How to book full fare J ?
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: PHL / SFO
Programs: free agent
Posts: 797
How to book full fare J ?
Probably not a common question, but I cannot figure out how to do this on the AA website. I want to book a J fare. Not D. Not I. Full fare J. I want the EQMs and the fare I want is only marginally more than the discounted fare.
I've tried every combination of advanced options, flexible fares, cabin choices ... but I can't get them to appear. I know they exist: the fare buckets are available in EF and I can find them by using "F BC=J" in Matrix.
aa.com just doesn't want to sell it to me.
Any ideas?
I've tried every combination of advanced options, flexible fares, cabin choices ... but I can't get them to appear. I know they exist: the fare buckets are available in EF and I can find them by using "F BC=J" in Matrix.
aa.com just doesn't want to sell it to me.
Any ideas?
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: PHL / SFO
Programs: free agent
Posts: 797
#5
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 1,159
It has long been noted that AA.com doesn't support looking up arbitrary fare classes.
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2002
Location: NYC, USA
Programs: AA EXP 3MM, Lifetime Platinum, Marriott Titanium, HH Gold
Posts: 10,967
I did it recently and had to call AA to book it.
You might be able to choose the itinerary you want, put it on hold, and then call AA to up-fare it to J. Just make sure that the phone agent confirms that the fare basis code is full J....fully changeable and refundable.
You might be able to choose the itinerary you want, put it on hold, and then call AA to up-fare it to J. Just make sure that the phone agent confirms that the fare basis code is full J....fully changeable and refundable.
#7
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,574
#11
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: NY, NY
Programs: AA EP, UA 1K
Posts: 124
AA's online interface isn't the best for this, but there's a way to do it (at least sometimes) for J fares, though this won't work for most international first fares (what you'll see is actually an A fare, not an F fare). Assuming that you're looking for full fare business in a 3/4 class cabin and not domestic first in a 2 class cabin which would often be an F fare.
If you search for a flight on AA.com, in the upper left hand side of the results page, there are two boxes, "Lowest Fare" and "Flexible", and "Lowest Fare" is automatically selected whenever you do a search (so the fares you're seeing are discounted business fares under the "Business" column). If you select "Flexible", you'll often see the J fare listed under the "Business Flexible" column that shows up. You can check which fare is selected by continuing with the booking and looking on the "Review and Pay" page after you've selected seats, etc. The "AAdvantage earnings for this trip" section has a link to "Show AAdvantage earnings", in which you can see the fare for the ticket...which should be a J fare.
I only have experience with this for international AA flights, so I'm not 100% sure it's always the same for domestic, but I just ran through a few dummy domestic transcon bookings and it worked for that as well. Although this has worked for me for TATL and TAPC business flights I've taken in the past, I guess it's possible that for whatever reason AA's weak online interface would show a non-J fare under "Flexible Business" for a certain itinerary (though I haven't seen it do that before), at which point I'd just call AA to book as the agents should be able to see all available fares.
If you search for a flight on AA.com, in the upper left hand side of the results page, there are two boxes, "Lowest Fare" and "Flexible", and "Lowest Fare" is automatically selected whenever you do a search (so the fares you're seeing are discounted business fares under the "Business" column). If you select "Flexible", you'll often see the J fare listed under the "Business Flexible" column that shows up. You can check which fare is selected by continuing with the booking and looking on the "Review and Pay" page after you've selected seats, etc. The "AAdvantage earnings for this trip" section has a link to "Show AAdvantage earnings", in which you can see the fare for the ticket...which should be a J fare.
I only have experience with this for international AA flights, so I'm not 100% sure it's always the same for domestic, but I just ran through a few dummy domestic transcon bookings and it worked for that as well. Although this has worked for me for TATL and TAPC business flights I've taken in the past, I guess it's possible that for whatever reason AA's weak online interface would show a non-J fare under "Flexible Business" for a certain itinerary (though I haven't seen it do that before), at which point I'd just call AA to book as the agents should be able to see all available fares.
#12
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: PHL / SFO
Programs: free agent
Posts: 797
Thanks everyone for the input: I had no idea about bookwithmatrix. Learn something new every day on FT
#13
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,574
Absolutely. I'm doing the 35K challenge for EXP - a couple of J fare transcons on flights I was already going to take seemed the easiest way to do it. I'm just after the systemwides for some trips later in the year and next year. The way I see it, this is a couple hundred dollars now to get a load of future benefit.
Thanks everyone for the input: I had no idea about bookwithmatrix. Learn something new every day on FT
Thanks everyone for the input: I had no idea about bookwithmatrix. Learn something new every day on FT
For Example LAX-JFK one way
Lowest business class one way $965 plus tax
Booked in J class $3155 plus tax
There is an F fare (F7AHZNF1 ) which is cheaper at $2934 plus tax
#14
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: London
Posts: 17,007
The lower fares may not be available on the flight AlphaTango requires.
#15
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: PHL / SFO
Programs: free agent
Posts: 797
Last edited by AlphaTango; Aug 11, 2018 at 3:12 pm