How to see if "T" fare is available
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2008
Location: New Jersey
Programs: UA GS 1.7MM, Hyatt Lifetime Glob, Marriott Titanium/Lifetime Platinum
Posts: 1,272
How to see if "T" fare is available
I want to take advantage of the GS benefit of having an award ticket converted to a Saver Award if "T" fare is shown as available. When doing an advanced search on UA.com, "T" shows as available, but the GS phone agent says it is not. I am finding that whenever I search for "T" it comes up for purchase. It used to be that the search for a specific fare class would yield a yes-or-no result as to availability - nothing ambiguous.
I am sure I am missing something obvious, but is there a way to do an accurate search for fare-class availability? Thank you.
I am sure I am missing something obvious, but is there a way to do an accurate search for fare-class availability? Thank you.
#2
Join Date: Apr 2021
Location: HPN, LAX, HNL, or somewhere in between
Programs: UA 1K, JetBlue Mosaic
Posts: 434
Are you actually seeing the T fare available for sale, or something like T1 shown in Expert Mode search.
There's another thread talking about a glitch where fare classes that aren't available are shown as having 1 seat available but it's phantom space.
If you give us the flight number and dates we can verify with tools like ExpertFlyer.
There's another thread talking about a glitch where fare classes that aren't available are shown as having 1 seat available but it's phantom space.
If you give us the flight number and dates we can verify with tools like ExpertFlyer.
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2008
Location: New Jersey
Programs: UA GS 1.7MM, Hyatt Lifetime Glob, Marriott Titanium/Lifetime Platinum
Posts: 1,272
Are you actually seeing the T fare available for sale, or something like T1 shown in Expert Mode search.
There's another thread talking about a glitch where fare classes that aren't available are shown as having 1 seat available but it's phantom space.
If you give us the flight number and dates we can verify with tools like ExpertFlyer.
There's another thread talking about a glitch where fare classes that aren't available are shown as having 1 seat available but it's phantom space.
If you give us the flight number and dates we can verify with tools like ExpertFlyer.
#4
Join Date: Apr 2021
Location: HPN, LAX, HNL, or somewhere in between
Programs: UA 1K, JetBlue Mosaic
Posts: 434
Just looking at 7/21:
EF is showing J2 C0 D0 Z0 P0 Y9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 Q9 V9 W8 S0 T0 L0 K0 G0 N9
UA expert mode is showing J2 JN2 C0 D0 Z0 ZN0 P0 PN0 PZ0 IN0 I0 Y9 YN9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 HN9 Q9 V9 W8 S0 T0 L0 K0 G0 N9 XN0 X0
But ua.com is indeed pricing a T fare. Could this be inventory in UA's system but not GDS?
EF is showing J2 C0 D0 Z0 P0 Y9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 Q9 V9 W8 S0 T0 L0 K0 G0 N9
UA expert mode is showing J2 JN2 C0 D0 Z0 ZN0 P0 PN0 PZ0 IN0 I0 Y9 YN9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 HN9 Q9 V9 W8 S0 T0 L0 K0 G0 N9 XN0 X0
But ua.com is indeed pricing a T fare. Could this be inventory in UA's system but not GDS?
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,186
* The T fare shouldn't be available because there's no T inventory. Since it is available, maybe GS would be willing to force open X space for you anyway. But, in general, you should just be looking for the flights you want with Expert Mode enabled and reacting accordingly. And, actually, if you do this often, an ExpertFlyer subscription might make sense, because whereas you can't set an alert for XN or IN space, you can set an alert for T space. So you could set it up to email you when it's found inventory that you could convert to an award ticket.
#7
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 2,267
Just looking at 7/21:
EF is showing J2 C0 D0 Z0 P0 Y9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 Q9 V9 W8 S0 T0 L0 K0 G0 N9
UA expert mode is showing J2 JN2 C0 D0 Z0 ZN0 P0 PN0 PZ0 IN0 I0 Y9 YN9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 HN9 Q9 V9 W8 S0 T0 L0 K0 G0 N9 XN0 X0
But ua.com is indeed pricing a T fare. Could this be inventory in UA's system but not GDS?
