BigBossman

You can go look up the contract fares and see that you are getting a good deal, especially on international flights for your tax dollars. YCA is just gets last seat availability. All of us that earn status also save the government money on checked bag fees as well.

drewguy

This seems to be a misunderstanding of the _CA fares. They have exactly the same change fees as a YCA fare, which is none, other than the cost of the travel agent. They are fully refundable and flexible. The only difference is there is a limited number of them on each flight. If a _CA fare is still available 3 days before the flight, then you should take it because it is less expensive. If you can't book until 72 hours out and the _CA fare is gone, there is nothing wrong or wasteful about booking the YCA fare. But YCA fares do not create any additional flexibility.

halls120

Sorry, I wasn't making myself clear. I know that CA fares are fully refundable. They just aren't always available. That leaves us with the choice of booking a YCA fare or a penalty fare. We have our travelers use penalty fares if they are sure their travel won't change - or if it does, that the savings won't be eaten up by change fees. If they are unsure, we have them book the YCA fare.

My attorneys that fly out for short notice court appearances always buy YCA fares because too many times, the judges change their schedule, and our traveler gets to stay an extra day. But when I'm flying to BKK or SIN for a week-long conference, I buy penalty fares, because the fare difference is big enough to cover a few schedule changes. Last year I had to fly to Africa. The YCA fare was $4000. The penalty fare was $2400, which is why I purchased the latter.

drewguy

Ahhh, okay. Our agency goes back and forth on whether/when to buy "penalty" (non-refundable) fares. Most recent conclusion has been penalty fares are rarely worth the savings when balanced with the potential costs.

DCAcubsfan

Newb questions here. If I book a UA TATL flight on UA metal, YCA fare, I can upgrade from Y to J for 15,000 miles each way, correct?

Would the same apply for SCA fares on UA TATL on UA metal?

Superguy

Should, barring availability.

It'll be whatever the upgrade cost is from an S fare.

DCAcubsfan

Ahh, ok I see S fare in the upgrade chart. Much appreciated!

Superguy

The _CA can largely be ignored because that donates that it's a contract fare. The actual fare bucket is the first letter. So a YCA books into Y, an HCA in H, etc.

halls120

No all government fares are _CA. Some are actually just a -CA fare, which booked into K for my upcoming TPAC. Fully refundable but not eligible for GPU, and earns a pittance of PQD.

drewguy

Maybe I misunderstood, but I think previous poster was not suggesting otherwise. _CA and -CA are the same thing, just a different display depending on your booking system. In either case, those fares will book into a fare class other than Y, quite often one of the "highly discounted" fare categories of for which upgrades are expensive or not available to use with GPUs (last year a number of international segments were booking into SCA - just below the W-fare cutoff for GPUs).

halls120

And increasingly, most all of my government travel is booking into sub-W care categories, which is good for the taxpayer and bad for my UG percentage.

But we will no doubt continue to see the "I'm losing my UG to govvies" complaints, even though things have changed.

Superguy

They can always fly out of BWI where that will be less of an issue.

Kmxu

Sorry to revive this thread!

I got one segment of the ticket on YCA fare issued today. I went to United.com and the instant upgrade did not appear. The only upgrade option is the CPU. Has anyone had the similar experience recently? Thanks.

PaceLaw2012

any updates/recent experiences on this? Just got a new job (WAS-based) that will have lots of int'l travel. AA EXP currently, just requaled, but I will have to fly routes where UA/*A is the contract carrier. Is it worth it to try and status match? Primary concern is ability to upgrade to J on long haul from a YCA fare.

Thanks

sosptuba

I can't comment on international upgrades myself...but as a domestic government traveler I have "full" 1k rights. I also have a very good friend who achieved GS status while working for the government.