Booking Code Q allow for airport standby?
 

I booked a last minute deal through AA.com (which goes through travelocity) and recieved a Q fare code. I understand that this fare code is not available for confirmed standby. Is booking code Q available for airport standby (unconfirmed)?

TIA

I think there is a misunderstanding. There are no fare code restrictions on Confirmed Flight Change.

http://www.aa.com/aa/pubcontent/en_U...eDayTravel.jsp

If you attempted CFC and were told there's no availability, it's not an empty Q bucket, but another (N?) that is used for CFC inventory.

Either way, airport standby is permitted for 'domestic' fights.

Confirmed Flight Change (CFC) comes from E inventory, I believe. AFAIK, this is hidden inventory and only seen by AA.

Reading OP's message, I think he was stating that he purchased a Q fare. Not that he thought availability was coming out of Q.

And I thought standby had to be allowed on the original fare to qualify for CFC with certain exceptions. So the OP would have to look at his fare rules to see if standby was allowed.

-ryan

I hope your last minute "deal" was domestic, because, if it's international, "Q" inventory earns zero miles, zero EQM/EQPs, and it's non-upgradeable.

International is incorrect. See here: http://www.aa.com/aa/i18nForward.do?...anAirlines.jsp

As hillrider implies, Q international does earn miles - but not trasatlantic. From that link to aa.com,

"** Tickets between North America and Europe, India, Asia and Latin America booked in O and Transatlantic tickets booked in Q are not eligible for mileage credit." (my underscoring)

That is not correct for CFC. (It would be correct for standing by at no charge.)

"You can get a confirmed seat for same-day flight changes for domestic travel† on all fares for a $50 fee*."

Where are you getting your quote from? Please cite. I am reading the AA site and it does not state that all fares qualify.

According to the following link, it clearly states "Fare rules must allow standby (except for opaque, bulk and AAdvantage tickets which do not permit standby travel)." Now that does seem to include a large percentage of fare classes, but clearly not all as you say.

http://www.aa.com/content/agency/Tra.../sameday.jhtml

http://www.aa.com/aa/pubcontent/en_U...eDayTravel.jsp
On the main AA site, not in agency reference

The agency reference is still published by AA.

I guess the link you posted seems to be "marketing-like" worded, versus the agency reference which spells out the rules.

Can't say for sure, given that "bulk, opaque and award travel" are excluded from the rule (and thus very few fares would fall under the rule), but I would think they would have grounds to apply the rule if they felt like it.

We all know that we can't take a webpage (either the AA link or the Agency reference link) as the hard and fast rule.

-ryan

Uh? Did you really mean this?

Those are the written policies of the airline; I would like to see how could one argue in court that they're not valid, yet the valid ones are those unwritten one communicated by a call center employee over the phone on a line that, if it's even recorded, it's not archived.

I think the problem is when the details from 2 AA web pages are not in agreement.

Yup, I meant it. The web page statement is not the same as a written policy. It doesn't mean they are contractually bound to do anything -- if your fare didn't qualify, they could just tell you they were denying it because it wasn't available.

Besides, are you really going to go to court over a $50 CRC issue? For most of us, I would think that would be time wasted.

I agree. The reason why I believe the agency reference page applies is because it is more explicit about what qualifies and what does not.