mc0107

I have to book travel through American Express's corporate travel website. My firm doesn't allow me to buy F fares. They don't really specify that E fares must be the absolute cheapest, either. With the increase to $15k for 1K, the fact that TOD does not count toward PQD, have any of you got strategies that you use to purchase more expensive tickets? Do you buy higher level E fares to earn a little extra PQD? Do you buy F but price E fares at the same time and seek reimbursement for the E fare only? I'm not sure I can do the latter because receipts need to match expense claims and it could messy, but I would absolutely eat the additional cost if it got me to higher 1K (and on non-P fares, to boot). Thanks everyone and happy new year.

Xyzzy

I think most of us do what is ethically right so we don't threaten our jobs. That rules out shenanigans like spending more company money on airline tickets than we have t. With that in mind, purchasing an economy ticket via the corporate agent and then calling UA to up-fare to F using your own credit card is a generally accepted way to pay for an upgrade yourself.

mc0107

Does the buy-up to F right after purchase count toward PQD?

Xyzzy

If you up-fare it does. The offers UA has after purchase may or may not. The ones at check-in don't tend to count. There is a thread fr the details of these offers and PQD here.

mc0107

Thanks, I'll look for that thread, too. Your mentioning it reminded me. In my experience, neither the upgrade option on a reservation nor TOD count toward PQD. I don't think I've ever called into reservations to up-fare. And, since I have to book through Amex site, I don't get the options right after purchase on the pop-up. To boot, I get -5% (sometimes more) off fares so I'm earning even less PQD!

mozilla

Yes, there are multiple strategies to comply with a buy-Economy restriction while flying F on the corporate dime. For obvious reasons, I won't divulge them all, but here is one to get the gist of how it usually works. It involves UP fares.

You didn't tell us what markets you fly in (domestic, transcontinental, INTL, ...) but on the domestic NYC-HOU market, for example, there is an UP fare with basis YAA00UPY that is a coded as an EU-Economy Unrestricted fare but books into F (fare class C). It has specific features to comply with corporate regulations.

First, most corporate booking systems process these fares as Economy fares because of the EU fare type and that's also how they appear on any official document from UA, except on documents that are only handed to you personally like your boarding pass. Additionally, since you are booked into F right away and aren't upgraded from Y to F, written statements as "I bought an Economy ticket and didn't upgrade my ticket" are technically true and can be backed up. Furthermore, it requires intimate knowledge of fare class codes, which differ for every airline, and is beyond the capabilities of most auditors, to notice what this fare actually is. In this example, the "C" is the only bit that gives it away, and note how conveniently it again says "Economy Fare" to assist in creating reasonable doubt when questioned:


FARE CLS EXPLANATION BOOK CODES
-------- ----------- ----------
YAA00UPY ECONOMY UNR C

It's not up to me, and I believe nor to others on this forum, to judge the ethics of those buying these fares; I'm sure UA has no concerns whatsoever to pocket the money. I also don't have to point out that some companies have cultures that embrace skirting rules in this exact manner, especially when the customer is the one paying for it all. UA offers a fare when it knows there is a market for that fare, and I know for a fact these fares are being bought. There is a parallel YAA0AFEY fare filed for those who want to fly in the back; it's a bit cheaper.

StuckinITH

There is one scenario where that would not work without a caution: if the corporate agent purchases fully flexible Economy fares, I think that the upfare to First puts it in the non-flexible category. I guess the OP can decide if that is a risk that is acceptable.

FTLexMUC

catocony

Concur or AMEX or other corporate travel tools generally don't let you select a particular fare bucket. They generally just show the cheapest available at the moment, though from my experience Basic Economy ones are excluded. You can always wait until the last minute and maybe get a Y or M fare, but honestly, your best bet is to play it straight and just use miles for upgrades.

docbert

This is up to the company and how they configure Concur. Most corporates will configure it to ignore basic economy fares. In our case it will offer the cheapest (non-BE) and some higher fares based on flexibility, but will still apply policy on whether we can book the higher fares. eg, flying SFO-LAX last minute you can often get fully refundable for ~$20 more than cheapest, so it will show/allow both. Other routes the difference might be in the hundreds so it will show but not allow the higher fare.

And keep in mind that when you make such a change, even directly with the airline, the travel agency is notified. Whether or not they actually look at those notifications is likely a different story, but they can see the change, which means that so can your employer.

HoustonConsultant

There are a few strategies that make this ethical and appropriate.

First, start your own business so that the extra money you are spending for higher fares is your own money and coming out of your pockets rather than your company's or ultimately your client's pockets.

Second, most companies do not mind if you spend your own money on upgrades, so tell your travel group/boss/etc. that you are purchasing the appropriate low priced tickets (and have the receipt), and then call United to upfare. They don't like it when folks try to skirt the rules.

Third, blow through your miles for upgrades.

I had an employee several years ago (before Concur, etc.) that managed to only book Y fares for the extra miles and easier upgrades. I wasn't reviewing his receipts all that closely (who has the time?), but ultimately while on a call with the client, they suggested flying to see us to save $1,000 on airfare. After putting the pieces together, I credited back the client several thousand dollars. He knew what he was doing wasn't exactly right but thought it wouldn't matter since, "we bill it back to the client anyway". I didn't fire him, but he never did it again, and his bonus was substantially less that year than it might have been otherwise.

Often1

People who play games with petty stuff, will do it with the big stuff too. Best to edge them out the door. Sooner rather than later.

One of the easiest and best ways to accommodate employees on this is simply to permit, as many companies now do, employees to keep a personal CC on file as well. They may book anything they want, the allowable fare is in the TA record and that is paid by the employer, while the balance is direct-charged to the personal CC.

mozilla

You need a booking system that allows you to select a particular fare - not just fare class, fare basis as well - which basically means you need to have GDS access or someone with GDS access. The company that I know that buys these fares uses a TA that is in on the game. Generally, it would also be a TA that would advise this method when consulted by a company looking for a solution to a buy-Economy restriction.

As I mentioned, there is always a companion Y-fare filed together with the Y-UP fare. That Y-fare is coded exactly the same with the same restrictions as the Y-UP, with the difference that it books into Y instead of C and that it is a bit cheaper. As a deliberate side effect, this always prevents the Y-UP fare from showing up in the majority of booking engines since most just go for lowest price, effectively hiding the Y-UP from most public views, even if Y/C are the only remaining booking classes available. That doesn't mean the Y-UP can't be booked though, you just need to be in on the game and know that it is there.

findark

I have never seen a corporate booking portal that does not use the primary rbd of the ticket to determine the class of service. The domestic differential fare table was all coded as ER for at least a year, and "lowest First" would always display the ER /UPDI fare. I'm very skeptical this would ever work.

This; unfortunately most large employers have no interest in affording their employees this level of flexibility since it usually requires substantial effort when the default booking portal isn't configured to allow this.

MSPeconomist