinerary so I have to accept a crappier itinerary on all AC metal.

Now imagine being someone who doesn't always check your confirmations to make sure you booked what you intended.

24left

@eigenvector

Did I understand your post correctly....that you booked this ticket with an agent at AC reservations and specified you wanted Standard and yet the agent booked it in Basic?

And when you checked the ticket, was it within the 24 cancel window?

And if yes, are Basic tickets not included the 24 hour cancel window?
.

eigenvector

Yes, it was an AC call centre agent. She specifically asked basic, standard, flex, etc. and I said standard. The price quoted was as expected for Standard based on AC.com (which wouldn't let me book the actual ticket or I would have saved a lot of hassle).

I checked the confirmation a few hours later. They used the 24-hour cancellation policy to cancel and rebook, but inventory had changed and they weren't able to re-book me on the original itinerary, which included an LX flight, without booking a higher fare class that increased the price by almost 100%. I guess if it was an AC inventory issue they could have opened it up to fix their mistake but since it was LX's inventory that disappeared there was no way to fix it. So I accepted a different itinerary on all-AC that was similar in price, but gets me home at 10pm instead of 3pm.

Still better than turning up at the airport, or in 2 weeks trying to make a change, only to find I had Basic.

24left

So, does this mean that we can't trust AC reservation centre agents to know the difference when a customer asks for Standard and not Basic?

Does this mean those less familiar with the AC branded fare stuff will end up with the wrong tickets, and the limitations that result?

Hmmmmm.

jasdou