Last edit by: IADCAflyer
What is Basic Economy?
Basic Economy is (generally) the lowest, "no-frills" Main Cabin (Economy) fare on American Airlines and their Atlantic Joint Business partners (British Airways, Iberia, and Finnair). Basic Economy fares on American Airlines book into the As the lowest fare, it has some special restrictions that other Main Cabin fares do not.
What are the Restrictions?
You can read American Airlines' web page summarizing Basic Economy for the exact details, but there are a few points that likely matter most to FlyerTalkers:
* exceptions apply for American Airlines elite-level frequent flyers as noted below.
Despite these restrictions, Basic Economy can be a good value in certain circumstances.
Are the seats or service any different?
Once you are on the airplane, the experience (seats / drinks / snacks) will be identical to regular Main Cabin.
How can I tell if I have a Basic Economy fare?
Your reservation on aa.com may say it. Basic Economy fares on American Airlines flights book into the B booking class, though Basic Economy fares on BA/IB/AY and their AA* codeshares can book into almost any revenue booking class.
I have an AA credit card, what does that get me?
Yes, if you have an American Airlines credit card that comes with preferred boarding or a free checked bag on domestic itineraries, you will receive those benefits. Additionally, if you have a Citi Executive card, you may use the Admirals Club as normal.
I have AA elite status, what does that get me?
You WILL get the following elite benefits when you buy a Basic Economy fare (note this is not an exhaustive list, basically everything not expressly forbidden is allowed):
Families with children over 13 will have to pay for seat assignments to be seated with their children.
I am flying on a British Airways, Iberia, or Finnair airplane, is anything different?
If you do not have AA or oneworld elite status, the restrictions are quite similar and you should expect to pay for everything: paid checked bags, paid seat selection, and no changes / cancellations. Depending on available fare classes, you may have an opportunity to earn additional redeemable miles or elite qualifying dollars by booking a BA / IB / AY flight number instead of an AA flight number; check your options and the partner earning charts on AA for each respective airline (British Airways, Iberia, Finnair).
If you have status, buckle up, because it gets technical, though there are some opportunities to cherry pick benefits and save money. This has been already summarized in the counterpart to this thread on the British Airways forum., so we will not reproduce it here. Note the following correspondences between status levels:
Basic Economy is (generally) the lowest, "no-frills" Main Cabin (Economy) fare on American Airlines and their Atlantic Joint Business partners (British Airways, Iberia, and Finnair). Basic Economy fares on American Airlines book into the As the lowest fare, it has some special restrictions that other Main Cabin fares do not.
What are the Restrictions?
You can read American Airlines' web page summarizing Basic Economy for the exact details, but there are a few points that likely matter most to FlyerTalkers:
- Your first checked bag will cost money on a Basic Economy fare*.
- Your seat will be automatically assigned when you check in and unchangeable, unless you pay to change your seat. You may pay to reserve a seat any time after booking*.
- No elite upgrades to first class, or complimentary access to preferred seats (green on the seat map) or Main Cabin Extra (orange on the seat map)*.
- You will board last, in Group 9 for domestic flights or Group 8 for international flights*. On a full flight, this likely means you will have to gate check your carry-on bag (which is free)*.
- You will earn 50% EQMs per mile flown and 0.5 EQS per segment. You will earn full RDMs (based on fare flown) and EQDs.
- Changes are not permitted (worldwide from 01APR21).
- In IRROPS, Basic Economy customers will not be re-accommodated on other airlines, and will have to wait for the next American Airlines flight (or BA/IB/AY for INTL).
* exceptions apply for American Airlines elite-level frequent flyers as noted below.
Despite these restrictions, Basic Economy can be a good value in certain circumstances.
Are the seats or service any different?
Once you are on the airplane, the experience (seats / drinks / snacks) will be identical to regular Main Cabin.
How can I tell if I have a Basic Economy fare?
Your reservation on aa.com may say it. Basic Economy fares on American Airlines flights book into the B booking class, though Basic Economy fares on BA/IB/AY and their AA* codeshares can book into almost any revenue booking class.
I have an AA credit card, what does that get me?
Yes, if you have an American Airlines credit card that comes with preferred boarding or a free checked bag on domestic itineraries, you will receive those benefits. Additionally, if you have a Citi Executive card, you may use the Admirals Club as normal.
I have AA elite status, what does that get me?
You WILL get the following elite benefits when you buy a Basic Economy fare (note this is not an exhaustive list, basically everything not expressly forbidden is allowed):
- 1/2/3 checked bag fees waives, depending on status.
- Priority check-in / security / boarding.
- Lounge access, if applicable.
- No same-day standby or same-day confirmed flight changes, paid or otherwise.
As it does today, American’s reservations system will check for families traveling with children 13 and under a few days before the flight, and attempt to seat each child with an adult. This is the same process we follow for Main Cabin customers.
I am flying on a British Airways, Iberia, or Finnair airplane, is anything different?
