I finally got a chance to fly as a 2P. It's definitely a nice change. The Premier Check In and Security Lines were a breeze compared to General Member lines. And it was nice to stretch out in E+.

I've got a few questions. I booked S Class seats online , but received Y Class seats at check in.

1) Is that considered an upgrade? If not, what is it called?
2) Do I receive 150% EQMs for all Y Class BIS miles flown?
3) Do 2Ps automatically receive Y Class when booking other Economy fares?

I've got more questions. But I took the Red Eye from LAX-LAS-IAD leaving last night and arriving this morning. I'm beat and can't remember my other questions.

What, exactly, do you mean by a "Y Class Seat"?

1) S Class *is* Y class. S is a discounted Economy ticket. ozstamps' most helpful booking code decoder thread is available here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=113792

If you're speaking about Economy Plus seats towards the front of the cabin, those are available free of charge to 2P's and higher, as a reward for your loyalty.

2) If on your boarding card in the lower left hand corner says "BOOKING CODE Y" then you receive the bonus. Your boarding passes, on closer inspection, most likely said "BOOKING CODE S". This is what determines the bonus.

If you were rebooked due to irregular operations or such, the new booking code may likely be Y and there have been some reports that bonuses have been accrued under this scenario. However, YMMV.

Happy Travels!

Or, to be more specific, S is a booking class. Y is a service class. (Yes, there is also a Y booking class, but we can ignore that for the purposes of this discussion.) An S fare will book into the Y cabin.

What he said. You are probably confused by your boarding pass:

Y-cabin: United Economoy/Plus
C-cabin: United Business
F-cabin: United First

Thanks for the clarifications!

My original itinerary reads:
Cabin: United Economy
Seat: Seat: 05C
Fare Basis Code: SR10OTDN
Booking class: S

My itinerary after checking in reads:
Cabin: United Economy
Seat: Seat: 05C
Fare Basis Code: N/A
Booking class: Y

My boarding pass reads:
Y-Cabin

And that's why I'm confused. I didn't realize there is a difference between booking class and cabin. I thought they were the same thing.

Looks like you may have gotten lucky...

What does your boarding pass say?

I think the change by the airlines is more standard practice than luck. I'm just trying to figure out when it occurs and when it doesn't. I'm guessing when E+ seats are available, I'll receive the change, and when E+ seats are sold out, I'll get stuck in the back of the plane. But I'm trying to get a confirmation on that theory, or specifics on the upgrade policies. By learning the policies, I have become an informed traveller that can make better and faster decisions. Reading FlyerTalk comments makes me feel like have graduated from general membership to the next level.

I suspect that you are still in an S-fare ticket, and the basis has NOT been changed in any way, despite what you now see on UA.com. If you are able to access E+ tix as a result, good for you. If not, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised.

I see no reason for any change to your booking code as a result of output from the bomb.

Best, Dave

There are two completely separated issues.

You are entitled to E+ seating no matter what your booking class (you are premier, right?). E+ is determined by elite status. Booking class plays no role at all there. If you are premier, you have E+ seating guaranteed as long as there's an open E+ seat in the plane. If you are not premier or higher, there's no E+ unless you pay for it or get lucky at the gate.

Y cabin of servicd refers to both E+ and E-.

The booking class is important in other situations, like priority for standby and upgrade and some booking classes give you a bonus EQM (in addition to the bonus you get as an elite, which is only RDM).

Coming back to booking classes, S is a booking class, Y is another booking class. Y is higher up the ladder. Both book into the Y cabin (E+ seating for elites, E- for anyone else). The Y booking class gives you a 50% EQM bonus and higher priority for standby, etc. So if for some random reason your booking class got changed to Y, then you got lucky in that sense.

Your boarding pass should contain both the service cabin (Y for sure) and the booking class (S or Y). That's the only way to know for youre. You should check your bp for booking class (again make sure you're not looking at service cabin).

Hope this helps .

That does help!

Sometimes, I feel like I graduated from General Member to 1st Grade (not 2P), having to learn all these issues.

Thanks for your explanation!