Deciphering a United First Class fare code
 

I have reservation on hold that is involves travel from MKE-IAH-SFO-LAS. All flights are booked as and operated by United, except for the IAH-SFO leg which is booked as UA operated by CO. I booked them by calling United because I have a paper voucher to use, and am now confused as to the booking class that will be reported when I credit my miles to Aegean Airlines. It was booked as a first class fare, with both the United and Continental websites showing "First (A)" for all three flights, though containing a fare code of HUAUPN. The reservations agent confirmed that it is booked into "A" class (which earns 300% of miles on Aegean), though the fare code starting with an "H" confuses me. Also, I am confused as to how the second leg, marketed by United and operated by Continental, will credit to Aegean. The CO website says it is booked as "First (A)" but to my understanding, CO doesn't have an A fare bucket (at least not according to Aegean). When crediting a CO "F" fare to Aegean, it only earns 125% of miles, but with the merger and UA/CO now operating under a single certificate, I am wondering what fare class will be reported to Aegean. Does anyone have any experience with this or any recommendations on how to find out more?

Thanks in advance for everyone's help.

what do you want to know


F ( full fare)

A (discount first fare)

( then on domestic you can always see C, D, J, Z) in first class from passengers connecting on Intl business class

The booking you booking is usually the one the will be given to the connecting carrier. However, with some airlines the same backing code has different meanings and restrictions

H is a Y booking code that is less restrictive than many booking codes

Essentially what I'm trying to figure out is how the ticket will be reported to Aegean on the basis of earning miles. The miles earned on this ticket are integral to me getting the right amount to hit *G with them. If it is reported as a UA ticket in A class, it earns 300%, if a UA in H class it's only 100%. And if CO in A class, Aegean claims that class doesn't exist, though for reference, "F" only earns 125% with Aegean. I've talked with United, Continental, and Aegean, and no one has been able to give me a definitive answer.

*A always works on Operating Carrier, not Ticketing Carrier, so the CO earning chat will apply for your CO leg.

H is an economy fare class. If you have a revenue first class ticket it should be one of F, C, J, D, A or Z so I suspect that the agent is right about it being booked in A class.

Unfortunately this list only changed to add A in Feb this year on CO so Agean may not have made an update to reflect that A is now a first class fare code. If so there's a risk you will get no miles at all for this segment.

You're out of luck.

Can you confirm the United F class flights credit as 300%? I've noticed some cheap United discount F fares and have considered crediting them to A3.

Thanks rruaco! I ended up changing the itinerary to MKE-ORD-SFO-LAS to make it only United segments, and all these reflect the "A" class apart from the MKE-ORD which doesn't have a first cabin, and is instead in Y fare class. Yes, it is booked as a revenue first class, so even though it reflects a fare basis of HUAUPN, the agent confirmed that it will be credited as an A fare, thereby earning 300% miles with Aegean. She said that there is no separate fare basis that begins with the letter A and that they use one starting with H instead, but it will credit as a first class fare.

Joshua, yes, booking code F on United does earn 300% miles with Aegean, as long as it is on United metal.

I have been looking at a ticket with the same issue. When I attempt to make a reservation on united.com and request First class, or business class does the same as this is a two class flight, I am offered an inexpensive FC fare which I assume is an instant upgrade from coach at the time of booking. The webpage shows it as First Class (A) for Cabin and when I click to get more details, it shows Fare code: HUAUPN and the rules or this fare do not seem to be very explicit in answering my questions. This is a UA operated flight (I plan to pick a time served by mainline, but I see the same for United Express flights) which I would purchase from united.com on UA ticket stock with a UA flight number.

The A3 rules for UA mileage earning specify that "booking class" A earns a minimum of 1500 miles while "booking class" H earns only 500 miles, although Y would earn 750 IIRC. Aegean does not refer to a booking code or fare class, just what they call very specifically a "booking class."

So the question is for someone to please reassure me with certainty that this ticket is indeed "booking class" A and will earn the First Class miles on A 3?

No problem, please let us know how it goes.

(I have a bunch of miles I'm going to credit to A3 if United doesn't give me a free RCC membership again next year to keep domestic lounge access.)

I too have recently booked several HUAUPN flights that CO.com lists simply as 'A'. When calling I was told that this is an instantly upgradeable coach fare that posts miles as an 'A' fare. Miles on CO have posted that way. I was also told that in the event of IRROPS it is considered paid 1st, and surperior to a Y-up. FWIW IAH--> ANC was $20 extra each way if I wanted it to be a "True" A fare. 2 different PPlat agents did not know of any way this would be interior to purshasing a regular 'A' fare. They weren't positive about FF miles for GS but thought they would count (agents admitted it was an educated guess and they did not know for sure).

This is an H-UP fare, which books into "A" booking class, even though the fare basis starts with a different letter. It is a first class fare, so you should earn all associated bonus.

Just got back from my flights involved with the UA booking class "A" (and fare code starting with H) and credited to Aegean, and it did indeed post to my Aegean account as the first class "A" class with 300% of miles, with a minimum of 1500 miles per segment. After my flights back home to Hungary this week, I should be A3*G!