UA Matching PN to ZN

Old Oct 27, 2018, 3:05 am
  #1  
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UA Matching PN to ZN

Just noticed this tonight on Hawaii flights. Every single flight I looked at is matching PN inventory to ZN inventory. Like this:



It's normally quite unusual to see PN>0 when P=0, and I've never seen anything like this before. May just be a glitch. It's also happening at a time when I am seeing UA suddenly tighten up domestic Z and P inventory to ridiculous extremes - for example, selling nothing below a D on flights that have zero F seats sold approx six weeks out. Like this one (UA 1509 SFO-HNL on 12/8):



I suppose this could all just be continued weirdness following last week's fare class changes, but it's very strange.

Last edited by Kacee; Oct 27, 2018 at 3:10 am
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 5:30 am
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Saw that too on the same route - wonder if instruments would more readily clear quietly for non GS.

Also been seeing PS with $3k plus biz fares only with half full cabins a couple weeks out. That was before the fare class change.

Seeems like the new “Orion” rev mgmt algorithm is in a new phase. That might not be a bad thing for upgrade clearance if it’s better st extracting an extra ultra high fare or two vs 5 cheaper ones.

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Old Oct 27, 2018, 7:31 am
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J inventory (can’t call it F anymore) is ridiculously tight across the system now. Especially true for PS, except random flights on random days being P9 PZ>0. I saw one SFO-EWR flight leaving 12p with I>0 but the 1pm and 2pm flights were Z0 even though they had apparent similar loads (seat map is not load I know, but...) Many flights with half full J cabins are C0 and so I’m seeing many $4k RT fares.

The trend I’ve seen is approx PN>0 if ZN>=6. On other routes though, PN still tracks P.
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 8:45 am
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I think it’s still weirdness from the big change last weekend.

going to a conference abroad next month and they are buying my ticket through their local travel agency.. they confirmed the ticket Thursday but the transaction hadn’t gone through...

which sucks because thursday my TATL 777 was Z9 PZ9 and now it’s zero. It didn’t dwindle it went 9 to 0.

[Still frustrated that it hasn’t been ticketed yet. United says they haven’t paid for it]
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 9:14 am
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Was looking at LAX-EWR this morning and saw a flight that had PN9, P6, and the website was showing a Z fare as the lowest purchase J fare available. I feel like there are some kinks that need to be worked out, but I think it's certainly an opportune time for GS to use their GPUs...especially on TCON routes.
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 9:17 am
  #6  
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sadly not for my routes:
  • J9
  • JN9
  • C9
  • D9
  • Z9
  • ZN9
  • P9
  • PN9
  • PZ0
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 9:21 am
  #7  
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Originally Posted by cfischer
sadly not for my routes:
  • J9
  • JN9
  • C9
  • D9
  • Z9
  • ZN9
  • P9
  • PN9
  • PZ0
Am I misunderstaning? The observation is that PN is matched to ZN — not related to PZ at all. The change in behaviour is that sometimes you can find ZN9 P0 PN9, where previously P0 always meant PN0.

edit add: Yesterday I did see some flights with numbers like ZN9 P9 PN1 (PZ0), and I did some more searching just now to find others like ZN9 P5 PN5 (PZ1). So I'm not seeing the same as reported, for some reason?

Last edited by fumje; Oct 27, 2018 at 9:28 am
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 9:40 am
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Originally Posted by fumje
edit add: Yesterday I did see some flights with numbers like ZN9 P9 PN1 (PZ0), and I did some more searching just now to find others like ZN9 P5 PN5 (PZ1). So I'm not seeing the same as reported, for some reason?
It seems to depends on the route right now. Some appear to have PN tracking Z/ZN, while others have PN tracking P.
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 9:40 am
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Originally Posted by fumje
Am I misunderstaning? The observation is that PN is matched to ZN — not related to PZ at all. The change in behaviour is that sometimes you can find ZN9 P0 PN9, where previously P0 always meant PN0.

edit add: Yesterday I did see some flights with numbers like ZN9 P9 PN1 (PZ0), and I did some more searching just now to find others like ZN9 P5 PN5 (PZ1). So I'm not seeing the same as reported, for some reason?
yeah, sorry, it's all new special alphabet soup
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 9:44 am
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Originally Posted by prometa
It seems to depends on the route right now. Some appear to have PN tracking Z/ZN, while others have PN tracking P.
That's what I figured; so for whatever reason it's just not happening on any of the routes I'm looking at, domestic or international.

