boeingair

Hello All,

A LH newbie has a few questions.

A family member is considering flying paid F on LH with the overall itinerary of XXX - LAX - FRA - LHR. I can get an AMAZING price out of Orbitz, which includes a leg or two that is a UA codeshare, but still on LH metal. While the seatmaps come out to be the proper F, I'm concerned because the fare basis given by Orbitz is M12E.

It doesn't give any other fare basis codes, and I know there must be others because XXX - LAX is UX metal (but, I believe a LH codeshare)...so maybe not?

Basically, I am trying to find out if this ticket is really F class? The total is ~$10,000USD.

If you need more details on the fare basis or the specific configuration of the flights, I would be more than happy to provide it.

Thanks in advance for your much appreciated help!

P.S. If this really is paid F, should my family member consider opening a M&M account?

P.P.S. Will a car be waiting to take my family member from the LAX - FRA flight to the F terminal?

flysurfer

Well, $10,000.00 is an amazingly high price, so it can't be anything but F.

boeingair

C for the same dates is showing $14,000 on Orbitz, and F on LH's site is $14,000 as well.

But--I have seen other situations where F prices out less than C--so thanks for the advice! Heartening, for sure.

oliver2002

I've copied an excert of SFO-LHR fares of UA/LH for your reference. The M12E fare is definitely a economy cabin fare. The Z fares, which will seat you in the business (C) cabin, are worth a try as the LH LAX-FRA service is in 744s with new C which is wonderful.



M12E UA M One-Way 1159.00 (USD)
B12E LH B One-Way 1205.00 (USD)
B12E UA B One-Way 1260.00 (USD)
BCE LH B One-Way 1308.00 (USD)
ZRSN50E LH Z Round-Trip 2624.00 (USD)
BCE UA B One-Way 1363.00 (USD)
ZRSN50E UA Z Round-Trip 2734.00 (USD)
ZHRSNG1E LH Z Round-Trip 4118.00 (USD)
ZLRSNG1E LH Z Round-Trip 4118.00 (USD)
ZLRSNG1E LH Z Round-Trip 4118.00 (USD)
ZHRSNG1E LH Z Round-Trip 4118.00 (USD)
ZRAP21E LH Z Round-Trip 4221.00 (USD)
ZRAP21E LH Z Round-Trip 4221.00 (USD)
ZHRSNG1E UA Z Round-Trip 4228.00 (USD)
ZLRSNG1E UA Z Round-Trip 4228.00 (USD)
ZRAP21E UA Z Round-Trip 4331.00 (USD)
YCE LH Y One-Way 2254.00 (USD)
Y LH Y One-Way 2254.00 (USD)
Y UA Y One-Way 2309.00 (USD)
YCE UA Y One-Way 2309.00 (USD)
ZRSN14E LH Z Round-Trip 6386.00 (USD)
ZRSN14E UA Z Round-Trip 6496.00 (USD)
C LH C One-Way 5651.00 (USD)
C UA C One-Way 5706.00 (USD)
F LH F One-Way 8111.00 (USD)
F UA F One-Way 8166.00 (USD)

boeingair

I did a little research using ITA, and I got the exact same thing to come up.

It showed the XXX - LAX and FRA - LHR legs as booking into M class, but the LAX - FRA legs book into F class. At the fare breakdown at the bottom, both fares were listed as M12E, but costing $4500 each. I think that this means Orbitz was just calling the whole thing M12E, when really the LAX - FRA legs book into F class.

Could this possibly make sense?

CubaLibre

maybe because the XXX-LAX leg only has economy class? anyway - it doesn´t explain the FRA-LHR eco leg. probably it´s a question of symmetry?

boeingair

Thats true--I just looked on ITA and FRA - LHR is available by itself in C. Is it possible that the M fare basis can only do F/A or Y?

Really strange.

EDIT: Yes, XXX - LAX is, in fact, only Y.

Guy Betsy

What Orbitz is doing is probably getting you the cheapest oneway fare between XXX-LAX, and then the remainder on LH F because LH does not have a fare from XXX to FRA.

Sure it's okay to issue as the fare basis Orbitz is showing is only on the first sector and probably not on the entire ticket.

