I bought a ticket 2 weeks ago for 558.00 before taxes.

Logged in and saw the fare class was L. Is there a list of prices to associate with fare class or does it all depend on destination?

Monday going to IAH is L and coming home Thursday night is V.

Confused....

There is no set Fare Class/Price ratio that I know of. It is based on a combination of the origination, destination, etc for each segment. You could have different fare classes on a one way for example. I sometimes get a Y/B/M fare pairing on a three leg journey. Cheaper than getting all Y, but still enjoy all the instant upgrade benefits.

It's just awful knowing that I am gonna miss a Monday morning UG due to the L class, I guess that's the de-benefit of using a travel agent and not CO.com like I do for personal travel.

I agree on that point. My work travel is a pain in that regard since they require you to take specific airlines and routes for different destinations. I can get a CR1 or SWU upgradeable fare for cheaper than they get their contract fare, but I can't just outright select it. I have to do creative work to make it work. Even though I am saving them money! Frustrating.

We used to be able to book and expense the travel, not anymore. Pay 5.00 or more for a booking, it's a pain in the ....

Plus Its always lowest available fare, just Lucky I get to stick with UA or CO at least.

I have to do creative routings to stick with CO/UA. This typically means early am or red eye flights or flying from CLD instead of SAN. At least there is a loophole.

Are you also taking in to account the back-end discounts that generally come with large corporate contracts? And are you really willing to spend your upgrades on business travel rather than using them for personal travel while the company pays a discounted biz rate?
What makes you think that's going to cause you to miss it?
Just how much extra is someone else paying for you to have such a luxury??

And, to answer the initial post, if you want to see a list of published fares on a route try this: http://wandr.me/FlexFare.

I get more than enough upgrades to do both business and personal travel. That is not an issue. I typically buy Y fare for my personal travel to guarantee myself an upgrade. Makes things easier.

My creative routings cost no more than the normal routings. I manage my own budget so I am not going to be wasteful since I have others that need the money for travel, etc. I won't spend more than the original given rate. It just requires me to get up early or pull a red eye. And for the corporate discounts, the rate that they post for us takes this into account.

All in all it is not bad. Like I said at least I get CO/UA. There are times when I have to fly other airlines and that is OK. I enjoy flying others once in a while to see what the grass is like on the other side of the fence.

Plats S fare at least will blow by me. 5 seats left as of now, I'm sure tomorrow at 8:40 go Down to 1-2 and I will be 1 on the list as first checks in full monday morning and the door shuts. Happens way to often....:-(

If they release more seats tomorrow they're still going to you ahead of all the other elite levels. I guess I just cannot see paying more to get the higher fare bucket just in case it might get me a better chance at the upgrade, especially when I have no idea if that would have made a difference or not. If I'm #8 on my L fare when the door closes and the only folks who cleared were Y/B/M-ups then paying the extra cash for the W fare wouldn't have made a difference. And if I am on a Q fare but silvers get upgraded then my G fare certainly would have.

There is simply not enough information available to us as consumer to justify spending the extra cash unless you're confirming the F seat at that moment IMO.

Well said Sbm.

I feel the same way.

I agree with sbm on this point too. I typically buy Y/B/M on personal travel if the upgrade exists for it. If not I buy cheapest available too and hope status gets me the upgrade at the gate.

Theoretically, you have a greater chance of upgrade if you are in a higher fare class. Practically, the odds that buying up to the higher fare class would have meant the difference between Y and F are very, very small.

11 booked of capacity 16 with nobody being shown upgraded.

Looks like CO may try the Monday morning buy up special...UGH.