Jun 6, 2018, 1:40 pm
Last edit by: Kacee
The TATL -LGT Fares will be called Basic Economy Effective 12/11/2018, Additional Restrictions will Apply
Now even more ways to fly across the Atlantic -- Atlantic Joint Venture offering with Air Canada and Lufthansa Group
Will earn 50% PQMs, 100% PQDs, RDMs, Lifetime miles and segment credit toward 4 UA segments needed for elite status
-- BE and TATL BE earns will be the same
BE uses N fares, TATL BE / -LGT can be a number of the lower discount economy fare classes
No changes -- dates, fare class, truly non-refundable ... and no upgrades
Other -LGT restrictions
Normal TATL fares include a free check bag -- -LGT fares do not for non-elites / non-credit card holders
No Premier seating benefits - i.e., no free Economy Plus
To aviod TATL BE fares
United's Basic Economy - Discussion, Q&A, ...
Benefit impact of restricted economy fares on UA Elites (Basic Econ, -LGT, Light Econ
Now even more ways to fly across the Atlantic -- Atlantic Joint Venture offering with Air Canada and Lufthansa Group
New ways to fly across the Atlantic Effective June 5, 2018, United Airlines in line with Atlantic Joint Venture partners Air Canada and Lufthansa Group, will introduce a new fare option in select trans-Atlantic markets.
Created for our customers who may be more price-sensitive, these lowest-priced fares are the first step towards a Basic Economy product on trans-Atlantic United flights. The fare includes the same inflight experience as standard United Economy but with important restrictions that you'll want to review carefully before booking.
Created for our customers who may be more price-sensitive, these lowest-priced fares are the first step towards a Basic Economy product on trans-Atlantic United flights. The fare includes the same inflight experience as standard United Economy but with important restrictions that you'll want to review carefully before booking.
What is the new fare option?
For customers traveling between the United States or Canada and select European countries in specific lower Economy booking classes, the new fare option will not include a complimentary first checked baggage allowance, upgrades or the ability to make changes following purchase.
Customers purchasing this fare for travel ticketed and operated on United will be eligible for advance seat assignments, one standard carry-on bag and one personal item, and the same United Economy cabin experience and services, including dining options, Wi-Fi for purchase and inflight entertainment.
What date is the fare option applicable?
The fare option is applicable for first ticket and first travel date on or after June 5, 2018, for all points of sale. The first bag fee does not apply to tickets purchased before June 4, 2018
.
How is the fare option identified?
For all Atlantic joint venture carriers, the last 3 characters of the fare basis code will be -LGT, and the fare type code is ERU/EOU.
For point of origin U. S. the fare is planned for booking classes K , L and T.
For point of origin E.U. and Canada, the fare is planned for booking classes K, L, T, S and W. Booking classes are subject to change and may vary by route.
The fares will vary from market to market and depend on availability. Customers traveling between the U.S. or Canada and Europe will be able to see if this fare is available on their flight when booking.
What are the conditions of the new fare option?
The new fare has some important restrictions compared to a standard United Economy ticket:
• The fare does not include a free baggage allowance for checked baggage.
• The fare is non-refundable and non-changeable except as stated in the United 24-hour flexible booking policy.
• The fare cannot be combined with any other fare type.
• The fare is not eligible for upgrades to a premium cabin (complimentary, purchased or instrument).
For customers traveling between the United States or Canada and select European countries in specific lower Economy booking classes, the new fare option will not include a complimentary first checked baggage allowance, upgrades or the ability to make changes following purchase.
Customers purchasing this fare for travel ticketed and operated on United will be eligible for advance seat assignments, one standard carry-on bag and one personal item, and the same United Economy cabin experience and services, including dining options, Wi-Fi for purchase and inflight entertainment.
What date is the fare option applicable?
The fare option is applicable for first ticket and first travel date on or after June 5, 2018, for all points of sale. The first bag fee does not apply to tickets purchased before June 4, 2018
.
How is the fare option identified?
For all Atlantic joint venture carriers, the last 3 characters of the fare basis code will be -LGT, and the fare type code is ERU/EOU.
For point of origin U. S. the fare is planned for booking classes K , L and T.