However you must be aware of the fact that if the M12E fare has a nonrefundable restriction, that restriction will extend to the ENTIRE ticket. And should you want to refund or change the ticket, it doesn't matter if you've flown only half of the F ticket already..and there is no more sectors with M12E rules, if the fare basis of even one sector that does not allow changes, that rule extends to all sectors of the ticket.

Best to perhaps get a full F ticket - sometimes it can be as little as $50 difference but Orbitz has been programmed to offer the lowest possible fare even in F class and that is what it is doing. Either LH or a TA will be able to help you with that.

stargold

It's probably pricing out XXX-LHR in M12E then collecting the surcharge for the F segment LAX-FRA. Basically doing a paid, one-segment upgrade from Y to F at the point of ticketing.

In the fare breakdown, it will have an additional item for the additional collection to book in F as well as the M12E XXX-LHR.

I never once thought that US$10,000 for one transatlantic ticket could be considered an "AMAZING price", though. Shows how much I know

ITA Hacker

It's likely that the ticket involves an international fare construction principle called "mixed class differential" (MCD).

MCD applies when your trip has flights in more than one cabin class. The rules are quite complicated, but basically you're allowed to use the lower cabin "through" fare XXX-LHR, with a "plus-up" or "differential" amount that is computed for the part of your trip that is in the higher cabin (LAX-FRA, for instance).

For example, you might pay the XXX-LHR M12E coach fare amount, plus the difference between the F and Y fares in the LAX-FRA market. That allows you to sit in the F cabin for that part of the trip. As I said, the rules for figuring this out are pretty complicated.

I have no idea how miles are awarded on such trips.

Singapore321

There are plenty of different booking classes within Eco, Biz or First. The prefix just tells the airline which fare you have travelled in. On a typical LH744 FRA-SIN route with a typical seat layout you will have around 9 different fare classes. M, Y being the highest price but most flexible, you have X, L etc...I dont have an amadeus printout right in front of my eyes for all the fare classes but I can get one if anyone is in doubt.
F, A, P, O are First Class and J, C, R are Business Class.

If your ever in doubt go to www.amadeus.net and "Check My Trip". Enter your PNR and you'll have complete confirmation

Guy Betsy

According to the booking class of the flight flown.

It doesn't matter if say you're on a full F ticket but the flight you're travelling on only has Y available as C or F is full... you will be awarded miles for the flight you travelled on .. and that will be Y irrespective if you hold a F ticket or not.

Singapore321

As Get Busy previously said...miles are awarded on booking class and obviously distance
For example..if it was a 1000 mile trip and your booked in:
Eco: You will generally recieve the actual amount of miles flown so 1000 miles credited.
Business:You will recieve actual miles flown and some airlines offer a 25% bonus for travelling in Business Class so you will recieve 1250 miles.
First: You will recieve actual miles flown plus a 50% bonus for travelling in First meaning you recieve 1500 miles.
^^ Above Quotes according to SQ Krisflyer mileage accrual template^^

Now also airlines offer they're more frequent travellers bonus's depending on their status.
If your just Krisflyer with SQ and you do LHR-SIN-LHR you will recieve around 18,000 miles.

If your Krisflyer Elite Silver I will have to double check this figure they give you a 25% bonus for being KF Elite Silver. So you will recieve the LHR-SIN-LHR route + 50% bonus for being in First Class + a 25% bonus for being KF Elite Silver (Status miles are awarded on actual miles flown e.g. LHR-SIN-LHR 3000 miles extra for being KF Elite Silver)

And then same applies to KF Elite Gold with a 50% Bonus I believe. Now I reitterate that I think this is how the miles work for Elite Status but I cant be totally 100% sure as its been a while since I checked. I just fly and get the miles added.

Hope that helps

SleepOverGreenland

As for M&M (well known by some guys as M&L too ) and Lufthansa it is:
ECO: 100% or lower depending on booking class
BIZ: 200%
FIRST: 300%

Plus so called executive bonus
a) for all FTL and SEN (Silver and Gold Status)
additional 25%
b) for all HON
additional 50%

So for example in F you get 350% as a HON.

Minimim miles is always 1K, even for very short distances.

oliver2002

Y&B earn 150% in eco, status bonus only on actual miles flown.