SenSCL

There is one question regarding upgrades that, even after long years with LATAM / LAN, remains a mystery for me:

I am completely aware of the exclusion of Base fares (at least when booked as a Chilean-based LATAM Pass Member), but unfortunately, when booking an open-jaw or multi-segment flight on the LATAM page, instead of the fare "names", the system only shows the typical fare class letters.

While I know that Y, B and M (as with most other carriers) refer to higher fare classes which are upgradeable, I am at loss with most of the rest of the alphabet, e.g. Q, N, O and S.

The fare restriction information does not allude either to the "upgradeability" of the fare classes which show up during the reservation process.

Is there a reliable list somewhere, which fare class letters represent Base, Access, Control, respectively Flex? I couldn't find any...

jlarroulet

No, there is no direct and consistent fare class (Y, B, H....) to fare family equivalency (base, access, control, flex) at LATAM for a plethora of reasons. There used to be until 7-8 years ago and, believe me, it was a much easier world to live in.

In terms of upgradeability, you need to look for the 4th and 5th characters in your farebasis (after pricing the itinerary or issuing the ticket). Anything that has "SP", "CK" and a couple other combinations as 4th and 5th characters is not upgradeable. What you want is LE, FX or FF (there may be others, it's been a while)

The main reason why there's no strict relation between fare classes and fare families is due to LATAM's incredibly complex implementation of Chart/FQS rules (rules that determine specific booking codes for some multi-segment itineraries, regardless of what is the actual class and pricing unit)
For instance, if you book a US-SCL flight (let's say MIA-SCL) in connection with a SCL-CCP flight, even if you select base and all segments are priced on base fares, your domestic segments (SCL-CCP-SCL) will probably be booked as Y or B -the higher classes in the Economy inventory- but be priced as base fares very likely with a farebasis that belongs to a very low class (Q or A, for instance)

The reasoning behind it is unveliebably complex and when Revenue Management decided to use it, only them and God understood what was happening. Now, only God knows.

TL;DR version: Look for the farebasis for each segment. 4th and 5th char determine if you can list yourself for an upgrade or not)

SenSCL

Thanks for the attempt at a better insight, jlarroulet.

I take it, the situation is complex and basically, there is no possibility of finding out about the upgradeability of a given fare class until you do not see the farebasis code, which is usually only visible AFTER booking.

Travel agents, however, seem to have a clearer view of what is upgradeable or not, as the agency that I occasionally work with, is always able to tell, if a fare is can be upgraded, even if the ticket is not issued.

SenSCL

It has been a while. I am unearthing this thread to answer my own question (which might be of interest to others I hope):

Just booked an open jaw SCL-LIM-UIO in Y this morning and wanted to know, whether my flights could be upgraded.

Thus, I called the contact centre and the agent quite spontaneously told me that the following fare classes would correspond to the Base fare basis (valga la redundancia ) and would hence not be upgradeable: A, G, N, O, Q, S.

I am confident that this information is reliable, as these are usually the fare classes that pop up, when you select a base fare.