I think avidflyer meant to say it the other way. P is the "bucket" and F is a part of that bucket. As long as FC seats exist for sale, they will exist in the P bucket at full fare. If NW revenue management chooses to, they will put some of those P seats into the F bucket and allow people to buy discounted first class fares. When someone buys one of those discounted seats, inventory is also reduced in the overall "P" bucket because there are that many fewer seats for purchase up front.

-RM

Yes, thank you for clarifying my dislexia:)

Or on a good day, release one or more for an upgrade after the window opens. I see now that the flight is P3/F3, so the only released the one seat that I now have. Looking at the seat map now that I have access to the FC section, there are still 3 unassigned seats.

Absolutely. R is a subset of F. (And for those not lost in alphabet soup, A is a subset of R. A is used for elite upgrades on domestic award tickets).

-RM

I had a discounted F that was fully refundable before departure. After departure, since the discount required a roundtrip, the whole trip had to be to be repriced before a refund on the return could be given. Therefore, the remaining cash value of my return ticket after reaching my destination was only about $5. (I was curious, so I checked on the Web site to find the value of the ticket. I didn't actually request a refund.)

And there is a way to get 150% EQM's on a discounted F ticket. But you have to get rebooked in Y and then receive the bonus, just so long as you paid the equivalent of Y.

I discovered this when I missed my flight, lost my F seat, got rebooked into Y on a later flight, but did receive the 150% for Y fare class.

Perhaps if coach is not crowded and you can grab a whole row to yourself, you can ask for downgrade, and take the EQM's and still have a nice comfortable flight? :)

P is the bucket and F is a part of that bucket. ;)

Sorry, I'm confused. If you purchase an "F" class ticket, you will get 150% EQM. So I don't really understand the point of your post.

-RM

I purchased a discounted first class roundtrip that cost the same as a full fare coach roundtrip (NW is offering this deal to match a competing airline, so this type of discount is not available on all routes). The seat is F, but the fare class is M. You do not get a 150% EQM for this because the bonus is based strictly on fare class, not the cabin.

When I lost the departure first class seat by being a no-show, they rebooked me in coach with a Y fare class, and Y does qualifiy for the 150% bonus.

In other words, I lost my F/M (no bonus) and got a Y/Y (bonus) instead. On the return flight I did get the F/M since I got to the airport on time for that one. :D