Beginners question - class codes...
 

Hi all,

I travel weekly between ARL-AMS. One thing I never understand i the different seating codes such as "C", "S", "Z" etc..

Does anyone have the link to a good site where this is explained?

best,

theswede

KL classes
 

KL fare availability for a particular flight might look like this:

J9 C9 Z9 S9 B9 M9 K9 H9 L9 Q9 T9 V9

J and C are full- and near-full fare World Business Class.

Z is heavily-discounted WBC (often available 50+ days in advance and, sometimes, in the last few days before a flight).
Paid Europe Select fares come out of Z, as do upgrades from S.

There's a class called D, invisible to most on-line booking tools (so not shown in the example above), out of which come upgrades from B and, I believe, WBC award tickets.

S is full-fare economy (on most airlines this is Y, and Y is a frequent shorthand among frequent fliers for full-fare economy, or economy in general). To upgrade an S ticket with miles, there has to be Z availability.

B is slightly-discounted economy. To upgrade a B ticket with miles, there has to be D availability.

Below B are various non-upgradeable discount coach fares. The lowest of them don't receive full mileage credit, so beware.

W class is for economy award tickets. It, too, is usually invisible.

I'm sure it's all slightly different on AF. I'll leave that explanation to somebody else, as my AF experience is limited. If I've mangled any of the KL info, I'm sorry.

Welcome to Flyertalk, theswede!

J C and Z are valid booking classed on all KL flights, i.e. both intra-European "Europe Select" and intercontinental "World Business Class".

As to Z class availability . . . well, the ways of KL yield management are mysterious, or at least so sophisticated to be beyond comprehension! Availability in Z often seems to behave like an energetic yo-yo, swinging wildly right up to departure.

There is also an intra-European X booking class for same day return tickets in Economy Class.

Furthermore, you have booking classes N and E in economy as well. These are the ones that earn 25% FB miles, even though members have never been clearly informed of this. (V also earns only 25%).

Here's an example of what I believe to be a full list of booking classes, from most expensive to cheapest (except D and W, which are award booking classes) :

AMS Amsterdam-Schiphol NL [EHAM]
CPH Copenhagen DK [EKCH]
ON 26 okt 2005

KL 1125 AMS 07:55 CPH 09:15 737 J9 C9 Z9 D9 X9 S9 B9 M9 W9 K9 H9 L9 Q9 T9 E9 N9 V9.

Johan

X seems to be the KLM replacement of Y. It is typically fully changeable, fully refundable - after departure you will be refunded the cupons left etc.

Now the question is why on earth KLM does not have a Y fare as all other airlines in the world... I actually thought all IATA members would need a Y fare for the published Y fare interlining tickets.

Hmm. Not selling very well, is it? ;)


D is widely used on AF and many other airlines. It is (usually only slightly) discounted business class. Some Skyteam companies use it on RTW fares (just as they use A for discounted F).

I chose a random KL transatlanic flight in November, assuming it would show me all the fare classes. I forgot about E,N, and X, though...