For point of origin E.U. and Canada, the fare is planned for booking classes K, L, T, S and W. Booking classes are subject to change and may vary by route.
The fares will vary from market to market and depend on availability. Customers traveling between the U.S. or Canada and Europe will be able to see if this fare is available on their flight when booking.
What are the conditions of the new fare option?
The new fare has some important restrictions compared to a standard United Economy ticket:
• The fare does not include a free baggage allowance for checked baggage.
• The fare is non-refundable and non-changeable except as stated in the United 24-hour flexible booking policy.
• The fare cannot be combined with any other fare type.
• The fare is not eligible for upgrades to a premium cabin (complimentary, purchased or instrument).
Are there any exemptions from the first bag fee?
The following customers are exempt from the fee when checking in with United and traveling on United or United Express for the first segment of a trans-Atlantic itinerary:
• MileagePlus Premier members
• Chase MileagePlus cardholders
• Members of the U.S. military
• Star Alliance Gold members
The following customers are exempt from the fee when checking in with United and traveling on United or United Express for the first segment of a trans-Atlantic itinerary:
• MileagePlus Premier members
• Chase MileagePlus cardholders
• Members of the U.S. military
• Star Alliance Gold members
-- BE and TATL BE earns will be the same
BE uses N fares, TATL BE / -LGT can be a number of the lower discount economy fare classes
No changes -- dates, fare class, truly non-refundable ... and no upgrades
Other -LGT restrictions
Normal TATL fares include a free check bag -- -LGT fares do not for non-elites / non-credit card holders
No Premier seating benefits - i.e., no free Economy Plus
To aviod TATL BE fares
ITA Matrix Google Flights -- select 1 Carry-on bag
related threadsUnited's Basic Economy - Discussion, Q&A, ...
Benefit impact of restricted economy fares on UA Elites (Basic Econ, -LGT, Light Econ
TATL Basic Economy (renamed Dec 2018); all BE to earn 50% PQMs, earn 100% PQDs
Jun 8, 2018, 10:09 am
#106
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As long as there is a 1:1 correspondence it's pretty easy to work across the alliance [note e.g. that AC PE and LH PE don't use the same codes] - my point was that they did not use N because they did want the fares to earn miles (the latter part being harmonized). In a broader picture, the race toward unbundling also means that it becomes steadily less realistic for every "package" to use its own rbd on a differential fare basis. Most of the other unbundled carriers track the purchased options at a higher level anyway.
I think the easy solution is to follow AA and sell domestic flights as two-class J/Y on the backend. Now that GF is retired, this frees up F, A, and O as booking codes for general use. This also solves a number of silly unclear-if-intended domestic "features" like A delegating to C.
I think the easy solution is to follow AA and sell domestic flights as two-class J/Y on the backend. Now that GF is retired, this frees up F, A, and O as booking codes for general use. This also solves a number of silly unclear-if-intended domestic "features" like A delegating to C.
Jun 8, 2018, 10:17 am
#107
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Traveling the World
Posts: 6,072
Glad I bookes my ticket in May to Israel. Thanks for the heads up. I avoid BE like the plafue and this is now my first request when booking to please avoid BE fares the extra $$$ is totally worth it to get my preferred assigned seat at booking and luggage.
Jun 8, 2018, 10:27 am
#108
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,391
I think the easy solution is to follow AA and sell domestic flights as two-class J/Y on the backend. Now that GF is retired, this frees up F, A, and O as booking codes for general use. This also solves a number of silly unclear-if-intended domestic "features" like A delegating to C.
And I'm not sure F and A are really freed up; UA continues to codeshare on LH flights that offer an F cabin. Unless you're suggesting that it's the retirement of domestic GF in particular that was the sticking point, which seems not-implausible.
Jun 8, 2018, 10:36 am
#109
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,438
Am flying to the USA from LHR tomorrow (Economy) with additional United domestic flights on different days using different tickets over the next couple of weeks. Am *G and couldn't tell after reading all this, will we incur baggage fees per the new policy? Bought the tickets in February and confused by the check-in process that said we didn't have a free baggage allowance.
Jun 8, 2018, 10:37 am
#110
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Posts: 14,406
Well, that's probably true. I don't look forward to having to explain how to figure out MileagePlus partner earnings once that happens... :/ "If you're flying OS, and the third letter of your fare basis is Q, but the last letter is N, use table 4 from the OS page, but..."
