bpjacks

Hi,

Any other folks out there who do their business on government contract fares? I'm looking for ways to more quickly earn and then maximize my status. I'm also a new US/AA flyer, as I am switching from UA where I have gold status so I am less familiar with US-specific things 9acronyms, ways of doing business, etc.)

Government fares (at least on UA) are Y-class fares and as an elite, I earned class of service bonuses on them, which really helped move me up the status ladder faster. Is US the same?

Also - anyone have experience buying up to business or first from their government Y fare? How do you do it, given that SATO or similar books your travel?

And then, how do you make the most of your benefits once you have them? For example -- UG is no good unless you are on a flight with at least 2 cabins! How do you choose your flights to get on the aircraft you want? [this may not be gov travel-specific...I have just never been that savvy before to check the aircraft vs the flight schedule]

I don't even know what I don't know...I guess I am asking for general help and tips even if I didn't think to ask the specific question!

Thanks!

BoeingBoy

I can help a little on these two. US has a buy up program - GoFirst for domestic and GoEnvoy for TATL (Envoy is what US calls their TATL business class) - that gets the upgrade for a charge if there are FC or Envoy seats available when you check in.

US is like every other legacy carrier - bigger RJs and mainline planes all have FC and the TATL planes all have Envoy. Stay off the CRJ-200 or Dash8 and it'll be a exception if there isn't a FC/business section. US has no 3 class planes like UA or AA, at least not yet. Whether that will change as the merger integration proceeds is anyone's guess but as of yesterday you can mix and match US and AA segments as desired, so you can fly AA's 3 class transcon aircraft if you're on one of those routes (JFK-LAX just started with the A321T 3-class planes and JFK-SFO is next up).

Jim

Superguy

You won't on US. Y/B earns the same as a cheapo economy ticket. AA gives COS EQP bonus for Y/B, but I'm not sure if it applies to govie fares.

AA's policies are generally hostile to govie fares, including prohibiting SWU and comp upgrades on govie fares (at least at my last reading).

US metal generally doesn't distinguish them.

When I was a govie, you had to get them to ticket you early. My agency generally doesn't ticket until 3-7 days prior to travel, making upgrades hard.

Fly!

Seriously though, in the merger, you're going to get the most benefit sticking with your original program. While most benefits seem to be reciprocated, upgrades aren't. So if you're an AAer, you're going to want to stick to AA metal and avoid US for upgrades, and vice versa.

Pay attention to promos for bonuses you can take advantage. Both programs have offered bonus PQMs/EQPs and RDMs.

Study what the benefits you're entitled to, and use them whenever you can. Use elite lines whenever you can. And spend and study FT a lot. Ask questions (but do searches too - many questions have been answered several times at least. )

Look at the plane type and seat map, then compare it to seatguru.com.

On US metal, you generally want TATLs on the A330's for the new Envoy. 767s have angled lie-flats, while 757s have really old barcaloungers. The barcalounges are quite nice on a domestic flight despite their age and tiredness, but there are much better choices internationally.

Domestically, the A321 is your best upgrade chance due to have 16 F seats. A319/320 both have 12. A321 has the most and arguably best exit row seats. A320 isn't bad, but the A319 is limited on an exit seat unless you can get the "suite" in 10A or F.

A lot of RJs are single cabin, but the larger ones often have F cabins. Embraer jets tend to be a lot more comfortable than Canadairs.

bpjacks

Thanks everyone!

I guess I need to figure out what US class fare is a fully refundable economy class gov ticket. On UA, Y was the pricey economy fare and it earned full COS, unlike the discount economy tickets. What is the equivalent fare class (fully refundable nondiscount economy) on US?

I can manually control when my agency tickets any particular itinerary so that will help. I think that I could then call US and have a CS agent upgrade from the ticket the gov pays for to the ticket fare class I want to fly on and pay for it on my non-gov cc. I rarely to TATL or TPAC for work, but I do sometimes fly transcon. I hate the regional jets (duh) but sadly find myself on them more than I'd like because my home airport is small.

Jackie

BoeingBoy

Although I have zero experience with government fares, US generally doesn't distinguish between fare classes. Upgrades are based on status regardless of fare, as are miles earned. US does have some "gotchas" with mileage earning - the shuttle earns 500 miles while other domestic flights don't unless one is an elite. Once elite status is gained, you'll get 500 miles minimum on all US metal flights. Status also carries a bonus miles award - 25% for Silver up to 100% for Chairmans - so once status is attained it's easier to keep or improve.

Given the unlimited domestic upgrades on US, I don't believe that there is a COS bonus unless it's for TATL and HI only (where there are no free unlimited upgrades).

US does have a paid trial that'll give you status immediately and if you fly the required miles/segments within 90 days you keep the status earned. That's a good way to get your foot in the status door as long as your travel will let you meet the mileage/segment requirements.

Then there's the obvious - for now US has a lot better east coast service from DCA than any other airline. No one knows how that will change as the merger progresses, but US/AA will still have about 50% of the available slots at DCA so will offer more flights to more places than anyone else.

Finally, this is just the start of a 1-2 year period of change for AA/US as the merger integration is just getting started. So anything can change over the course of the next year or two.

Jim

Superguy

Y is the IATA standard for full fare coach. Most airlines do Y/B for full-fare tickets. US does the same.

On US metal, the only benefit to getting a Y/B ticket is for comp upgrades or copay waivers for mileage upgrades into Envoy. Outside of this, there's no benefits to a Y/B ticket over a lower fare bucket at the present time.

I'm a contractor and buy refundable tickets - most of mine on US book into N, which is an upper-middle fare bucket. You can force a search for Y/B inventory by doing a Preferred Upgrade search as those give instant upgrades into F on domestic tickets.

US may want to charge any buy ups to a govie card, unless it's like a GoEnvoy or GoUpgrade. GoUpgrade is only available after all the elites have been processed. UA always wanted to charge the govie card for any fare upgrades to a different govie fare. They may let it slide if you're buying into a premium cabin, but be careful as refunds can get messy if you have to cancel your trip. Take a look at your org's rules for govie travel card use as that's something you don't want to run afoul of.

Superguy

IME, there's only a fare bonus for C and F tickets and their respective buckets regardless of whether the itinerary is domestic or TATL/HI. US's system is pretty simple in that it uses a bit flag to distinguish whether miles are PQMs are not - all miles are RDMs regardless, but also only PQMs if that bit is set.

AA and others usually do a split awarding for Y/B tickets - usually 150% PQMs and 100% RDMs (maybe 125% for a straight Y). As US's system has no way to break PQMs and RDMs apart like the others do, it would either have to do 150%/150% or 100%/100% PQM/RDM award. Guess which it chose?

Just a little tidbit - in *A you have to watch cheaper C fares that book into Z and P. On UA flights, P gets 125% while Z gets only 100% despite Z tickets often costing more than P. I hope that gets fixed when moving to AA's system and OW.