Kiwi Flyer

No - you can view the fare rules on aa.com and this includes fare basis. That is how I select the particular one I want (since they have different terms re cancellations, changes, routing).

Kiwi Flyer

At least some discounted first (non-xUP) fares are comparable in price to xUP. On a previous trip I looked into xUP but decided to get discounted first when I discovered it was the exact same fare, had better terms (for cancellations and changes) and didn't run the risk of QFF crediting as economy.

These aren't easy to find on aa.com website due to both xUP and discounted first being returned when selecting "restricted first" by fare.

Dave Noble

Again, if they are classing YUPs as being an upgrade on an economy ticket, it would be quite consistent anyway

Dave

serfty

Conversely, this would NOT be consistant with DONEx's booking and crediting as A with two class NA flights.

Kiwi Flyer

ssshhhhh - don't give them ideas

Dave Noble

Indeed. but that is why I have concerns that they may "fix" that too.

It used to be that upgrades to A class using miles/eVIPs used to credit as First class to QFF , which was an extremely beneficial feature of them, but they recently "fixed" that and it seems that they may have "fixed" the issue with upgrades due to YUPping . Hopefully they don't plan to do anything about DONEs but I do have concerns that the SC frenzy that is domestic US A class on a DONE might be affected, though hopefully they will be left well alone

Of course, at the moment, there is only one report of a YUP crediting as Y and does not indicate a trend yet; maybe there will be posters who take a YUP and get F credit who may contribute information that this was a glitch

Dave

Dave

Kiwi Flyer

My YUP was only a couple of weeks ago and posted as F. If someone posts more recent experience that will help clarify glitch vs change in crediting policy.

abcedaria

Update #53......

HNL-LAX credited as Y
LAX-DFW credited as F
DFW-BWI credited as F

Waiting on return leg to post....so its really not making much sense now.

Dave Noble

That's just getting weird

Dave

Traveloguy

Sorry but this is a topic where I am going to disagree with many of you.

A YUP (or equally a KUP) fare is just a set of fare construction rules. The letter Y really is misleading and really has little bearing on whether on what fare class you are booked in and at the end of the day it is fare class booking which counts when it comes to crediting to a frequent flyer programme.

YUP fares state that if A is available on a 2 class service you get booked in A thus you *should* get A status credits. Equally there are quite a lot of mixed class fares out there on the market (some of them starting with a D) where the fare construction rules state that a fare books in D on a long haul segment and then M on the short haul bits thus earning you D on the long haul segment and M on the short (replace D and M where appropriate with other booking classes). These fares rmay be sold as DRTWOFF (make up whatever) but to be honest they could equally be sold as ZZZZZ. My point is that it does not matter what they are, it matters what class they book into and the fares are simply a set of rules - it's what booking class you get put into that counts and not the D or L or whatever letter appears at the front of the fare. Booking class does not equal fare.

Also remember that technology is not perfect and there are occasions where fares don't credit as expected and there are a multitide of reasons how this can happen.

I would suggest that if you have any problems with fares crediting your membership, e-mail QF copies of your tickets and boarding passes. They should be able to look up the fare rules which should then clearly state what booking classes are legally allowed under those rules and credit you accordingly.

Traveloguy

It could simply be that the booking was played around with by dispatch or check-in causing the flights to be messed up and information thus incorrectly passed across to QF. You would be surprised how often dispatch can play around with your booking!

I think we all know that even upgrades can be processed is several different ways which then affect the way they get crediting to your frequent flyer account as a case in point (and no prizes for guessing who generally sorts out on departure upgrades).

Traveloguy

Agreed which is why people need to stop confusing booking classes with fares.

a DONEX is a fare which has a set of rules (which many of us know far too well). Those rules state that certain segments need to be booked in A, D or L booking classes depending on whether it is a single class flight, two class or three class service. The fact the the fare starts with a D just helps identify the fare family rather than all segments are booked in D and should be credited as D.

A, D or L status credits are then awarded for those segments. If you are not awarded correctly, there is recourse to get the status credits for the booking class the fare was originally booked and travelled in.

number_6

All of the YUP fare rules that I have read have not been this way; they book into Y (full Y, not B or anything else) and then upgrade to A. If a reroute is necessary (voluntary or involuntary) the same happens: book into Y and then upgrade to A. The one KUP fare rule that I have read changes this: it books into K instead of Y (K is mildly restricted on AA). So if a flight has A and Y inventory, but no K inventory, you cannot book it with a KUP fare. And if not flying in F on a YUP/KUP fare, there is no refund or other compensation. It is a wierd beast created by AA to replace free upgrades in F (offered to their Emeralds) with paid upgrades in F (sold YUP/KUP fares). Because of the lack of any contractual right to F travel, it is not an F fare by any description.

Now the computer processing of such fares has long been muddled. I have no idea how AA weeds out the A upgrades from eVIPs, but those have stopped receiving F credit and get Y or J credit (for several years now). It must be using the farecode as that is the only way to distinguish between the cases. Apparently some bugs in this software, thus the inconsistent posting of F or Y for the same fare.

number_6

Just because we know the rules too well (and not to be pedantic), the rule actually states that certain segments can be booked in A, D, L or Y ... a rather key improvement in the OWE rules made a couple of years ago (yes, it books into Y instead of L inventory on some one-class flights, mostly AA operated).

Kiwi Flyer

Correct. On my recent trip I wanted to change, mid-way through, one leg to an earlier flight. However there was only A availability not Y and thus I was unable to change.

I suspect if I pushed I may have gotten the agent to use a work around to force me into A. However since it was only an hour, and I had onward flight after that leg it didn't really matter to me and I was content to let it be.