Please, not O. CA already does that and it's a mess.
And I'm not sure F and A are really freed up; UA continues to codeshare on LH flights that offer an F cabin. Unless you're suggesting that it's the retirement of domestic GF in particular that was the sticking point, which seems not-implausible.
And I'm not sure F and A are really freed up; UA continues to codeshare on LH flights that offer an F cabin. Unless you're suggesting that it's the retirement of domestic GF in particular that was the sticking point, which seems not-implausible.
Jun 8, 2018, 10:52 am
#111
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Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,391
Am flying to the USA from LHR tomorrow (Economy) with additional United domestic flights on different days using different tickets over the next couple of weeks. Am *G and couldn't tell after reading all this, will we incur baggage fees per the new policy? Bought the tickets in February and confused by the check-in process that said we didn't have a free baggage allowance.
Yeah... partner earnings are going to get messy. You already have this with AC Tango fares because the UA earning chart makes some implicit assumptions regarding STALK versus higher rbds even though AC will now sell Tango and Flex with most codes. I think any real "solution" to this is a ways away, and in the mean time it will just get more complicated.
The codeshares are a complication I had not thought of, but the idea is that if UA no longer has own-metal F in any backend sense, the codes should be free. (For example, require LH native flight numbers to plate LH F 016). CA is a mess because they do have 3-cabin F (which uses O); there are other *A carriers that use the codes for other things without a lot of difficulty (AC O is Premium Economy, NZ F is Economy, etc.) As long as there is a unique mapping from {marketing carrier, rbd} -> {class of service}, then existing systems can handle it without issue.
And, yes, they could pull F from the codeshare inventory, I suppose. I'm not sure how many people are buying those fares now anyway. I hope that they'd either make it easy to plate the native codes on 016 tickets or (better yet) finally provide PQD on partner tickets.
Jun 8, 2018, 11:14 am
#113
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Right. While it's not the best solution they could honestly just pull F from codeshares with no implemented "fix" and force anyone who wants to plate an 016 revenue F ticket to book by phone. There can't be that many more (if any) of those pax than there are people plating LH PE on 016 today.
Jun 8, 2018, 3:48 pm
#114
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: SAN
Programs: 1K (since 2008), *G (since 1990), 1MM
Posts: 3,217
On a positive note, 1MM which confers *G now provides an added bonus of the free checked bag on the -LGT fare. I am sure this was United's intention - to provide added incentive to strive for 1MM. :-)
Jun 8, 2018, 3:55 pm
#115
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: ORD
Programs: United Plat 2MM, Hilton Gold
Posts: 2,727
You are right; I missed the fine print. It says "Buy-up fare available: Economy", but the fine print says "prior to purchase". Which isn't really a "buy-up". Morte of a plain old "buy".
Jun 8, 2018, 4:21 pm
#117
Join Date: Oct 2015
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Posts: 3,217
Jun 8, 2018, 4:24 pm
#118
Join Date: Jun 2017
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Unrelated/annoyance: reading the wiki is a huge pain because scrolling up continuously loads the previous page of posts and I wish I could turn this stupid "feature" off.
Jun 8, 2018, 7:29 pm
#119
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This is not a BE fare.
One still gets seat assigned.
One still gets normal baggage allowance (elite).
All that is missed is ability to change flight and baggage allowance for non-elites.
Jun 11, 2018, 7:35 am
#120
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Posts: 50,262
What happens if you get travel insurance for a non-changeable fare? Do they cover it (for covered reasons)? Is the insurance higher due to the nature of the fare?
I also wonder if they are doing this (using fare basis) because they are running out of booking class codes?
I also wonder if they are doing this (using fare basis) because they are running out of booking class codes?
For all the other reasons, this is the major reason why inflexible tickets make no sense. Even people who absolutely must travel sometimes don't. Stuff happens and then the value of the ticket is lost.
What I do wonder about is how UA is handling its high-end corporate accounts. Many of those include the ability to substitute another passenger. Thus, when employee #1 is sick, employee #2 travels and the ticket is simply reissued in #2 's name. If that's the case for BE (or inflexible), would make it less of a bad business decision.