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Details/Discussion of Saver (Basic Economy) "X" Fares

Old Nov 27, 2018, 7:54 am
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Last edit by: NoLaGent
How are Saver fares different?

Saver fares do include some restrictions on booking, refunds, changes, and seat selection.

These restrictions include:
  • Limited seating may be available at the time of purchase. Most seats will be assigned at check-in.
  • We cant guarantee that parties of two or more will be seated together.
  • No refunds are allowed beyond the first 24 hours after ticketing.
  • No changes, including same-day confirmed changes, are allowed for Saver fares.
  • No standby is allowed for Saver fares, even for elite status guests.
  • If a guest is a no-show for any flight during a trip, all other flights within that trip are automatically canceled, with no refund available.
  • Saver fares cannot be combined with any other fare types on the same itinerary.
  • Saver fares are non-transferable.

Elite status benefits you do get when you buy a Saver Fare:
* Priority check-in
* Priority boarding group
* Baggage fee waiver
* Express security line at select airports (for MVPG+)
* Refreshments (alcoholic drink or chocolate for MVPG+)
* Complimentary inflight entertainment player - available on coast-to-coast and Hawaii flights (for MVPG75k, while they last)
* Bonus miles (by elite level)

Elite status benefits you don't get when you buy a Saver Fare:
* Access to preferred seating (certain seats behind Premium Class or in the exit rows)
* First Class upgrades, when available
* Premium Class upgrades, when available
* Waived change fees for MVPG+
* Complimentary same-day standby/flight changes for MVPG+

Full info here: https://www.alaskaair.com/content/tr...perience/saver
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Details/Discussion of Saver (Basic Economy) "X" Fares

Old Dec 6, 2018, 8:23 am
  #391  
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Originally Posted by LBJ
If you look closely at these flights, you will see that the 9:20AM departure and 11:30AM return flights do have Saver fares at $129 one-way and Main(R) fares are $157. The other 3 daily flights do not have any Saver fares and just have $127 Main(R) fares. This is undoubtedly due to B6 who is likely the fare setter on this route and does not yet have Basic Economy fares. There's no B6 flight around 9:20AM, so AS seems to feel they can charge a premium for that particular flight. There is an 11:10AM B6 JFK-SFO flight, but that time slot likely has sufficient demand that AS feels than can compete against B6 with pricier Main fares.
But those flights do have a saver fare at $129. You can't see it on the Alaska website (I think they hide saver fares when they are more than main) but they show up on matrix of you limit to f bc=x. So there is a published fare that books into X and there is X space... it's just more than the R fare.

In other words, both main and saver exist; the "buy-up" is just negative.

That seems strange to me. I'd think that if they didn't want basic economy on some flights, they would just zero out X space on those flights.

On any case, maybe it's intentional and maybe not, but it's nice to see 2018 pricing for main reappear for a major route.
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Old Dec 6, 2018, 10:11 am
  #392  
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How long until AS copies deltas latest move? Basic economy awards

https://onemileatatime.com/delta-bas...award-tickets/
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Old Dec 6, 2018, 10:31 am
  #393  
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Originally Posted by CDKing
How long until AS copies deltas latest move? Basic economy awards

https://onemileatatime.com/delta-bas...award-tickets/
And then there has to be Basic Economy or A (Saver F) available on a partner award? Ew.

"Thank you for your business, MVPG75K. Please sit in seat 25E on the way to your CX/JL flight in F, I'm afraid there's no F space on your ORD flight. You are not eligible for an upgrade, incidentally. But please enjoy your complimentary drink or chocolate bar! Sorry that we don't do digEplayers to O'Hare any more!"
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Old Dec 6, 2018, 11:02 am
  #394  
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Originally Posted by eponymous_coward
And then there has to be Basic Economy or A (Saver F) available on a partner award? Ew.

"Thank you for your business, MVPG75K. Please sit in seat 25E on the way to your CX/JL flight in F, I'm afraid there's no F space on your ORD flight. You are not eligible for an upgrade, incidentally. But please enjoy your complimentary drink or chocolate bar! Sorry that we don't do digEplayers to O'Hare any more!"
You forgot the "and you'll likely have a plasticup of water before the F seat that you're no longer eligible for has its first cocktail!"
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Old Dec 6, 2018, 11:13 am
  #395  
 
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Well at least they wouldnt have to rename the lowest Y award to prevent confusion.
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Old Dec 6, 2018, 12:33 pm
  #396  
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I'm assuming since the partner doesn't have a Basic Economy (well at least most of AS partners) that it would not apply to partner awards but you never know. Booking domestic into X instead of W
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Old Dec 6, 2018, 2:33 pm
  #397  
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Originally Posted by CDKing
I'm assuming since the partner doesn't have a Basic Economy (well at least most of AS partners) that it would not apply to partner awards but you never know. Booking domestic into X instead of W
I would assume AS might do something like 5k/7.5k/10k = X, 12.5k = upgradeable W, but if they got evil, who knows, they could certainly enforce "all economy awards 12.5k or less are saver" and just turn W into the award version of X, and make N/Z == Main (20k/30k are only eligible for upgrade).
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Old Dec 6, 2018, 2:52 pm
  #398  
 
