Just made a reservation for two on Continental.com from IAD-LHR on the Virgin codeshare flight. Fare per person is $607, and in the itinerary page, it shows as "Class: Upper Class (U)." It says Upper Class for both the outbound and the inbound segments of the journey. When you select seats on the seatmap, it gives you economy class choices. I called CO and asked for clarification on the fare, and they said it was most definitely an economy class ticket. I said that's fine, because that's what I'm paying for, but they should be aware that the website is most definitely indicating that one is buying an Upper Class ticket. What do you all think of this? I personally would not attempt to manipulate the system and claim to CO that I thought it was an Upper Class ticket, but do you all think it would work? It's definitely silly that their system isn't working properly considering the potential revenue loss.

I booked an award reservation BOS-LHR on the VS code-share for June, and I had the opposite--the ticket shows as Economy, but the seat map available is 2-2-2, which is definitely not regular Y.

I've noticed for years that CO's website often shows incorrect classes of service, especially on the partner flights. I had a VS UC reservation that I think said something like "Coach", and the airline was listed wrong (it said operated by alaska or somesuch). I wouldn't assume the ticket is in any way wrong however.

Yeah, I would agree it's Continental's weirdness. I had a minor panic attack last year when I got reward tickets on Qantas. I shelled out money and lots of miles for two first class tickets and when I got the tickets, it said "economy." I was told it's just 'cause CO's classes don't match up exactly with its partners and the CO computer print the CO equivalent.

Thats awesome... what time period are you traveling to London? Would be great to go back and upper class rocks....

I had the same experience with a Qantas award booked with CO miles. The system interpreted a DL Business Elite Segment (O) as Coach, a DL Domestic First segment (R) as International Business. Both transpacific QF First segments (Z) are listed as International Business while the QF Domestic Business segments (U) are also listed as International Business. I guess that CO's software is not capable of recognizing other airlines' booking codes. That brings up another issue- why can't there be some standardization of codes? Apart from full fare economy (Y) almost all codes vary according to the airline.