Originally Posted by cfischer
yeah, sorry, it's all new special alphabet soup
Well, I'll confess I was initially excited by the title, at first thinking it said PN was matching to PZ.
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 11:24 am
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Originally Posted by cerealmarketer
Seeems like the new “Orion” rev mgmt algorithm is in a new phase. That might not be a bad thing for upgrade clearance if it’s better st extracting an extra ultra high fare or two vs 5 cheaper ones.
Yes, it's the opposite of the norm for the past few years, where the F cabins all sold for fares that were in the range of an H or a Q, leaving no seats for upgrades.

Originally Posted by prometa
J inventory (can’t call it F anymore) is ridiculously tight across the system now. Especially true for PS, except random flights on random days being P9 PZ>0. I saw one SFO-EWR flight leaving 12p with I>0 but the 1pm and 2pm flights were Z0 even though they had apparent similar loads (seat map is not load I know, but...) Many flights with half full J cabins are C0 and so I’m seeing many $4k RT fares.
Exactly. I just bought a D on BOS-SFO for next weekend (no Z or P) on an aircraft where less than half the J seats are sold. Maybe they're really selling everything within seven days of departure but color me skeptical.
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 11:36 am
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Originally Posted by Kacee
Yes, it's the opposite of the norm for the past few years, where the F cabins all sold for fares that were in the range of an H or a Q, leaving no seats for upgrades.


Exactly. I just bought a D on BOS-SFO for next weekend (no Z or P) on an aircraft where less than half the J seats are sold. Maybe they're really selling everything within seven days of departure but color me skeptical.
I'm waiting for a W->PN upgrade on an SFO-HKG 77W flight in two weeks, where it's been steady at ~30/60 J sold (as verified by a GS agent) for over a week, and she says I'm the only GS on the W/L. The flight is selling J and C only -- no D, Z, nor P.
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 11:59 am
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The D price point has come down pretty significantly though, especially if you compare it to the former domestic A fares. P is now for matched T fares and below, instead of W. I wonder if this is an attempt to re-balance from some of that.

Definitely not true across the board though,

01-Nov SFO-AKL is J9 ZN9 P7 PN3 PZ0 [generous for 9 total seats]
01-Nov SAN-SFO has e.g.
J6 ZN4 P3 PN3 PZ0
J4 ZN2 P1 PN1 PZ0
J5 ZN3 P2 PN2 PZ0
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 1:50 pm
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Originally Posted by findark
The D price point has come down pretty significantly though, especially if you compare it to the former domestic A fares.
D has come down but is still several hundred more than the Z was. So this is effectively a fare increase by way of inventory controls. It's also bad news for advance upgrades and award space, since we are unlikely to see PZ or I on flights that are all Z0 P0.

I really hope UA is still working through the new codes and that this is just transitional. What a mess they have unnecessarily made with these fare class changes.

Originally Posted by findark
Definitely not true across the board though,

01-Nov SFO-AKL is J9 ZN9 P7 PN3 PZ0 [generous for 9 total seats]
01-Nov SAN-SFO has e.g.
J6 ZN4 P3 PN3 PZ0
J4 ZN2 P1 PN1 PZ0
J5 ZN3 P2 PN2 PZ0
So it is route specific. All the SFO-HNL flights I checked last night were ZN=PN.
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 2:40 pm
  #15  
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What is difference in PN and PZ? I am 1K with 12 GPUs that are all showing waitlist no matter which itineraries I try to use them for. I understand that PZ is the new R, but what is PN?
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