mre5765

If I had SWUs and no desire to travel from my region (1) to the other region (2), then because intra-region 1 mile upgrades take fewer miles than inter-region upgrades , I'd trade my SWUs for miles.

wimpypipsqueak

I assume they want to swap an upgrade for a free ticket with a friend.

TH-PDX

I tried searching this but the search box won't take a "z" because the word is too short. Anyhow...

I'm flying to Zurich from PDX in about 6 weeks and there were no upgrade seats available on UA for either the outbound or the return, so I bought a business ticket from a consolidator in LA for a bit over 4 grand on Lufthansa.

Looking at the itinerary on the UAL website, I see that it was booked in Z, and cost about $3652. (I'm guessing the $400 spread was the agent's profit.)

So, a few questions. What does a Z fare mean for me for UAL miles on LH metal booked as LH and not UAL code shared? Is there another way, in the future, to find out what Z fares are available and book them directly? Where do they come from, for that matter?

#10

I'll let the smarter FT'ers, here, answer your question. Out of curiosity, what consolidator did you use and were you happy with the service/transaction?

FortFun

Pretty sure I don't qualify on that score, but I'll give it a shot.

According to this thread you get 125% RDM and 150% EQM on LH metal flights between US and Germany. See also official UAL page here.

Z fare = deeply discounted business. See ozstamps great thread on booking classes here.

The one thing these miles don't count for is 10K thresholds for earning e500s and/or CR-1s.

I presume that searching for "Business class (lowest)" on .bomb will turn up Z fares where they exist, although there are more complicated tools for specific fare bucket searches.

All of this subject to revision/correction by smarter FT types (a group with many members).

UpgradeMePlz

A z fare is a discounted business class fare. Some have many restrictions and are unchangable without a fee and refaring and some are changeable. Really depends on the fare rules of your specific z fare. Also, they are not upgradeable with SWUs or miles.

ryan182

Z fares are discounted business, on UA they are not upgradeable to F but on LH they are!

As a 1K you can call MP and have them send you paper SWUs that you can use day of travel to upgrade your flight assuming you are flying a LH route that has F.

Other than the upgrade part and it probably has more cancellation/change restrictions its not really any more/less significant than any other biz fare.

UCBeau

I personally LOVE Z fares, especially when I can get them to price out on LH codeshares. You get to enjoy LH C class at a (relative) fraction of the price of a full fare C ticket.

livitup

I knew about the paper SWU thing, but are you telling me (assuming the fare exists):

* I can buy a UA Z ticket on the LH operated codeshare flights?
* And upgrade it to F with my paper SWU (pending availability)?
* And I'll earn the 50% EQM bonus, along with my 100% elite RDM bonus?
* But I won't earn UA BIS miles for E-500/lifetime miles ?

Sounds like a fair trade to me if true!

ryan182

My answers in bold

KVS

There are currently published Z-class fare on both UA and LH on that route, however they require a 50-day advance purchase.

[KVS Availability Tool 3.0.3/Platinum - Sabre: Fares/ZUJ/SG/USD]

KathyWdrf

For future reference, there is a "United Airlines FAQ" thread stickied at the top of this forum, which is where some of the threads posted by others can be found.

jonslow

Here's what I found out about the difference between booking a LH metal codeshare with UA on the 2 airline's websites:
1) The LH metal SFO-MUC-SFO Z class business fare was available for the same price on both websites. However, the LH website explained what restrictions were required to get the deep discount Z fare. The UA website didn't show the restrictions, so if queried on the UA website with the "correct" dates you got the deep discount Z fare, otherwise you got the hugely expensive business class fare.
2) Since I live in LAS I needed LAS-SFO connections. As far as I could tell, I couldn't get the Z fare on the LH website even with an add-on for the LAS-SFO and SFO-LAS flights. I could, however, get these TED add-ons on the UA website (after first going to the LH website to find when the Z fare was available between SFO and MUC). The add-on for the TED flights on the UA website with the Z fare was about $400 versus $200 if booked as a separate trip.
3) In the actual event I booked the SFO-MUC-SFO flight on LH before I learned the above. I booked separate TED flights.
4) In the actual event I then had to cancel my entire trip. LH gave me a full refund on the Z fare minus a fee of 300. I believe I still have a credit with UA for the cancelled TED flights but after the $100 change fee it never seemed worth pursuing especially since I've found the occasional UA voucher more trouble than its worth.

smk48

I'm looking at booking a Z fare IAD-GUA (ZRT7SPCL--great deal!)

Anyway, with this fare, I get booked in F booking class on a 2 class from IAD to LAX and then Z on the actual flight to GUA. I'm wondering if I standby for an earlier flight on a 3 class from IAD to LAX if I would be on standby for a C seat or an F seat.

Thanks in advance!

1kBill

I believe that you would be seated in the C cabin. I'll take a three cabin C seat over 2 class domestic F seat anyday, as it is much better, IMO.