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Please stop this talk, AS watches this forum and you may give them bad ideas.
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Old Dec 6, 2018, 3:16 pm
  #399  
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Originally Posted by jsguyrus
Please stop this talk, AS watches this forum and you may give them bad ideas.
AS already copied DL a long time ago with multiple coach award tiers (12.5k/20k/30k comes from DL but AS implemented it before AA or anyone else). Nobody has to monitor FT to start up the Xerox when it comes to copying trends from Delta; airlines and beancounters do it naturally.
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Old Dec 6, 2018, 3:34 pm
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SFO to Seattle has increased from $69 to $99 for main cabin. That's a 43% increase to avail myself of the MVPG change fee waiver. I travel on my own dime, 2-3 times per month. They've also made it harder and harder to get a reasonably priced ticket out of OAK. I'm holding off on buying any more tickets and I truly hope that Alaska considers the response from its elites. I haven't jumped ship for WN yet, but its' on the table if pricing doesn't get refined.
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Old Dec 6, 2018, 4:53 pm
  #401  
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Originally Posted by sjbsf
SFO to Seattle has increased from $69 to $99 for main cabin. That's a 43% increase to avail myself of the MVPG change fee waiver. I travel on my own dime, 2-3 times per month. They've also made it harder and harder to get a reasonably priced ticket out of OAK. I'm holding off on buying any more tickets and I truly hope that Alaska considers the response from its elites. I haven't jumped ship for WN yet, but its' on the table if pricing doesn't get refined.
Have you sent in a message to AS about this yet?

I think a compromise I could live with is a change fee waiver extended to MVPG and G75K's. I can deal with some of the rest. Zero flexibility is unfortunate, especially as a 1MM'er and unlike AS.
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Old Dec 6, 2018, 11:39 pm
  #402  
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Airlines are watching here, at least to some extent, so what I write is not secret.

They are testing the water. Basic economy vs. economy fare differential varies. Sometimes $20 each way, sometimes $30. Some airlines will let you pick seats from the last 4 rows then they will assign probably mostly middle seats after that.

Travelers will be asked to assess things like:
If I am elite, will I pay $20 more one way on a transcon than basic economy to get my pick of seats, which might include exit rows?
If I am not elite, will I pay $30 more one way than basic economy and get an average seat versus a rear middle?
Someday, it may be...will I pay $40 more one way than basic economy and not get any water, have to pay to use the lavatory, and are prohibited from standing up except to use the lav or deplane?
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Old Dec 7, 2018, 8:49 am
  #403  
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Originally Posted by Toshbaf
Airlines are watching here, at least to some extent, so what I write is not secret.

They are testing the water. Basic economy vs. economy fare differential varies. Sometimes $20 each way, sometimes $30. Some airlines will let you pick seats from the last 4 rows then they will assign probably mostly middle seats after that.

Travelers will be asked to assess things like:
If I am elite, will I pay $20 more one way on a transcon than basic economy to get my pick of seats, which might include exit rows?
If I am not elite, will I pay $30 more one way than basic economy and get an average seat versus a rear middle?
Someday, it may be...will I pay $40 more one way than basic economy and not get any water, have to pay to use the lavatory, and are prohibited from standing up except to use the lav or deplane?
and then adopt dynamic pricing schemes ...

https://www.flyertalk.com/articles/d...-airfares.html
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Old Dec 7, 2018, 9:39 am
  #404  
 
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So on west coast flights that were $69 (SEA-SFO) its now $99, so a nice 30% fare increase. Not thrilled.
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Old Dec 7, 2018, 9:56 am
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Originally Posted by Toshbaf
Travelers will be asked to assess things like:
If I am elite, will I pay $20 more one way on a transcon than basic economy to get my pick of seats, which might include exit rows?
If I am not elite, will I pay $30 more one way than basic economy and get an average seat versus a rear middle?
Someday, it may be...will I pay $40 more one way than basic economy and not get any water, have to pay to use the lavatory, and are prohibited from standing up except to use the lav or deplane?
I think those are all fairly straightforward questions for a traveler to answer. The tricky part comes with the throwaway nature of Saver tickets.

If I am MVPG+, will I pay $30 more for the ability to change/cancel my ticket on the off chance that my plans change?
If I'm not MVPG+, will I pay $30 more for the opportunity to pay an additional $125 to change/cancel my ticket on the off chance that my plans change? How does $30 + $125 compare to the cost of the ticket itself? How likely is it that I'll need to change/cancel? How often will I buy up and not end up needing to cancel? How will that average out at the end of the year?

So many what-ifs that now need to be considered compared to what used to be a simple purchase. That's where WN does things so right. No what-ifs. Simple, straightforward, and no need to twist yourself into knots figuring out which avenue is the best option.
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