cova

Booked a ticket on the Thankyou travel site - but turns out it was AA Basic Economy. Regular Economy is only $2 more RT.

But it defaults to the lowest fare, and does not allow the blockage of Basic Economy.

Fortunately I read the red print after clicking purchase, and then immediately cancelled.

I guess you have to call. Not a good system if it defaults to Basic which is only $2 less.

Is there a way to block Basic?

On the phone with the booking people - THIS IS A MAJOR PROBLEM. Lots of issues with them booking as well.

THIS IS A HUGE ISSUE for CITI. Agents can't block it either. They have to go to a different system, and that doesn't work either. They only get the Basic Economy fare.

Been on a call with an agent for over an hour and she could not book - or did not know how to.

Result - only a supervisor can book. You need to use Expert Flyer to see lowest available fare bucket and tell them that, and the agent will then select that fare bucket.

Figure an hour per ticket to book via agent. (I have been 2hours)

mia

Both Citi and Chase use Connexions for travel bookings. There has been discussion of the same problem in the Chase forum. I wouldn't expect a resolution until online travel agencies modify their software to treat Basic Economy as a separate class of service, which they will only do if there is sufficient demand.

dw

What's interesting is that for the big Expedia consumer sites, Expedia and Orbitz (but not Travelocity) now do allow you to upfare from Basic Economy to regular Economy, so I'm hopeful that other travel providers will eventually modify their software to allow the same.

Did we once determine that Connextions uses the Expedia platform, or is that only for their hotel bookings?

cova

Increased demand - or could be - the fact that the website is now useless if Basic Economy is offered. Connexions' phone agents have no clue about basic economy (nor do their supervisors). The website lists the restrictions but do not call it basic economy

The supervisors know how to book by selecting specific fare codes.

Two things are going to happen:

1. People in the know will be calling - and call in will increase and use of the website will decrease. Connexions will need to add more agents to handle. And with unknowledgeable agents it will take an hour to book a ticket.

2. People not in the know - are going to book and then show up at the airport and not realized they got a basic economy fare - and be very unhappy. And Citi will get lots of complaints.

In case, AA.com showed - BE was a $353 ticket and regular E was a $355 ticket. Why even have BE for $2. Seems like it is not the price, but screwing passengers so they have to pay a lot more for their carryon.

I have seen on UA many times that BE is more expensive than regular E.

tjh8402

Bump - so is there a way to avoid booking a basic economy seat? Can phone agents get around it? Can you upgrade your ticket with the airline after purchasing?

Somewhat Related, but if its a ticket booked with an airline like Frontier or Spirit, can you get "the works" discount package from Frontier or purchase the add ons from Spirit ahead (when they're cheaper) or are you stuck paying the higher costs at the gate?

ORD-DCA Flyer

I've avoided this by calling in. The Connextions agents who have assisted me were happy to help, and the bookings were made in just a few minutes. No fee and no fuss.

If this happened before the TYP + AA + Prestige devaluation it'd be a pain, but I'm fine with it as I spent almost all of my points in the first half of the year.