Superguy

Hey all,

I was looking at some international C tix on AA's website for upcoming international travel.

UA had three types - the "cheap" non-refundables, the "flexible" fares (refundable/changeable, but with a fee), or an unrestricted fare.

AA seems to either have non-refundable or refundable, and they're priced accordingly.

I liked the flexibles when I flew UA business. My employer will only pay refundable coach, and the flexible C fares made business class affordable - I just paid the difference (often only a few hundred bucks) and assumed the risk for the penalty in the event of cancellation.

Does AA offer anything like this? If so, how do you get them to display it?

Thanks,

Super

3Cforme

If you cited a city pair and country of purchase, somebody with a fare tool like ExpertFlyer could search published Business fares.

Superguy

Ok. I live in the US. I would be looking at BWI-FRA and BWI-ICN.

adamki

I looked at an example fare from May 10-20 2014. For BWI-FRA, you would be looking for:
1) Y-UP/B-UP fares. A full fare economy fare that books into the business cabin. An example for that route is B2EAUPR5 for $7154.00. There's a $400 change/cancellation penalty.
2) D Fares. Those are business fares that also have a $250-$400 change/cancellation fee. The cheapest D fare for dates in May 2014 is $6933.

To compare, the B fare is $3324.00 and Y is $4313.00-$6444 for those same May dates.

Superguy

Thanks for checking. AA seemed to have some pretty high TATL fares. If that B is fully refundable, that's probably what my company would go for. Looks like it'd be time to try to use my US SWUs.

adamki

Sorry to say, the B fare is fully refundable.

Sometimes, you see D fares that are more reasonable like DR50RT but those are non-refundable, but can be changed for $500.

JDiver

As this pertains to the pre-merger American Airlines, it is being moved to that forum.

As noted in the Welcome to the New American Airlines Forum! PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING, questions and information pertaining to the existing AA or US operations should go in those forums as it will be quite some time before the two entities operate as a single airline.

Your understanding is appreciated.

/Moderator

Exec_Plat

There are some I and D class fares from washingto DC to FRA. IAD and BWI.

Looks like $5400 or so. 90 and 50 day advance purchase.

3Cforme

On BWI-ICN, the cheapest published AA Business ticket for a hypothetical 10+ day trip in April is displayed by ExpertFlyer as:

Fare basis code I1X8Q4Q1
Flying AA
Routing via Pacific

CANCELLATIONS

ANY TIME
CHARGE USD 500.00 FOR CANCEL/NO-SHOW/REFUND.

CHANGES

ANY TIME
CHARGE USD 400.00.

The fare is $3690 + taxes + fuel surcharges (IIRC for EF's display of AA).

28-day advance purchase, 10-day minimum stay.

There are lots of nuances (quirks!) to aa.com but the pricing engine seems pretty robust. If you can find a qualified routing with segment fare code availability, AA is very likely to yield the same price as ITA Matrix.

One shortcut is just calling AA and asking for I1X8Q4Q1. I have talked to agents with deep skills selling RTW and CirPac tickets.

sdsearch

Please be aware that letter codes for fares are not standardized between different airlines.

C may mean a paid business fare ticket at UA, but at AA C means an upgrade (with miles + copay, or SWUs) from coach to business class.

Often1

OP - sdsearch is raising a critical point. When you ask about "C" do you mean a fully-refundable/changeable Business Class seat? If so, that's how I would ask the question.

JDiver

Thread title changed for clarity.

/Moderator

aaupgrade

Sounds like a trick question, since C fare is not a paid Business fare. See AA fare basis codes in this chart for more info.

hillrider

Can you give us an example of a UA "C" fare / market that you are interested in? It's impossible to respond to your OP constructively without such information, as fares, and fare structure, vary from market to market (international could be Mexico or Japan)

clubman

What I mean is, are there any fees associated with canceling a "First Flexible" fare at all, or are these fares really 100% refundable?

Looking at a domestic with fare code being KA7UPPM5

Also, is there any difference between a standard First fare (code: SA14ERP1) and a First Flexible in terms of same day changes?