(IMAGE EDITED OUT TO SHORTEN SIZE OF QUOTE) Image summary: econ on 7/21 UA1040 showing fare of $325 in T-fare class w/ break from business discount.
EF is showing J2 C0 D0 Z0 P0 Y9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 Q9 V9 W8 S0 T0 L0 K0 G0 N9
UA expert mode is showing J2 JN2 C0 D0 Z0 ZN0 P0 PN0 PZ0 IN0 I0 Y9 YN9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 HN9 Q9 V9 W8 S0 T0 L0 K0 G0 N9 XN0 X0
But ua.com is indeed pricing a T fare. Could this be inventory in UA's system but not GDS?
(IMAGE EDITED OUT TO SHORTEN SIZE OF QUOTE) Image summary: econ on 7/21 UA1040 showing fare of $325 in T-fare class w/ break from business discount.
Currently when I try the R/T on the days/flights you specify on UA.com I am getting a base fare of $716 (without taxes) and seeing W bucket availability on outbound and V on inbound. I suspect it is actually booking into these classes, as I see a fare filings of $334 (WNA4A9DN) and $379 (VNA7A9DN), so only off by ~$3.
Long story short, and to answer the original question: as has been discussed recently in other threads, the UA website and expert mode are glitchy right now and fare class displays shouldn't be considered accurate from those sources. To find out if there is truly T availablility, need either ExpertFlyer, some other method of GDS access, or call and ask a rep if they see T inventory on the flight in question.
On an aside, I wonder how often this GS privilege is actually needed to be invoked, seems that it would be a pretty rare scenario that they have T-class availability but no X or XN (my guess is the system that decides on award levels in part looks at what revenue fare classes are available when deciding to release saver award inventory). Though perhaps when they level the inventory near departure (do they still do this?) it could be possible to slip a last minute award in using the fact T-class is now available?
#8
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
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No they do not. That ended years ago.
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,186
To both above: this is the website continuing to glitch out. I don't know how much the "Break from Business" discount is, but at $325 for the o/w, that is still higher than the highest o/w refundable T fare currently filed which is $314 (TNA0A9CS/FLEX) and non-refundable T which is $289 (same basis, no FLEX appendage). So unless the break from business is adding cost (it's not), these aren't actually T-fares even though the website display is trying to say it is. Similarly for the RT, highest (refundable) T-filing is currently $628 and there isn't a round trip non-refundable T filing, so it would be constructing based on 2x $289, which is far below the $815.07 that was supposedly booking RT into T.
When I look at the one-way today, I see a $347 break-from-business "G" fare (!), which claims to be discounted from GNA3A9DS ($307 base fare). That fare basis is supposed to cost $139.
UA IT, why must you be you? 😭
Long story short, and to answer the original question: as has been discussed recently in other threads, the UA website and expert mode are glitchy right now and fare class displays shouldn't be considered accurate from those sources. To find out if there is truly T availablility, need either ExpertFlyer, some other method of GDS access, or call and ask a rep if they see T inventory on the flight in question.
On an aside, I wonder how often this GS privilege is actually needed to be invoked, seems that it would be a pretty rare scenario that they have T-class availability but no X or XN (my guess is the system that decides on award levels in part looks at what revenue fare classes are available when deciding to release saver award inventory).
#10
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: NYC / TYO / Up in the Air
Programs: UA 1k (12 year fallen GS) 1.7MM, AA 2.1MM, EK, BA, SQ, CX, Marriot LT, Accor P
Posts: 6,190
On an aside, I wonder how often this GS privilege is actually needed to be invoked, seems that it would be a pretty rare scenario that they have T-class availability but no X or XN (my guess is the system that decides on award levels in part looks at what revenue fare classes are available when deciding to release saver award inventory). Though perhaps when they level the inventory near departure (do they still do this?) it could be possible to slip a last minute award in using the fact T-class is now available?
#11
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,300