I was pricing a flight FNT-FRA and got $531.84 with a base fare of $432. When I punched in a PD886 ($100 off base fare of $400>) I only got a fare of $456.84.

When I inquired why I did not receive my $100 discount, I was told that a fuel surcharge of $25 each way is now part of the "base fare", BUT for the purpose of any discount cert, the base fare does not include the surcharge. Of course, there is no mention of this on nwa.com!

Looks like a bait-and-switch to me!

Take a look at the fare bases for your itin before and after applying the coupon. We've seen quite a few folks here who have reported receiving less than the full discount, but it was because the pre-discount ticket included a PE500 or similarly designated fare on at least one of the legs. A PD886 can't be applied to a PE500 designated fare, so it finds the next-lowest fare, which is often $10-25 more, resulting in a smaller discount than expected.

It's also possible that the CSR was correct, and this fuel surcharge business is something new. I've used PD886 and similar certs several times in the past year and have always gotten the full $-off I expected to get--as long as the pre-discount fare wasn't promotional.

But I'd wager that the CSR was wrong and your issue is with PE500 or similar fare designations, because the math doesn't add up otherwise. $432-25=$407, so you should still get the full $100 off. $307 + $25 fuel surcharge + other taxes and fees = about $430. Not $456.

NO! There was no PE involved.

Whether the fuel surcharge is new or not, the question remains why is it part of the 'base fare" and not part of the "taxes/fees", and how the hell can their be 2 different "base fares"??

If the base fare was $432 - $50 fuel surcharge, then you'd have a fare of $382. Since that's less than $400, they probably reduced it by only $82, to $300, then added the fuel surcharge to get to $350, and then taxes, fees, yadda, yadda, yadda to get to the $456.84.

Not to say that's fair or proper, but that's probably how they did it.

The question is not HOW they did it, but why they do not put the surcharge in the fees/taxes catagory on nwa.com! Either it's a "base fare" or it isn't!!