Computer misreads fare basis

[jerseyfinn]

My wife and I recently fly PHL-MAD-AGP. I buy upgradable tickets some 8 months ago and use a DMU to UG one leg and miles for the return. 7 days out I check the reservation & our PHL-MAD UG is confirmed ( and so too was our return UG ).

At check-in, the agent pulls up our itinerary and out pops boarding passes for 14 A/B. I ask about the UG. He double checks and says that the system indicates that we have W fare tickets.

Fortunately, we have paper tickets because of the AGP leg and these clearly indicate an M fare basis. The agent punches lots of keys and takes care of things and we get the UG. He just shrugs when I ask what happened.

Just curious as to what happens here that causes the system to hiccough. It's a good thing that we have paper tickets as the reservation info I download from the web site makes no indication of the fare basis -- it did indicate the UGs however. What would one do in the absence of a paper ticket or original receipt with fare basis on it to argue the point?

You can imagine the temporary angst we felt. But we did have a nice flight and visit.

Barry

 

[US1YFARE]

A similar situation happened with me on an A fare. I didn't receive my COS bonus miles and preferred miles because they told me that I purchased a Y fare. I had to fight with them and finally someone did some research and found the A fare. No one could explain why the computer converted the fare. One person thought someone did it to open a higher fare bucket and close out a lower fare bucket.

 

[USFlyer]

Keep in mind the fare bucket no longer corresponds to the first letter of the fare basis. So, this might be causing some confusion. A fares now have Yxxxx fare basis codes in many cases. Lots of carriers have always done this but the old US kept things consistent, as best as I can remember.

 

[Barbell]

Barry,

I'm glad you and the wife had a great time.

These are actually 2 different issues (jerseyfinn's upgrade, vs. US1YFARE's bonus mileage). While it's easy to always blame the computer for doing something wrong, you apparently encountered an agent who hasn't been paying attention.

Around September 1, the fare classes of HP and US fare basis codes were realigned to match each other, as well as those of most Star Alliance carriers. At that time M became W. Your M ticket was no different than the W in the system. Now whether or not that fare is currently upgradeable would take a little more research. This change was clearly communicated to everybody, so it's too bad your agent couldn't be bothered to keep up with this important change.

I'd post the new fare codes and what they match for everyone's reference here, but it won't come through correctly.

 

[jerseyfinn]

I find this link from the US web site which contains a hierarchial list of the new fares. It's aimed at travel agents, but I do note that it explicitly says that among other things, DM upgrades will be affected if the records are not updated.

I understand what you're telling me Barbell. But the latest UG T&C in the DM section continues to state that M/H/Q are qualifying discount economy fares for upgrades on the TA flights and Y & B are qualifying full economy fares. So to match up with *A US is calling an M a W, but not according to the DM web site. Perhaps this change is suppossed to be transparent to the pax and the agent should have known better. But as a CP who likes to know what is going on around him, US is doing a pretty poor job of imparting to me what all of this means.

US is already making it more difficult to conduct a thorough fare search on the web when it takes down the page which used to show all availible fare classes for a specific flight. These new fare class changes look equally murky from the pax perspective. When is US going to put things out there in clear, unambiguous terms for those flyers who do pay attention?

I list the fares below.

Barry

New US Structure ( as copied from the US site )

• F
• P
• A
• C
• D
• Z
• Y
• B
• M
• H
• Q
• N
• V
• W
• L
• S
• T
• G
• K
• U
• E
• R

 

[Fly4Free]

New US Structure ( as copied from the US site )

• F
• P
• A
• C
• D
• Z
• Y
• B
• M
• H
• Q
• N
• V
• W
• L
• S
• T
• G
• K
• U
• E
• R

Not that your's is lacking or anything (grin), but here's something that might help.

Here’s what they really mean:
F: First Class
A: First Discounted
P: First Class Premium Upgrades
O: First Redemption/Regular Upgrades
C: Business
D: Business Discounted
Z: Business Discounted
J: Business Class Upgrades
I: Business Redemption
Y: Restricted Coach Class
B: Revenue Coach Class
M: Revenue Coach Class
H: Revenue Coach Class
Q: Revenue Coach Class
N: Revenue Coach Class
V: Revenue Coach Class
W: Revenue Coach Class
L: Revenue Coach Class
S: Revenue Coach Class
T: Revenue Coach Class
G: Revenue Coach Class
K: Revenue Coach Class
U: Revenue Coach Class
E: Revenue Coach Class
R: Revenue Coach Class
X: Coach, Frequent Flyer Redemption

 

[Non Rev]

Barry,

"This change was clearly communicated to everybody, so it's too bad your agent couldn't be bothered to keep up with this important change." I dont think all the blame should be laid on the agent. With a list of fare basis codes like these:
F: First Class
A: First Discounted
P: First Class Premium Upgrades
O: First Redemption/Regular Upgrades
C: Business
D: Business Discounted
Z: Business Discounted
J: Business Class Upgrades
I: Business Redemption
Y: Restricted Coach Class
B: Revenue Coach Class
M: Revenue Coach Class
H: Revenue Coach Class
Q: Revenue Coach Class
N: Revenue Coach Class
V: Revenue Coach Class
W: Revenue Coach Class
L: Revenue Coach Class
S: Revenue Coach Class
T: Revenue Coach Class
G: Revenue Coach Class
K: Revenue Coach Class
U: Revenue Coach Class
E: Revenue Coach Class
R: Revenue Coach Class
X: Coach, Frequent Flyer Redemption

Its no wonder the agent overlooked it. Plus with all the people standing and waiting on too few agents to check them in, I'm sure the agent was doing the best they could.