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Old Oct 22, 2016, 12:59 pm
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Last edit by: JDiver
"Basic Economy" Fares Delayed, now January 2017


This obsolete thread is now archived and closed. For the current thread, please see American Airlines' Basic Economy Fare Feb 2017 (Master thd)

Basic Economy fares, to have been introduced in the second half of 2016, have been announced as coming January 2017, once the holiday season demand has died down. This is stated in AA's most recent earnings calls. There has been no official announcement of what AA Basic Economy fares will entail, but this is what Delta does:

"Delta introduced fares without seat assignments and with no changes permitted and no elite upgrades to compete against Spirit Airlines — the idea was to offer less, something closer to what Spirit offers, when matching price … and encourage customers to spend more to get more." (Gary Leff - View from the Wing, 22 Oct 2016. Link.)


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ARCHIVE: Basic Economy fares now coming Jan 2017 (master thd)

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Old Mar 10, 2016, 3:02 pm
  #61  
 
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Originally Posted by AlwaysAisle
I have more than 20 500-miles upgrade certs. Should I try to use it right now? 500-miles upgrade certs cannot be used on Basic Economy and sure wondering what will be the price difference between Basic Economy and upgradable fare. Yes, I think current lowest fare will become Basic Economy. I doubt Basic Economy will be cheaper than current lowest fare.
I wouldn't change your behavior/practices until policy is actually announced and these fares are actually published.

Originally Posted by badjuju
Don't get your hopes up. I re-qualified for EXP last year and upgrades are a joke. SFO-PHX, PHX-ORD, ORD-PHX, PHX-SFO. I look at my place in the upgrade list and just have to laugh - #12 or #13 out of 20+ people. What's the point.

I'm thinking of jumping ship to Virgin America.
And after my flights tomorrow I'll be 9/9 on domestic upgrades this year on routes like DCA-ORD, DCA-CLT, DEN-CLT, DEN-PHL. YMMV but the blanket statement that "upgrades are a joke" is hardly universal truth.
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Old Mar 10, 2016, 3:26 pm
  #62  
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Originally Posted by ijgordon
Well, maybe think of it this way. Airfares have been going up*. These basic economy fares are just a means by which to keep some airfares flat, and to allow AA to match the ULCCs when they have fare sales without hurting their yields too badly.
Thank you. Even if these fares replace the current lowest available fares, it still means that those lowest fares are being made available and not going up. Would people really rather have that happen? The point of these fares is to allow AA (and DL and UA) to compete with Spirit and Frontier without bleeding cash doing so (like they did with the "low-cost airline within the airline" concept).

And I laugh at this notion that AA should not offer these fares to the flying public because their company may force them to purchase them.
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Old Mar 10, 2016, 3:38 pm
  #63  
 
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Terrible news. The LCC mindset is really getting out of hand. Imagine the backlash if a oneworld airline of comparable size (i.e. BA) did the same thing to its customers. Hopefully these are new codes below the current ones and not a devaluation of the current discount Y codes (aka selling us a worse product for the same amount of money).

Hopefully they'll make the options clearly-differentiated like DL does on its website. I'd hate to mistakenly buy one of these things.
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Old Mar 10, 2016, 3:47 pm
  #64  
 
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Originally Posted by brewdog11
Imagine the backlash if a oneworld airline of comparable size (i.e. BA) did the same thing to its customers.
How many oneworld airlines offer complimentary upgrades to elites?
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Old Mar 10, 2016, 3:53 pm
  #65  
 
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Originally Posted by rjw242
How many oneworld airlines offer complimentary upgrades to elites?
Fair point, but I was referring to them subjecting their pax to the LCC treatment like AA is doing to us (which goes far beyond this one "basic economy fare" element).
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Old Mar 10, 2016, 3:53 pm
  #66  
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Originally Posted by brewdog11
Terrible news. The LCC mindset is really getting out of hand. Imagine the backlash if a oneworld airline of comparable size (i.e. BA) did the same thing to its customers. Hopefully these are new codes below the current ones and not a devaluation of the current discount Y codes (aka selling us a worse product for the same amount of money).
Have you not heard of BA's "Hand Baggage Only" fares???

