Fare basis question
 

Flying from EWR-NRT round trip in January. Noticed on my itinerary that the outbound leg is in D class and the inbound leg is J class. Both on 777-200ER and cabin configuration appears the same.

The FAQs post states that the fares are as follows:

D – First, First with International Connection
J – Full Fare BusinessFirst

But my itinerary says the D fare is First/Business First. I assume that both are just used to refer to BusinessFirst, but is there anything I'm missing? What's the difference between the class of service bins on this particular flight (I have no connecting flights, either - just EWR-NRT).

Thanks!

Thanks for searching! ^^

Not sure what the exact difference is but I have always thought of J fares to be the fully flexible BF fares (similar to A fares in the domestic market or C fares for international destinations not marketed as BF).

Likewise, D fares seem to be almost full J fares in that they're still flexible, not refundable and slightly less expensive. I have seen D fares in both international markets and the domestic markets.

That said, this is just a shot in the dark to be sure to take it with a grain of salt.

Bonus wise you'll still get the extra 50%eqms and the 50%rdms

If the OP is just wondering about the flying experience - both onboard and on the ground - then the answer is simple. There's no difference. Same seats, same food, same service, same lounge access. Just the fare rules are different.

Thanks guys - I wasn't concerned about the in-flight service - understand it will be the exact same. It was more an academic point than anything - just wanted to understand the difference between D and J. Especially in light of what I can see on my itinerary and on the FAQs. Both are (in reality) BusinessFirst fares (at least on this flight). But one has a "BusinessFirst" designation on the itinerary and in the FAQs and the other is referred to as "First" in the FAQs and "First/BusinessFirst" on my itinerary.

No big deal at all, just curious if there was any difference at all in what the different letters were used for.

Thanks again.

As an aside, are all D fares non-refundable? I could have sworn I've refunded one before.

Good question. . .
 

CO 1E: I have wondered this, too. And yes, I know of two instances where I held D tickets and the trips were refunded entirely. However, it's possible that the agent *should not* have done so, and made a mistake in my favor. So I don't know the answer!

Also, though I hesitate to ask, do you think sometimes Plat status or CO* status gives agents discretion to "bend" the rules a bit? If so, maybe you got the refund on a D based on your flying patterns -- even though CO may not exactly be marketing such a practice. I once got a refund for Q fare, and I KNOW that it was not refundable. But I just asked, saying that a family situation had unexpectedly arisen, and the agent said, "I think we can do that, Mr. LawFlyer."

So. . .I concur with you that D fares definitely have been refunded. It's a murky world out there, isn't it??

LF