Waitlisting into a specific fare class
 

I'm looking to book a specific flight on a specific day from Europe - Hong Kong. I've pulled the availability off ExpertFlyer and seen this for the first time:

JL CL DL PL IL WL RL EL Y9 B9 HL KLML LL VL SL NL QL OL

I understand that the 'L' following the fare class means waitlisting. Has anyone waitlisted into a lower fare bucket before? I'm looking to travel Y but (call me stingy) would rather not pay the Y fare and instead a, for example, V fare if I could. Can I call CX to do this and/or would travel agents be willing to help?

Unlikely, and only if you play Airline Tycoon. Economics will mandate that airlines will sell at highest possible fare to maximize revenue

IF your travel plan is flexible, there COULD be chance your waitlist may be cleared close to your planned departure.

Waitlist is always made to a specific booking class. In this case, you are free to choose to waitlist H, K, M, etc. class. Either CX call centre or a TA can do it for you. Of course, the higher the booking class, the more likely it will clear.

Different use case here. I'm booked in economy, paid fare, but business is sold out. I would like to waitlist for paid business (no upgrade/award). Is this pretty straightforward to do via CX call centre? How do they notify you if inventory opens up in business class? Or do you pay the higher fare when waitlisting, and if inventory opens you just clear automatically?

I don’t know whether CX can do waitlist for paid fare classes, I’ve never tried and would like to hear from someone who does.

I can do the same by setting a fare class alert on Expertflyer.

unlike as the airline would unlock highest fare bucket first. Moreover you see Y9B9, the flight is technically still selling.

yes, it’s possible if you had an active booking. You can book ticket in E class and put waitlist in I class.

And just to reply to my own inquiry, I did call CX and they were able to waitlist me for business class on my paid economy fare. The agent referred to it as an "exception" but I think he was just confused and wanted to set my expectations before he called a supervisor to get it done. The agent said I'd get an email if it became available.

The only wrinkle is that I am waitlisted for the highest booking class (J), when I would have preferred to waitlist for a lower one. So if you do that, try to specify the booking class.

you could ask but they would waitlist on the highest available class. If the waitlist opens up, they are most likely to open up higher than lower class, unless you pull a DYKWIA