Which BTW, has been copied in almost the same shape and form at AB. And then there's Star Alliance's LH and SN.
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Old Mar 10, 2016, 3:53 pm
  #67  
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Originally Posted by Fanjet
Have you not heard of BA's "Hand Baggage Only" fares???
^^
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Old Mar 10, 2016, 4:13 pm
  #68  
 
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Originally Posted by brewdog11
Fair point, but I was referring to them subjecting their pax to the LCC treatment like AA is doing to us (which goes far beyond this one "basic economy fare" element).
I didn't know the full details of AA's new fares were released. But on the topic of BA, they subject many of their paid J passengers to elements of the "LCC treatment." And KL has for many years offered deep-discount economy fares that aren't changeable and earn practically no miles.

In a sense, AA is catching up to some of the big international carriers.
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Old Mar 10, 2016, 4:19 pm
  #69  
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Originally Posted by rjw242
I didn't know the full details of AA's new fares were released. But on the topic of BA, they subject many of their paid J passengers to elements of the "LCC treatment." And KL has for many years offered deep-discount economy fares that aren't changeable and earn practically no miles.

In a sense, AA is catching up to some of the big international carriers.
And no one is "duped" into buying one of these fares. They are clearly laid out in detail for the purchaser to see. At Delta, a pop-up appears if you click on to select the fare, which details all of the fare's rules. And you then have to agree to those conditions to proceed. Who would have thought that having more purchase options would be a bad thing.
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Old Mar 10, 2016, 4:21 pm
  #70  
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Originally Posted by brewdog11
Terrible news. The LCC mindset is really getting out of hand. Imagine the backlash if a oneworld airline of comparable size (i.e. BA) did the same thing to its customers.
Yeah, as others have started to point out, that's just silly.
Advance seat assignments are limited on many business class fares, except for upper-level elites. (Not to even mention coach.) And of course the Euro carriers have been well ahead of the game on use-it-or-lose-it fares. Earning miles? Fuggedaboudit!
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Old Mar 10, 2016, 4:25 pm
  #71  
 
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Maybe I shouldn't get on here after having so many drinks, but there's a point to be made. I guess I'm not making it clearly.
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Old Mar 10, 2016, 4:44 pm
  #72  
 
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New Basic Economy fares coming 2016 2nd Half
Airlines keep lowering the bar and the American public keeps lining up with their wallets open. UA matching AA with the 10-across Y on some 777 aircraft... Many complaints heard but the seats will get sold. Interesting how that works. We Americans seem to be really good at complaining but terribly lacking in the follow-through "thing", lol... We FT'ers are in a definite (and very small) minority.
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Old Mar 10, 2016, 6:41 pm
  #73  
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Originally Posted by krlcomm
Airlines keep lowering the bar and the American public keeps lining up with their wallets open. UA matching AA with the 10-across Y on some 777 aircraft... Many complaints heard but the seats will get sold. Interesting how that works. We Americans seem to be really good at complaining but terribly lacking in the follow-through "thing", lol... We FT'ers are in a definite (and very small) minority.
I guarantee you that more consumers would complain about low fares no longer being available than they would about 10-across seating on a 777 (which is basically the same as 9-across seating on a 787). If a passenger wants a seat that's wider and/or with more legroom, most airlines sell that product.
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Old Mar 10, 2016, 7:38 pm
  #74  
 
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Originally Posted by beachfan
if it's just no upgrade, that would be considered reasonable I suspect.
No advance seat assignment would not be considered reasonable.
I'm hoping at least Elites will be able to have advanced seat assignments..otherwise there really isn't a reason for me to stick with AA.


Originally Posted by rickintul
Advanced seat assignment doesn't cost the airline a penny. Why take that feature away?
I'm hoping they won't for Elite travelers.
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Old Mar 10, 2016, 7:49 pm
  #75  
 
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All of these revenue enhancing ideas seem to be contrary to brand loyalty. I don't need to fly 100K, but I do because I get reliable upgrades and 8 SWU's. This year, I think I'll make EXP again but not sure its worth the extra effort. And ... there are a lot of people out there with ideas like One Jet that I have been avoiding because of brand loyalty. It's a lot harder to decide not to price shop with fewer benefits and higher award levels. As the President of Delta mentioned recently, they want us to spend miles getting drinks in the Sky Lounge rather than saving miles for retirement.
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