If you do not have AA or oneworld elite status, the restrictions are quite similar and you should expect to pay for everything: paid checked bags, paid seat selection, and no changes / cancellations. Depending on available fare classes, you may have an opportunity to earn additional redeemable miles or elite qualifying dollars by booking a BA / IB / AY flight number instead of an AA flight number; check your options and the partner earning charts on AA for each respective airline (British Airways, Iberia, Finnair).
If you have status, buckle up, because it gets technical, though there are some opportunities to cherry pick benefits and save money. This has been already summarized in the counterpart to this thread on the British Airways forum., so we will not reproduce it here. Note the following correspondences between status levels:
- AA Gold - BA Bronze - oneworld Ruby
- AA Platinum or Platinum Pro - BA Silver - oneworld Sapphire
- AA Executive Platinum or Concierge Key - BA Gold - oneworld Emerald
- If you are a Platinum, Platinum Pro, or Executive Platinum elite, you can generally book Iberia or Finnair-operated Basic Economy flights and not notice any baggage or seating restrictions, as long as they were not marketed by BA.
- If you do not care about your seat assignment, you can book AA-operated flights with an IB or AY flight number and still receive a checked bag if you are Platinum or higher. You may earn more or fewer RDMs, EQMs, and EQDs.
- If you do not need to check a bag, you can book BA-operated flights with any flight number, and can choose your seat (7 days in advance for Gold, at booking for Platinum and higher, Exit Rows for EXP).
Basic Economy Fare as of 2017 (also AY, BA, IB), incl. elite benefits (Master thread)
#421
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances
Posts: 11,663
You mean that a lot of corporate AA elites would be forced to buy these and thus not compete for the upgrades? Tell me more, I am listening...
#422
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: LGB
Programs: AA Platinum Pro, Marriott Platinum, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 241
Ugh... This is painful. I was a fan of last minute O fares for quick weekend trips. Those have almost all gone to B. And the "buyout cost" is too high. Couple trips have been around $80 more for regular economy fares. Significant on a ~$150 ticket.
I knew this was coming, and was prepared for a $20-30 difference... but not this...
I knew this was coming, and was prepared for a $20-30 difference... but not this...
#423
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances
Posts: 11,663
Ugh... This is painful. I was a fan of last minute O fares for quick weekend trips. Those have almost all gone to B. And the "buyout cost" is too high. Couple trips have been around $80 more for regular economy fares. Significant on a ~$150 ticket.
I knew this was coming, and was prepared for a $20-30 difference... but not this...
I knew this was coming, and was prepared for a $20-30 difference... but not this...
About a week ago most destinations were on sale for $40-50 one way in main cabin, I should have booked while I could, now they are all B fares and substantially higher...
#426
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Usually in SAN or Central Europe.
Programs: AA:EXP/1MM. Accor/Radisson:Silver; HH:Gold; ICH:Plt Amb.
Posts: 22,307
Please help me try to understand. Although I fly primarily on AA, I do buy tickets on UA and DL. I can't remember ever buying a ticket which disallows seat assignments, disallows rollaboards, boards dead last, etc. Perhaps it's because I buy DL or UA only at the last minute when my AA flight is hosed and I still need to get there. But really, do the other carriers have crappy tickets like Basic Economy?
#428
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Usually in SAN or Central Europe.
Programs: AA:EXP/1MM. Accor/Radisson:Silver; HH:Gold; ICH:Plt Amb.
Posts: 22,307
#429
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: los angeles, calif.
Programs: Alaska Airlines Gold MVP
Posts: 7,170
What a joke.
I switched to Alaska, with JetBlue Mint for travel to FLL/JFK, and it's a total pleasure. I suggest other start doing the same, although easy for me to say living in LAX where I have the option, and AS takes me everywhere I need to go easily, sans Nashville.
Some people are stuck with AA, bar none the worst of the U.S. airlines, IMO. Wow how it has fallen since a drunk with an ego took it over.
I switched to Alaska, with JetBlue Mint for travel to FLL/JFK, and it's a total pleasure. I suggest other start doing the same, although easy for me to say living in LAX where I have the option, and AS takes me everywhere I need to go easily, sans Nashville.
Some people are stuck with AA, bar none the worst of the U.S. airlines, IMO. Wow how it has fallen since a drunk with an ego took it over.
#430
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances
Posts: 11,663
At this point switching back to DL maybe even a better choice, except that DL is the leader of the race to the bottom and cannot be trusted from one day to the next. The only saving grace for AA is that it takes them an extra year to copy the other two scammers.
#431
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Austin, TX
Programs: CoUniHound 1K 1MM, AA EXP 2MM, DL Plat, Marriott Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 1,625
UA rolled back BE because they lost incremental revenue to legacy carriers not offering BE, i.e., AA, WN, and DL (Yes, DL offers BE but not as a poorly disguised fare increase). Now that AA has rolled out BE as a fare increase, I suspect UA will quietly roll out BE again since customers have one less carrier to run to.
