When the only option is Basic Economy
Jun 29, 2018, 10:41 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: RDU
Programs: Hhonors Gold, DL PM
Posts: 359
When the only option is Basic Economy
Hi all - I just booked a flight DEN-RDU and intended to buy normal economy. Books into W on the outbound, but on the return the banner above the flight says 'Economy' but the booking class shows N. I usually fly Delta and I'm not sure if this is true for UA as well, but usually these BE fares aren't combinable with other normal Economy fares. The thing that really bothers me about this is there was no way to avoid this while booking. I'm now on the phone and the agent has no clue what happened - but is cancelling and rebooking.
Jun 29, 2018, 10:56 am
#2
Join Date: Jan 2016
Programs: UA 1K; *G, AA Plat
Posts: 1,700
Hi all - I just booked a flight DEN-RDU and intended to buy normal economy. Books into W on the outbound, but on the return the banner above the flight says 'Economy' but the booking class shows N. I usually fly Delta and I'm not sure if this is true for UA as well, but usually these BE fares aren't combinable with other normal Economy fares. The thing that really bothers me about this is there was no way to avoid this while booking. I'm now on the phone and the agent has no clue what happened - but is cancelling and rebooking.
Jun 29, 2018, 11:05 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: RDU
Programs: Hhonors Gold, DL PM
Posts: 359
Outbound - BE not available, selected regular economy (W)
Return: Only Economy available, but booking class N. Pretty sure the general public can't be expected to know that N is a basic economy fare.
And FWIW, I submitted a DOT complaint.
Jun 29, 2018, 11:28 am
#4
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Houston/DC
Programs: UA 1K, 1MM
Posts: 564
Jun 29, 2018, 11:34 am
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: RDU
Programs: Hhonors Gold, DL PM
Posts: 359
Well for one, I wasn't getting what I was told I would be paying for - imagine what this thread would look like if you thought you booked Polaris and ended up stuck in Economy...
Jun 29, 2018, 11:34 am
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 11,452
Interesting, I think they are doing something funny, using N as the 'fare class' for a W/K basis ?? . Example:
I don't think it's basic economy, though.
Code:
City pair Fare class Fare basis code RDU-DEN W WAA4AKEN DEN-RDU N KRN3ACER
Last edited by fumje; Jun 29, 2018 at 11:51 am Reason: fix code tags that ft text box ate
Jun 29, 2018, 11:38 am
#8
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: MBS/FNT/LAN
Programs: UA 1K, HH Gold, Mariott Gold
Posts: 9,630
Even your own screenshots indicate there should be no "gripe" over not getting mileage on the returns.
I'm not suggesting that there may not be an error here on UA.... but for your first line of defense to file a DoT complaint?
Jun 29, 2018, 11:46 am
#9
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It's a fare table error. -ER and -EX fares are supposed to book into their prime code for the Basic Economy price; looks like a typo on KRN3ACER. It's technically not a Basic Economy fare, but this is not a fight with UA's systems I would want to get in to. You cannot get this price with a different fare. I went halfway to booking it, and the computer is just confused.. grayed out E+ but let me select an E- seat for free.. what a mess.
Code:
V FARE BASIS BK FARE TRAVEL-TICKET AP MINMAX RTG 1 KRN3ACER N R 158.00 R14NV 3/1 -/ - 1 PASSENGER TYPE-ADT AUTO PRICE-YES FROM-DEN TO-RDU CXR-UA TVL-29JUN18 RULE-ECC2 DFR/11 FARE BASIS-KRN3ACER SPECIAL FARE DIS-E VENDOR-ATP FARE TYPE-ERS RT-2ND LEVEL ECONOMY RESTRICTED USD 146.98 0001 E27JUN18 D14NOV18 FC-KRN3ACER FN-4A SYSTEM DATES - CREATED 27JUN18/1216 EXPIRES INFINITY PUBLISHED RTG DEN-RDU/UA1 /TAR-DRG1 EF-27JUN18 DIS-INDEF TRAVEL MUST BE NONSTOP .
Code:
NOTE - THE FOLLOWING TEXT IS INFORMATIONAL AND NOT
VALIDATED FOR AUTOPRICING.
NORMAL / EXCURSION FARES
APPLICATION
CLASS OF SERVICE
THESE FARES APPLY FOR FIRST/BUSINESS/ECONOMY/
PREMIUM ECONOMY/OFF PEAK ECONOMY CLASS SERVICE.
TYPES OF TRANSPORTATION
THIS RULE GOVERNS ONE-WAY AND ROUND-TRIP FARES.
FARES GOVERNED BY THIS RULE CAN BE USED TO CREATE
ONE-WAY/ROUND-TRIP/CIRCLE-TRIP/OPEN-JAW JOURNEYS.
CAPACITY LIMITATIONS
SEATS ARE LIMITED.
Jun 29, 2018, 11:48 am
#10
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Sure, DoT may not have been a great first choice - but agent and supervisor didn't provide an adequate explanation and tried to charge more instead of admitting an issue. And thanks @findark for the digging.
Jun 29, 2018, 12:09 pm
#11
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
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It's a fare table error. -ER and -EX fares are supposed to book into their prime code for the Basic Economy price; looks like a typo on KRN3ACER. It's technically not a Basic Economy fare, but this is not a fight with UA's systems I would want to get in to. You cannot get this price with a different fare. I went halfway to booking it, and the computer is just confused.. grayed out E+ but let me select an E- seat for free.. what a mess.
BTW, you're correct -- BE fares don't combine with non-BE fares. The problem is, there's no rule for "non-BE fares that stupidly book into the BE bucket."
It's times like this that I really wish UA would allow me to contact specific departments directly. If they had public access to their issue tracking system, issues like this could be fixed in hours. But trying to explain it to their first line support just isn't worth my time.
* Can you sense the sarcasm?
Jun 29, 2018, 12:13 pm
#12
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I think DOT is excessive too, as they don't legislate change fee or fare rules. The OP got what he paid for originally even if many of us avoid it. At least the computer warned of the 0 earnings, but that's not an obligation.
Jun 29, 2018, 12:23 pm
#13
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Posts: 11,452
Note that this is not an actual BE fare, it is just being treated like one in some regards for some reason. I agree that I would not want to risk the computer misinterpreting whether to allow seat assignments and designate BG5, but the rules do not have, for example, the baggage restrictions of BE. Likely it is a mistake, but there are too many things in conflict to figure out what was intended.
I would say DOT is not warranted unless flying with the ticket and there were some BE restriction imposed on bags or other part of the travel experience.
I would say DOT is not warranted unless flying with the ticket and there were some BE restriction imposed on bags or other part of the travel experience.
Jun 29, 2018, 12:49 pm
#14
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Note that this is not an actual BE fare, it is just being treated like one in some regards for some reason. I agree that I would not want to risk the computer misinterpreting whether to allow seat assignments and designate BG5, but the rules do not have, for example, the baggage restrictions of BE. Likely it is a mistake, but there are too many things in conflict to figure out what was intended.
Jun 29, 2018, 1:20 pm
#15
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Ah yes, my meaning was that I was not sure which was the mistake, the rbd of N or the use of non-BE rules for a BE price. Or is there a clear indication of which is the mistake? I suppose we can speculate about likelihood of one vs. the other.