Italian_Kayaker

I am currently booked in V class. If I rebook onto a different flight which only has availability in B, but use a travel waiver to avoid change fees, would I still be eligible for the instant elite upgrade from B to First (assuming there is availability in PN)? Or would using the travel waiver mean that the new flight will "inherit" the old V bucket?

mahasamatman

It all depends on the agent making the change. They can take the easy way out and rebook you in B, or take the time to rebook you in V.

ContinentalFan

I had a somewhat similar experience yesterday in that I change to an earlier flight. The CRJ-200 has a single Ca in. My fare basis went from A to M. The miles haven’t posted yet, but I’m waiting to see how the PQM works out.

edcho

Agreed but IME it seems like they've clamped down on most rebookings. Most of my rebookings (due to IRROPS / waivers) are now the original fare class (even if fare class isn't available -- not sure how that works). Once in awhile, I'll get a nice surprise though.

Isn't that a downgrade? Since it's a voluntary change, i'm not sure how that works.

jsloan

Agents have the ability to force space in any bucket. They don't always do so, but they can.

edcho

Seems like AERO is programmed to do that... hence why I see it all the time now. Bleh.

sfo789

IME gate agents always rebook into Y. Phone agents always seem to rebook into lowest-available on weather waivers (though my last experience of this was late November, so things might have changed). Phone agents are more likely to try to force your original fare class after a schedule change or similar. (Could be off-base on this; others seem to have more recent negative experiences.)

If you get rebooked into B, then you will appear on the visible UG list as a Plat on a B fare (assuming you are still a Plat). Assuming the flight goes to the gate with some open seats, therefore, you should clear relatively easily (unless flying SFO<>IAD or something similar). The system might 'fix' your fare class before it posts to your MP, but I have never not been listed as per the fare I was booked into (at least anecdotally).

However, I have never successfully converted Y/B to PN via instant upgrade when the B is not 'real' but rather from an irrops move. App always errors. If you call, chances are the agent will try, it'll error, they'll dig to figure out why, and come back to you saying "because it was a V fare originally, we can't instant-upgrade it". In fact, there's a risk at that stage that the agent does the manual work to downfare your new ticket to V.

I've also once been moved into full Y then CPU-cleared about 30 mins later (showed R class on my ticket, not PN, so I know CPU). If the flight looks relatively light in F, your newly-elevated fare might make pre-gate clearance easier.

Good luck!

findark

That's disappointing.. definitely used to be that rebooking into lowest available was easier and so they would just do that if your original rbd was not available.

jnb_tx

be prepared to write in for original routing (and fare) credit. undoubtedly it will post as the fare class flown

sexykitten7

I did this once MCO-LAX back in 2015 after being rebooked into B by flight recovery. App worked perfectly! Unfortunately, they screwed up my rebook (terminated in LAX instead of SAN) so I had to call to fix. That agent caught the error and I had to fight with her over my F seat! Thankfully I won. Apparently she needed the supervisor of the supervisor to sign off. They kept saying "You only paid $114 for this ticket," as if that was a crime!

I think the reason it no longer works is bc you need to clear 5+ days in advance, right?

fumje

My observation is that if you get rebooked by irrops into Y/B you (1) the system will upgrade you if PN is available during a sweep, but per your experience perhaps only during a sweep, i.e. can't manually request; (2) if you are upgraded the flight will post as Z_ where _ is your original fare class; or (3) if you don't clear the upgrade the flight will post as Y/B with the commensurate PQM/PQS 150% multiplier.

ContinentalFan

cfischer

In my experience when re-booking w/ weather waivers you get the priority of the higher fare class. YMMV though.