Decoding Different Fare Levels
When most people think of “class” in terms of airplane travel, they consider the class of service, such as first, business, or coach. However, airlines organize classes with a much more complex structure, with letters representing a “fare class,” rather than just a cabin. These letters are often tied to a particular class of service, but each cabin will have multiple fare classes assigned, meaning each letter represents the price a passenger paid for their seat. Therefore, if you’re just getting started with miles and points, it’s essential to understand fare classes at some point.
Moreover, different airlines use various letters to represent different fare levels. While K might indicate a deep-discount fare class on United, it could correspond to a much pricier bucket on another airline. Across the board, most airlines consistently use F for a full-fare (very expensive) first-class ticket, J for full-fare business, and Y for full-fare economy. Consequently, from there, things can become quite confusing.
Fare classes are one reason why one passenger may have paid significantly more for a flight than the customer sitting next to them. Some companies even require their employees to purchase refundable (full-fare) tickets, but leisure travelers might also pay more for the same seat. Typically, airlines release a certain number of deep-discount fares for each flight. Once these are sold, the ticketing system advances to the next available class.
Similarly, if only two deep-discount tickets are available and you search for four (to keep your family on a single reservation), the system will return the first class with four available seats. For this reason, you may save money by opting for individual seat reservations after locating a flight with enough capacity for your group.
Booking Your Ticket
Before finalizing your travel arrangements, ensure that the available fare class aligns with your frequent flyer program’s earning chart. In some situations, your fare class may not be eligible to earn miles, but nearly all paid fares with US-based airlines typically earn at least one mile per mile flown. However, international airlines may not credit mileage for deep-discount tickets, and your US-based program might not issue award miles for certain fare classes on partner flights, even operationally. For instance, if you book a flight through United that’s operated by Austrian, your frequent flyer program will credit you based on the operating airline, despite the fare class potentially qualifying for mileage if it were a United flight.
Furthermore, fare classes also indicate award ticket availability. If a deep-discount fare isn’t available for a specific flight, booking an award seat at the lowest redemption level may be impossible. Business and first class tickets are managed similarly. Therefore, if the only available first-class fare costs $15,000 roundtrip for a route with a $10,000 discounted first-class fare, securing an award ticket may become quite challenging. Advanced users can leverage fare classes with tools like ExpertFlyer.com, which allows users to view available classes for numerous flights, making it easier to search for award seats over several days.
