Fun with Fare Classes
Nov 7, 19, 11:29 am
#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 
Nov 7, 19, 2:26 pm
#2
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DEN
Programs: UA 1K, DL, AA, AS, HHonors, SPG, Kimpton, Hyatt, IC PC, Marriott Titanium, Hertz PC
Posts: 7,173
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?
Nov 7, 19, 2:51 pm
#3
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 98,386
Originally Posted by GBadger
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?
Nov 7, 19, 3:14 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 50
Originally Posted by GBadger
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?
Nov 7, 19, 3:15 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 50
Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
Some government fares are Y, but they're heavily discounted on most routes (even for last seat availability).
Nov 7, 19, 3:27 pm
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 15,974
Originally Posted by vgutkovsky
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.
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.
Nov 7, 19, 3:31 pm
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 50
Originally Posted by jsloan
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.
Nov 7, 19, 4:16 pm
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
Posts: 12,360
Originally Posted by jsloan
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 $694.00 OW 30 N
E+ fare filing and booking rules:
Code:
V FARE BASIS BK FARE TRAVEL-TICKET AP MINMAX RTG
1 WAA4AQPN B‡X 444.00 ---- 14/1 -/ - 522
PASSENGER TYPE-ADT AUTO PRICE-YES
FROM-SFO TO-EWR CXR-UA TVL-07NOV19 RULE-EPQ2 DFR/11
FARE BASIS-WAA4AQPN SPECIAL FARE DIS-N VENDOR-ATP
FARE TYPE-ZZP OW-PREMIUM ECONOMY ONE WAY ADVANCE PURCHASE
USD 413.02 0522 E04NOV19 D-INFINITY FC-WAA4AQPN FN-
SYSTEM DATES - CREATED 04NOV19/1512 EXPIRES INFINITY
PUBLISHED RTG SFO-EWR/UA522 /TAR-DRG1 EF-04NOV19 DIS-INDEF
MAP CONSTRUCTED LEFT TO RIGHT AND RIGHT TO LEFT
1. SFO-WAS/LAX/HOU/DEN/CLE/CHI-EWR
.
>$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 A‡X 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
