S & L Booking Classes
 

So it seems like CO has recently (March 31) loaded fares that are booked in 'S' and 'L' booking classes.

These appear to be used on deeply discounted sale fares.

For example,
SEA-BNA CO
$148 Fare basis: L71BSN
$198 Fare basis: TO141BSN

SEA-CHI CO
$158 Fare basis: LOE21BSN
$198 Fare basis: TO14EBSN
$218 Fare basis: SPE21BSN

As for how these new fare classes affect inventory, take for example
SEA-BNA, CO, Apr 17:
CO 5222 SEA 2235 DTW 0545 757 0
A9 D9 F9 Y9 H9 K9 B9 V9 Q9 T9 S9 L9
CO 6747 DTW 0710 BNA 0750 D9S 0
AL DL FL YL HL KL BL VL QL TL S4 L9

Notice how only S and L classes are available on the DTW-BNA codeshare.

It seems like CO is offering deeply discounted inventory on codeshare flights operated by NW, while pushing more expensive (presumably) inventory to non-codeshare flights.

CO 15 EWR 1140 HNL 1740 764 0
J9 D4 Z4 Y9 H9 K9 B9 V9 Q9 T4 S4 L9

Not to shoot down your idea, but I just found those last week looking at EWR-HNL segments.

Don't forget that if they become more common then we will hear that L, S, Q, T, & V fares excluded from promotions and upgrades.

But was/is there a EWR-HNL fare booked in S or L class?

Maybe they're Delta's LoSer fares getting ready to be loaded into the system...

That has to be it. I'm seeing S and L fares on lots of CO flights -- and the availability numbers seem to match those of Q and T fares, Q with S and T with L. The matching may be coincidence though.

Similarly, Delta is showing Q and T fares. I'm not too familiar with Delta booking categories. Are those new as well?

No they are not new. Delta's T class fares are generally the most deeply discounted while Q class fares are generally mid-tier discounted economy fares.

Check this out:
They've updated the buckets on the upgrade pages to include S and L.

I wonder if you get credit under current "non Q/T" promos if similar el-cheapo fares are available via S/L buckets...

It appears there are some kinks to work out at Continental.com regarding S fares. An itinerary that I just purchased shows the following:



Of course, I could only get a seat assignment in coach.

This change sucks for me because this is an "Economy Unrestricted" fare on a Continental-operated flight. Now it appears I'll have to get behind all the other fare classes but T for my upgrade, when just last week the fare was $10 less each way and classified as a V.

Continental may have updated their policy/website, but at Northwest:

So technically, one should be able to use WorldPerks miles to upgrade L and S fares... for now.

Greetings,

From an old Delta flyer it is LUser fares that we use to refer to. L and U being the deeply discounted fare classes. They added a T disount fare but that doesn't fit with LUser so now maybe we call em "TUL hell freezes over fares" ?

I thought they were called insULT fares?

- HF

I couldn't find anything regarding the new 'S' and 'L' fare classes when doing a search. When I called CO reservations, I was able to get the new pecking order from a res agent as follows:

V Q S T L

Hope this helps!

I guess we've been HoKeY'ed domestically http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Oops, Non-elites have been HoKeY'ed, which I will be after this year.

(edited to add oops)

[This message has been edited by iwantanupgrade (edited 04-30-2003).]

Do these S L fares qualify for elite upgrades?

Yes.

I am curious as to why they needed these two additional fare classes to begin with. With recent changes to OP I wonder if CO has something more sinster coming down the line (ie. fares that don't acrue mileage). Hopefully not.

One thing that is good with these new fare classes is that the coupons from the prestige pack only exclude Q&T but not S&L.

Keba

I have been worried on and off that CO will implement a no elite miles/no-upgrade policy for the lowest fare classes...but given that this benefit remains the single core tenet of their program, I dont see them doing that...plus I think NW would never go along with such a change, as they are still in customer relationship building mode.

Remember the "they took your upgrades away?" advertising campaign of late...they would look quite silly rolling that out, then doing the same thing themselves.

I can only specuclate that these fares will be loaded and sold for the DL codeshare flights, so that there will be parity across the board for DL Medallions who cannot get full MQM credit (or upgrade in advance) on the lower DL fares. If they didnt do that, then DL Medallions might fly CO and NW flights to get full MQM credit and advance upgrades to circumvent DL's rules, and push most Medallions to fly CO or NW as much as possible, taking business away from DL.

I could be wrong...and it's possible the lowest classes either wont get full elite credit or wont get upgrades, but if the difference between the lowest non-earning L/S is only 30-50$ less than the lowest full-credit T/Q, then I would spend the difference to maintain my benefits and upgrades. That is how it was at DL a few years back when L class was banished from upgrades, but K class was only 30-70 more depending on the route, and was fully upgradable. I didnt think 30-70 extra was out of order considering the benefits I was getting. Now DL K is 100-400 more than L/U/T, well, that is why I am a CO Plat now and told DL to suck wind.

If they really wreck Onepass, as many of us have a genuine fear of, then I think for myself (and many of you folks as well), it will be off to AA for MRTC and VIPOWs. I ain't flyin' in CO, NW or DL coach. Gordie can chant the chapter 11 spell all he wants, but I think AA will pull out of their slump OK, with MRTC intact.

[This message has been edited by bocastephen (edited 05-01-2003).]

bumped to ask a question -

If I go to the etour site and find that they've got both S & L classes available for the flights I want and CO.com is only booking in V-class as the lowest, can I call up continental and ask for the flights and routing I found and have them book it for me in S-class (or L, which I would assume is cheaper, but I really couldn't tell what the exact restrictions of each class was based on a search of these forums). With the 1 day fare sale that was happening the other day, I did manage to get really great S-class fares and wouldn't mind trying a repeat of these fares.

If this happens, that means there are no S or L fares availabile between your city pairs, or that you have not met the restrictions for those fares if they are. Continental.com will book S or L fares sucessfully if they're available and valid for your itinerary.

Thanks. Is there anyway that I can find out the restrictions of a particular fare class? I did a search and couldn't find the topic.