Doc/URL that delineates seating classes?
 

Is there somewhere on United's (or another's) site that clearly delineates all of the various seating classes? I have some associates overseas that intend to book some fares for me, but I am not familiar with the United seating classes they are mentioning (M, Q, etc.).

Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,
-b-

Try this page:
http://www.ual.com/cgi-bin/texis/web...uery=seat+maps

Those are fare booking codes, which really don't have that much to do with seating. Just a quick overview:

There are up to 3 classes on United. First, Business, and Economy. Within each class, they sell a certain inventory of seats under the various booking codes.

In general, First Class includes booking codes F (full fare First Class), A, and P(discounted). Business Class includes C (full) and D (discount). Economy is where it gets fun, with Y (full full), B (sort of full), M, H (discount), Q, V, W (more discounted).

There are others, including X*, and N* for mileage plus related booking inventories, and other special discounts... K, L, G, etc...

Within each seating class, generally as you go "down the list" the fares get cheaper and your ticket has more restrictions. Before the advent of Economy Plus, buying a ticket out of a more expensive inventory didn't get you a better seat within the seating class. But now, full fare tix can get an Economy Plus seat assignment. (Has anyone determined if this only applies to Y or also B?)

So: the long and the short of it is this: a M ticket, though more expensive than a Q ticket, will not get you a better seat. But if you need to make changes to that ticket, the M ticket will probably be more forgiving than the Q...

Hope I didn't confuse you too much.

Oh yeah, since you mentioned overseas and are PremEx, I should caution you that the most important thing with regards to fare class on international flights is that only Y, B, M, and H fare classes allow upgrades from economy on miles. That piece of information is probably more valuable to you than the above nonsense I just posted... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by jet (edited 04-22-2000).]

A few corrections and additions... P on UA and a few other airlines is a "premium" first,not "discounted". Business is almost consistently C or J depending on the airline. Among each class there are various fare bases, which are set individually by airlines, although within the various alliances, some sort of consistency is starting to develop. (Oneworld had some recent coordination.) You really have to be familiar with the airline(s) you fly. The Concorde has its own booking classes. Various airlines have various sequences of what fare code has more "priority" (and accordingly, often higher fare). Within UA, the basic sequence is F(P)/A C/D Y/B/H/M/Q/V/W. This will not be consistent with other airlines, except that if you hear someone talking of F class, its first, C or J is business, and Y is (generic) economy.

Some airlines have their upgrade and free inventory among standard (published) codes, and others don't. UA does not, and it is not viewable by anyone outside the UA system. Many other airlines do, and any travel agent, or your United Connection link can show you what seats are available in what booking classes. For instance, you can find out availability for a free LH ticket if you know their codes (A - First / Z- Business, etc.) Or AS (A - Free or upgraded First if not an MVP Gold) and so on.

UA is the most elusive, and even "clues" to determine upgrade and free availability are becoming hard to predict, based upon a very sophisticated inventory management system (that had some serious bugs in its original implementation, leading to empty seats for a short while).

Hope this helps.

Thanks to everyone for the tips.

Seems they did book me in M and Q seats, but I have since spoken with United and verified that I can upgrade via miles, availability allowing. Fingers crossed, I went ahead and put my name on the upgrade waiting list. Next time I'm booking my own C class for this trip, for sure! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Live and learn, I suppose. Thanks again,
-b-