Difference between Y and M
 

Hi all,

Quick question as it relates to upgrades fares. And I did attempt to do an old post search...

I need to get to a smaller airport in Sweden that AC does not serve and in fact travelocity/expedia won't even price ex-YEG. That being said I basically have my choice for how I want to get to Europe since I will need to take a separate flight once I am there. So I though I would attempt to maximize/guarantee an upgrade for the hop across the pond.

So...I began looking at immediately upgradable fares (Y/M). From ACs website I discovered that when selecting "fully flexible economy" AC offeres M fares only to Germany and Y fares to all other potentially useful connecting points (LHR, CDG, etc.). The difference is like over $1300 bucks between a Y fare elsewhere compared to an M fare to Germany. What is the fare rules differences between Y and M and why such a price difference?

Furthermore, if I want to go all the way to Stockholm and connect from there, it changes to a Y fare even if I am routing through Germany both ways. But I can buy FRA->ARN ticket separately for MUCH less than the almost $1400 price difference.

Of course all this appears not to matter because it appears to be J9 thru L9 and I0 for every flight to Germany connecting thru any Cdn city (YYC, YUL, YYZ) in the 2-day span I am interested in...so I guess even though I am willing to pay to buy an immediately upgradable fare, I'll end up buying an H fare, save a bunch of cash and play the lotto.

This makes me better understand the AC UG lotto vs. guaranteed UA E+ argument...

I am just at the beginning stages of my education regarding fare buckets, so go easy on me.

AC's fares in Europe are sometimes a bit of a patchwork quilt for reasons only they and regulators can understand. Having said that, AC.com is even more of a patchwork quilt. You might want to try PHONING AC and asking them what the M fare is on the segment of interest to you. Just because AC.com doesn't show it does not necessarily mean it is not available.

Having said that, I believe you are correct that if it's I0 for all the segments of interest to you, save your money and book in H class since you won't get the instant upgrade anyway.

My two cents.

M is $250.00 non ref on most FRA routes with in min 3 days stay.... not sure about YYC. Y is fully refundable and depending on the actual fare basis might have a min stay.

The Y fare also contains enroute stop-over privileges.

Generally (of course there are always exceptions :) ) AC will show M class if it available - the only time I have not seen M class shown when there were M class seats available is when my itinerary did not qualify for an M class fare OR an M class fare did not exist. An example is on LHR-Canada-EWR flights. No M class fares are offered - only L,Q,V,H,Y,C and J.

Cheers