#433
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2001
Programs: DL 1 million, AA 1 mil, HH lapsed Diamond, Marriott Plat
Posts: 28,190
https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/16/...rry-on-baggage
Full-sized carry-on bags are not permitted
You're not allowed a full-sized carry-on bag unless you're a MileagePlus Premier member or companion traveling on the same reservation, the primary cardmember of a qualifying MileagePlus credit card or a Star Alliance™ Gold member. Everyone else who brings a full-sized carry-on bag to the gate will be required to check their bag and pay the applicable checked bag fee plus a $25 gate handling charge.
Delta, by contrast:
https://www.delta.com/content/www/en...c-economy.html
I can't remember ever buying a ticket which disallows seat assignments, disallows rollaboards, boards dead last, etc. Perhaps it's because I buy DL or UA only at the last minute when my AA flight is hosed and I still need to get there. But really, do the other carriers have crappy tickets like Basic Economy?
You've been lucky to miss them CloudCoder (or perhaps your corporate booking system bars Basic Economy fares as a favor to employees, or to avoid completely non-changeable tickets). Delta started rolling them out fully five years ago.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...s-tickets.html
#434
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Stilllwater OK (SWO)
Programs: AAdvantage ExecPlat, World of Hyatt Globalist, plain "member" of Marriott, IHG, enterprise, etc.
Posts: 1,846
I am forced to choose the 'lowest fare' price when I travel for work (which is 2/3 of my flights), and even though I am not a frequent flyer by any sort, I think this BE thing sucks. AA is the only airline out of my local airport (SWO), so I don't have competitors to shift my business to without paying in time (driving 3 hours round trip to TUL or OKC) and money (for parking/mileage) and even then I don't have a ton of additional options and usually won't get cheaper fares anyways.
From my perspective as a more infrequent flyer, for the most part, I don't care about the boarding last (I typically do anyways), I usually don't carry on anything that goes in the overhead, and the change-ticket fee with regular economy is so high that I have never even considered the ability to change tickets as a real option (I think it is real cute that AA considers the ability to pay a huge fee for a change in flights as a benefit).
What upsets me the most is two things: 1. Assigned seats. I like being able to choose my seat -- usually a window seat in the back of the plane is good enough for me. I like having control over the window for natural light and for looking out. I am perfectly happy sitting next to a big person behind a reclined seat and with a kid kicking my seat as long as I have that window seat to lean against and that window to look out of. I don't like the middle seat or aisle seats much in any circumstance, but what is miserable to me is when the window people near me all decide to close their shades to take a nap (which happens a lot) and the only thing to take in visually is the dark dry misery of being in a crowded tin-can in the sky. Choosing a seat is such a TINY thing, costs the airlines quite nothing, and asking me to pay to choose a seat in the last 2 days (which is probably rather expensive and will be on my own dime) or getting the luck of the draw at check-in just feels like the biggest middle finger that AA can do to me.
2. The second thing that annoys me is the half EQMs and EQSs. I don't quite travel enough between work and pleasure to get status as is, but getting half EQMs and EQSs will pretty much ensure I won't ever get to up to Aadvantage Gold in the foreseeable future to even have a taste of being able to get free upgrades. It feels like a unneccessary slight.
From my perspective as a more infrequent flyer, for the most part, I don't care about the boarding last (I typically do anyways), I usually don't carry on anything that goes in the overhead, and the change-ticket fee with regular economy is so high that I have never even considered the ability to change tickets as a real option (I think it is real cute that AA considers the ability to pay a huge fee for a change in flights as a benefit).
What upsets me the most is two things: 1. Assigned seats. I like being able to choose my seat -- usually a window seat in the back of the plane is good enough for me. I like having control over the window for natural light and for looking out. I am perfectly happy sitting next to a big person behind a reclined seat and with a kid kicking my seat as long as I have that window seat to lean against and that window to look out of. I don't like the middle seat or aisle seats much in any circumstance, but what is miserable to me is when the window people near me all decide to close their shades to take a nap (which happens a lot) and the only thing to take in visually is the dark dry misery of being in a crowded tin-can in the sky. Choosing a seat is such a TINY thing, costs the airlines quite nothing, and asking me to pay to choose a seat in the last 2 days (which is probably rather expensive and will be on my own dime) or getting the luck of the draw at check-in just feels like the biggest middle finger that AA can do to me.
2. The second thing that annoys me is the half EQMs and EQSs. I don't quite travel enough between work and pleasure to get status as is, but getting half EQMs and EQSs will pretty much ensure I won't ever get to up to Aadvantage Gold in the foreseeable future to even have a taste of being able to get free upgrades. It feels like a unneccessary slight.
#435
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Here and there
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 1,551
I am too, but my company has blocked the basic economy fare types across AA,UA and DL thankfully.