Fun with Fare Classes
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 50
Fun with Fare Classes
As a full time data viz consultant and a travel hacking hobbyist, about a year ago I decided it would be a fun project to create a script that would mine pricing information at the fare class level. The bot ran every day for almost a year, scraping data for 19 different United flights. I then took the data and visualized it, in an attempt to add some transparency to what has pretty much been a black box. You can find a sneak preview below, and the full article here: https://www.infinityinsight.com/blog/?p=388&src=1. I'm not sure if this helps anyone, just wanted to share some geeky fun for like-minded individuals 




#2
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DEN
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Very interesting. I'm curious when B fares are ever 10-20% of Y fares... Can you shed some light on any patterns related to the production of those cases?
#3
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Join Date: Sep 2009
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#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 50
For instance, flip the "Visualizing the Flow" charts to flight 1741. Class B was at a significant discount vs Y for most of the time the flight was on sale.
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 50
#6
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Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 15,974
For some reason, UA has published a PE fare table for the CHI-NYC market, which uses differential pricing like domestic F. Of course, there are no PE-equipped planes on that route, so it delegates to B. The cheapest such fare is available with a 14-day advance purchase, on any flight with K availability. I just tried it for a random date in December, and I get a one-way "B" fare for $193. It will accrue at B rates (1.5x PQM) and will be instant-upgrade eligible -- and it should be eligible for free E+, regardless of status -- but otherwise it's still a run-of-the-mill non-refundable fare.
I remember seeing a post recently from someone contemplating a mileage run who had also found a similar low B fare.
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 50
It's not a "real" B fare, but it sort of acts like one.
For some reason, UA has published a PE fare table for the CHI-NYC market, which uses differential pricing like domestic F. Of course, there are no PE-equipped planes on that route, so it delegates to B. The cheapest such fare is available with a 14-day advance purchase, on any flight with K availability. I just tried it for a random date in December, and I get a one-way "B" fare for $193. It will accrue at B rates (1.5x PQM) and will be instant-upgrade eligible -- and it should be eligible for free E+, regardless of status -- but otherwise it's still a run-of-the-mill non-refundable fare.
I remember seeing a post recently from someone contemplating a mileage run who had also found a similar low B fare.
For some reason, UA has published a PE fare table for the CHI-NYC market, which uses differential pricing like domestic F. Of course, there are no PE-equipped planes on that route, so it delegates to B. The cheapest such fare is available with a 14-day advance purchase, on any flight with K availability. I just tried it for a random date in December, and I get a one-way "B" fare for $193. It will accrue at B rates (1.5x PQM) and will be instant-upgrade eligible -- and it should be eligible for free E+, regardless of status -- but otherwise it's still a run-of-the-mill non-refundable fare.
I remember seeing a post recently from someone contemplating a mileage run who had also found a similar low B fare.
#8
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Join Date: Nov 2014
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Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
Posts: 12,360
It's not a "real" B fare, but it sort of acts like one.
For some reason, UA has published a PE fare table for the CHI-NYC market, which uses differential pricing like domestic F. Of course, there are no PE-equipped planes on that route, so it delegates to B. The cheapest such fare is available with a 14-day advance purchase, on any flight with K availability. I just tried it for a random date in December, and I get a one-way "B" fare for $193. It will accrue at B rates (1.5x PQM) and will be instant-upgrade eligible -- and it should be eligible for free E+, regardless of status -- but otherwise it's still a run-of-the-mill non-refundable fare.
I remember seeing a post recently from someone contemplating a mileage run who had also found a similar low B fare.
For some reason, UA has published a PE fare table for the CHI-NYC market, which uses differential pricing like domestic F. Of course, there are no PE-equipped planes on that route, so it delegates to B. The cheapest such fare is available with a 14-day advance purchase, on any flight with K availability. I just tried it for a random date in December, and I get a one-way "B" fare for $193. It will accrue at B rates (1.5x PQM) and will be instant-upgrade eligible -- and it should be eligible for free E+, regardless of status -- but otherwise it's still a run-of-the-mill non-refundable fare.
I remember seeing a post recently from someone contemplating a mileage run who had also found a similar low B fare.
