JonNYC

I would be, yes.

THOSE are the real questions.

3Cforme

On a ~600 mile route (ATL-DTW specifically) DL charges $30 more R/T for a V fare (seat assignment, changeable with a fee, upgrade eligible) than it does for a Basic Economy E fare. We can expect AA to have some sort of distance-based differential algorithm. It might vary by city pair based on primary competing low cost carrier - biggest for markets where Frontier and Spirit - charging for everything - are setting the low price benchmark.

ijgordon

Every company would probably look at this differently, but I would think that the complete lack of ability to make changes (use it or lose it) make this very unpalatable for businesses.

The price differential between refundable fares and nonrefundable fares has been sufficiently large that in most cases it's more cost-effective to purchase the nonrefundable and incur a few change fees if necessary.

But I suspect the difference between basic and regular economy fares won't be big enough - and having to buy a new ticket outright when a meeting is changed or runs late will *very* quickly eat up any potential savings.

fanger

I don't travel much for work, once or twice a year maybe, but I hear a lot of people have to take the lowest airfare. We have $100 of discretion, though I don't know if they do much auditing. But given how poor the various corporate booking partners' websites we've used over the years I wonder how well they do at distinguishing between these new lowest fares and the slightly higher "traditional" lowest economy.

bse118

At my company, the policy is lowest reasonable economy.

I think a very convincing argument can be made that these fares aren't reasonable from a business travel standpoint (and I say that even though I can count the number of times I've changed a ticket on less than two hands...)

Dave Noble

Depends on how likely need to make changes and how much the fare is

On a the outbound of a $300 ticket, having a $200 change fee means that there is only $100 to use towards the new fare. Paying $270 with no flexibility only leaves the company $70 worse off. If changes are only done to about 20% of tickets , it is still better to eat the cost than pay extra

Busineses elsewhere have coped with non changeable tickets without much difficulty

beachfan

if it's just no upgrade, that would be considered reasonable I suspect.
No advance seat assignment would not be considered reasonable.

ElmhurstNick

It's one thing if only the O fare bucket became basic economy But we've seen that the YUP fares come from all fare buckets, so what makes us think the basic economy won't become the base code and the "benefits" become the /WNUP type designator? They already have the structure with the "Choice Essential" and "Choice Plus" fares, all they have to do is switch the benefits around.

The other question is whether corporate contracts will waive the basic economy fares somehow in their fare rules, so that employees don't find ways to game the system.

I've been fortunate to make EXP the last two years based on some unusual work travel circumstances. I'm currently on pace to hit about 55k EQM of work travel for the year plus 10k for the credit card, but I haven't bought a leisure ticket yet. EXP isn't going to do me a lot of good if I have to pay a surcharge to use the benefits each time, so I'm waiting to see how the next couple of months play out.

metallo

As stated, this change will almost certainly hurt business travelers the most (at least those whose companies insist on the lowest available fare). The thought of >100k miles a year with no upgrades, advance seat assignments, or other standard perks seems like a change that would be difficult to tolerate.

I typically fund most personal and business travel myself, though (with some exceptions), so my main concern is whether standard fares will increase (no indication of that so far) and whether I'll have to buy into a higher fare bucket for only the possibility of an upgrade (no way am I paying $1000 for something like 'K' or 'H' when $200 in 'O' or 'Q' will do). OTOH, if standard fares don't increase, and the choice is between $100 for no frills and $200 with all the perks (and perhaps better upgrade success), then I'll probably stand pat.

If I feel I'm overpaying simply for a small shot at an upgrade (one of the main reasons I haven't considered moving to DL), I'll probably just start buying discount F/J from the lowest bidder with the best product.

869

I can't wait to see AA roll out the IT upgrades necessary to sell different fare class options via the website. That's been how many years in the making?

Alex_I

- Actually, my % of upgrades already decreased this year. Are you flying the new 319 with 8 F seat on a popular route? Or, perhaps, trying to get to HI on an old and crappy USAir metal? Then your chances for upgrades are already miserable even if you are an EXP.

outwrdbound

Sample of 1 here, but my company had a policy that stated we must book the lowest available fare (unless that fare is first class, then we book the higher main cabin fare ) however, that changed when DL rolled out their basic economy fares. The policy is now the lowest "changeable" fare, so if the ticket does not allow changes with a fee, then we cannot book it. For the DL folks on my team, the basic economy fares are not even displayed on the booking engine. Hopefully this will be true for most, but who knows.

thecurtisw

Like has already been discussed a bit, I don't have a problem with it as long as it's an actual tier of prices lower than what currently exists and I can keep paying similar to what I do now and receive all my benefits. As long as that's the case, then I'd assume it could mean less upgrade competition (even if it's just a bit less).

wetrat0

Which is exactly the outcome that DL wants (segmentation).

ashill

That certainly is the question. I expect that AA will match Spirit, Frontier, and DL basic economy fares with their own basic economy equivalent but will match WN, B6, VX, AS, UA and regular DL fares with regular economy fares.

But I do expect the days of Sprit-matching rock bottom fares (like the $96 day trip round trip I had on PHL-ATL recently -- DL didn't match that fare at all) in regular, upgradable, advance-seat-assignment economy are over.

Huh? AA currently makes different fare class options available via the web site. Specifically the various buy-up options on economy fares (Choice Essential and Choice Plus). This would just be one more column (possibly at the expense of one of those two.)

I'd expect these to vary closely match what DL does. DL E fares typically have a 21 day advance purchase and Saturday night stay requirement, which (especially for the domestic markets these have been in so far) limits the cases in which they'd even be an option to most business travelers, even if corporate policy is strictly lowest fare. If AA and/or DL starts having these fares in long haul markets

But maybe AA won't require a Saturday night stay for Spirit-matching fares, in which case this could affect business travelers.