Questions and Answers

I fly American often to LHR from PHL. I traditional have opted for an AA flight instead of BA as both fly there from PHL. However I just booked my first BA flight to London with the goal of using AA miles to upgrade to first. I was disappointed to be told that because the fare I booked was not a Y class fare I could not use miles to upgrade.

My question is: how can you tell what class of fare you are booking on AA.com? The individual I spoke to from AA could not tell me either. I assumed it would be the “Booking Code” under the details button but I have yet to see a Y code on BA.

Am I looking at the right spot but they just never post Y fares?

The Y codes are going to be the fully flexible, typically very expensive fares. I would bet you usually would have better luck outright buying discounted business, than paying full fare economy.

[QUOTE=”cbones869, post: 65436, member: 5746″][…] I assumed it would be the “Booking Code” under the details button but I have yet to see a Y code on BA.

Am I looking at the right spot but they just never post Y fares?[/QUOTE]

You are looking in the right place, but AA.com (like most airlines and OTAs) shows the cheapest bucket. So while a Y fare exists, AA.com is going to show an S fare (for the flight I just checked) first, as long as an S fare is available. To be honest, I am not sure how to go about purchasing a Y fare… maybe ITA Matrix? Most corporate agencies have an option for Y (but we were forbidden to use it).

But [USER=1436]@rickyw[/USER] is correct – an “I” business class fare will probably be cheaper than a Y fare on a transatlantic flight. Or any flight, maybe.

AA lets you upgrade using miles on AA metal when booked into a lesser economy fare than Y. Miles + $ copay. But not on BA metal? Probably BA’s doing…

Thank you both for your responses!