jetsfan92588

On the flight I'm looking at, it's about $30 more for comfort+, but the flights I actually want to take are about $100 more. Is there any reason (other than no comfort+ being available day of, which seems unlikely) why I wouldn't book the comfort+ on the cheaper flight? There are multiple options for the flights I want to take, so I'm not too worried about no seats being available. I don't really care about the benefits of comfort+ and have never not gotten it on these flights as an upgrade anyway. Just want to make sure I'm not overlooking something.

xliioper

What is special about the flights you want to get on? Is the fare higher for them because they consist of a broken fare? They may not be a valid routing for the cheaper fare you are purchasing. You may have difficultly SDC'ing onto them if the routing is not valid for the fare.

jrl767

MSPeconomist

flyerCO

C+ fares can SDC onto any flight with open C+ seats. The issue seems to be if there's no C+ seats. Then some agents insist you need the same coach fare class that underlies the C+ fare.

SDQBound

This. Same issue with FCM SDC, where some uninformed agents insist it is not a FC ticket.

jetsfan92588

I assume broken fare means pricing the connection as two one ways? That doesn't appear to be the case.

Not sure on the reason for the price difference, it was x for the cheaper ticket and q for the more expensive ones.

Anyway, I waited and was able to get the flight I wanted for 10 dollars more than the cheaper one, so no need to deal with the sdc this time, but appreciate the help for the next time I see this on a personal trip.
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xliioper

Yes, it means pricing the connection as two one-way fares combined together instead of a single fare for both flights. There will generally be two different booking classes shown when this happens (although if both flights book into the same class, the website will merge them and show them as one even through there are actually two fares involved). This often happens on routes with non-stop service with more than 3 or 4 daily non-stop flights. The published fares for these routes will almost always require flying one of the non-stop flights, but delta.com will frequently display broken fare connecting options (which will almost always cost more than the non-stop options on a single fare because of the separate fares involved) to provide additional alternatives.

ajggiant

My experience has been that delta.com does not return broken fare connections. For instance, a dummy booking RIC-LGA will only return direct flights because the routing rules for every fare require non-stop. However, RIC-BOS will return non-stop and 1-stop fares, but since only T fares and higher allow a 1-stop routing, those fares will be more expensive that the V and X fares which require direct flights.

xliioper

I suppose it depends on the route. I see it on numerous routes out of DTW. For example DTW-BOS, DTW-LGA, DTW-BNA, DTW-LAX, DTW-CLT, etc. The fares on these routes all require non-stop routing, but delta.com includes broken fare connecting options in the flights listings.

ajggiant

That's interesting...I wonder if broken fares are allowed through certain connections and not others. ATL comes to mind as perhaps a restricted connection.

MSPeconomist

xliioper

The cheapest fares often have combination restrictions (such as an A-B-A routing requirement or no side trips permitted). If that is true, they cannot be combined with other fares that don't meet these routing restrictions on a single ticket and the only way to book the fares is on separate tickets. For example, you can't nest the cheapest RDU-BOS fare within a cheap DTW-RDU fare on a single ticket as that would be considered a side trip which is prohibited. You can only book the fares on two separate tickets. The broken fare options in the fare listings are upfared to whatever fare that allows combining the fares on a single ticket. This is why when you want to take advantage of cheaper international fares out of JFK, you have to book the positioning flights from your home airport on a separate ticket.

Orange County Commuter

OK so if I pay the $29 upgrade to Comfort on my current ticket does that change my fare class so I can SDC to an earlier flight?

I currently have a U fare. Expert Flyer shows nothing available in that fare bucket but W is available on every earlier flight.

flyerCO

Yes, if done before T-24. In that case you're upgrading to an actual C+ fare. Within T-24, you're just paying a fee to take a seat in another cabin, not the difference in fare.