Looks like this is the rollout of E+ as a separate cabin. Because PE remains present on its own terms in the domestic market, this is pretty clearly going the way of Delta where there will be four classes of service: Y/E+/PE/J. Remains to be seen if they will try to rotate out a booking code or two for Economy Plus as an rbd and/or change the technical means of elite access to "upgrade at purchase" like Delta now does. The "shadow B fares" as it were are not in fact delegating; they simply have B as the prime rbd and do indeed carry the secondary inventory check. Like other PE fares, when booking in B they permit E+ assignment for free for non-elites.
E+ cabin fares have 'P' in seventh position; true domestic PE has 'O' in seventh position. They are published in parallel on SFO-EWR, but not in all markets yet (SFO-IAD has neither).
SFO-EWR fare family W4/Q:
Code:
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Cxr Basis BC Cbn Price Tp AP Min Max Days Rf ---------------------------------------------------------------------- UA WAA4AQBN N Y $280.00 OW 14 N UA WAA4AQDN W Y $315.00 OW 14 N UA WAA4AQPN B Y $444.00 OW 14 N UA WAA4AQON A W $514.00 OW 14 N .. UA VAP30UPN P J $694.00 OW 30 N
E+ fare filing and booking rules:
Code:
V FARE BASIS BK FARE TRAVEL-TICKET AP MINMAX RTG 1 WAA4AQPN BX 444.00 ---- 14/1 -/ - 522 PASSENGER TYPE-ADT AUTO PRICE-YES FROM-SFO TO-EWR CXR-UA TVL-07NOV19 RULE-EPQ2 DFR/11 FARE BASIS-WAA4AQPN SPECIAL FARE DIS-N VENDOR-ATP FARE TYPE-ZZP OW-PREMIUM ECONOMY ONE WAY ADVANCE PURCHASE USD 413.02 0522 E04NOV19 D-INFINITY FC-WAA4AQPN FN- SYSTEM DATES - CREATED 04NOV19/1512 EXPIRES INFINITY PUBLISHED RTG SFO-EWR/UA522 /TAR-DRG1 EF-04NOV19 DIS-INDEF MAP CONSTRUCTED LEFT TO RIGHT AND RIGHT TO LEFT 1. SFO-WAS/LAX/HOU/DEN/CLE/CHI-EWR . >$LB153 153 SFOEWR 07NOV19 UA USD 444.00 WAA4AQPN STAY---/-- BK-B FARE CLS EXPLANATION BOOK CODES -------- ---------------------- ---------- WAA4AQPN PREMIUM ECON OW ADVANCE PURCHASE FARES B WAA4AQPN APPLIES FOR ONE WAY FARES WAA4AQPN FOR ADULT BOOKING CODE EXCEPTIONS VIA UA W/B PERMITTED B WHEN W AVAILABLE AND W PERMITTED VIA UA W/B PERMITTED B WHEN W AVAILABLE VIA UA NO BOOKING CODE DATA EXISTS
Code:
V FARE BASIS BK FARE TRAVEL-TICKET AP MINMAX RTG 1 WAA4AQON AX 514.00 ---- 14/1 -/ - 1 PASSENGER TYPE-ADT AUTO PRICE-YES FROM-SFO TO-EWR CXR-UA TVL-07NOV19 RULE-PEQ2 DFR/11 FARE BASIS-WAA4AQON SPECIAL FARE DIS-N VENDOR-ATP FARE TYPE-ZON OW-PREMIUM ECON SELL-UP OW NON-REF USD 478.14 0001 E14OCT19 D-INFINITY FC-WAA4AQON FN- SYSTEM DATES - CREATED 14OCT19/1938 EXPIRES INFINITY PUBLISHED RTG SFO-EWR/UA1 /TAR-DRG1 EF-14OCT19 DIS-INDEF TRAVEL MUST BE NONSTOP . >$LB172 172 SFOEWR 07NOV19 UA USD 514.00 WAA4AQON STAY---/-- BK-A FARE CLS EXPLANATION BOOK CODES -------- ---------------------- ---------- WAA4AQON PREM ECON SELL-UP OW NON-REF FARES A WAA4AQON APPLIES FOR ONE WAY FARES WAA4AQON FOR ADULT BOOKING CODE EXCEPTIONS VIA UA W/A REQUIRED A WHEN W AVAILABLE VIA UA NO BOOKING CODE DATA EXISTS