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#1
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Code signification: fare or cabin ?
I recently bought a return ticket from France to French Indies, coded
"First Class", displayed "First Class" by QPX (ITA Software) pricing system and sold with the A fare code ("discounted first class" according to IATA resolution 728). I later checked my itinerary with my reservation code (www.checkmytrip.com) and found out that I will be seated in coach. My travel agent informed me that the airline is not operating first class anymore on this route, but (international standard) business class, economy and a kind of "enhanced economy" in a separate cabin called "Alizee". So far my seat is not allocated and it is not possible to know exactly were I will be seated ("Alizee" according to my TA). I have a few questions: How come that fare codes do not exactly match cabin classes ? The use of the "A" fare code by the airline (A for "Alizee" instead of A for "discounted first class" according to IATA rules seems to be misleading software systems - and passengers !). To what extent is it permitted for an airline company to sell "first class discounted" tickets to passengers that will eventually travel in economy class or enhanced economy ? |
#3
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Code signification: fare or cabin ?
I recently bought a return ticket from France to French Indies, coded
"First Class", displayed "First Class" by QPX (ITA Software) pricing system and sold with the A fare code ("discounted first class" according to IATA resolution 728). I later checked my itinerary with my reservation code (www.checkmytrip.com) and found out that I will be seated in coach. well, maybe checkmytrip.com doesn;t know what A class is, or associates it with a economy fare. Though A class is usually discounted FC. My travel agent informed me that the airline is not operating first class anymore on this route, but (international standard) business class, economy and a kind of "enhanced economy" in a separate cabin called "Alizee". So far my seat is not allocated and it is not possible to know exactly were I will be seated ("Alizee" according to my TA). I have a few questions: How come that fare codes do not exactly match cabin classes ? The use of the "A" fare code by the airline (A for "Alizee" instead of A for "discounted first class" according to IATA rules seems to be misleading software systems - and passengers !). To what extent is it permitted for an airline company to sell "first class discounted" tickets to passengers that will eventually travel in economy class or enhanced economy ? not usual but then you are flying on an unusual airline! AOM by any chance? Didn't AOM go bust/get swallowed up by Air France a few years back?? |
#4
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Code signification: fare or cabin ?
In article ,
"freeda" wrote: Didn't AOM go bust/get swallowed up by Air France a few years back?? Could be. I forget what goes on in France these days |
#5
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Code signification: fare or cabin ?
Joe wrote:
I recently bought a return ticket from France to French Indies, coded "First Class", displayed "First Class" by QPX (ITA Software) pricing system and sold with the A fare code ("discounted first class" There are 3 different things/terminology: ***Fare BASIS: a fare code, usually of a few characters ( such as QWNR14 ) but can also be a single letter such as "Y" and, combined with cities of origin/destination and travel date, specify not only a price, but also the fare rules, allowable routings. It also specify that a reservation must be booked in a specific booking code. *USUALLY*, the booking code required for that fare basis to apply is the first letter of the fare basis. The fare basis will specify the service class (coach, business, first) ***Booking class: a one letter code which identifies which inventory of seats a reservation will draw upon. So technically, you first make a reservation in a certain booking class. Then, you find fares applicable to that booking class, price the ticket and then issue ticket. For research, you look at the fares you want, find out in which booking class you need to find inventory where this fare is applicable, book it etc. If you booked a first class fare, and the airline widthdrew first class service, then they should refund the difference compared to a similar advance purchace fare in coach vs first. However, there are fare rules that do stipulate that travel may be in coach on segments where first class is not offered. (considered a round the world package booked in first class but using flights on an airline that has no first class. This is documented in the fare rules for those RTW packages. How come that fare codes do not exactly match cabin classes ? They never did. The only standards were Y for coach, J for business class and F for first. But there have been exceptions for first (P, and for Concorde R). of the "A" fare code by the airline (A for "Alizee" instead of A for "discounted first class" according to IATA rules seems to be misleading software systems - and passengers !). Not at all. Booking class letters, except for Y J and F mean absolutely nothing and nothing should be drawn from them. One some airlines, A could be used to define capacity in first class with on the other airline it could be used to allocate capacity in coach for dicounted fares. Similarly, except for fare basis that begin with Y J and F, you can't draw any conclusions as to where you will be seated, althoug generally, if it isn't J or F, you are in coach. You need to look at the full fare rules associated with the fare basis for your segment to know exactly what applies to you. This is one area where the dumbed down Web sites have done much harm because their have artificially shielded customers from what really happens when you book air travel, so customer never lear hwo things really work and things don't go exactly well, there is no way to know what really happened. To what extent is it permitted for an airline company to sell "first class discounted" tickets to passengers that will eventually travel in economy class or enhanced economy ? If at the time you booked and had ticket issued, there was available capacity in first class on the flight you requested, then it is permitted. Airlines routinely adjust their schedules, substitude equiopment, cancel flights, or redesign aircraft layouts to resize or eliminate first class/business class. |
#6
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Code signification: fare or cabin ?
In article ,
Joe wrote: I recently bought a return ticket from France to French Indies, coded "First Class", displayed "First Class" by QPX (ITA Software) pricing system and sold with the A fare code ("discounted first class" according to IATA resolution 728). IATA resolution 728 is not a law. It's more like a set of conventions, which individual airlines may or may not follow (they usually do, but they don't have to). For example, I fare code (discounted business class, according to IATA) is used by Continental for discounted economy, and by Northwest for business-class upgrade inventory. I think Qantas uses C (normally a business class code) for economy, although I am not sure. My travel agent informed me that the airline is not operating first class anymore on this route, but (international standard) business class, economy and a kind of "enhanced economy" in a separate cabin called "Alizee". Alize is Air France's premium economy, kinda halfway between economy and business (similar to BA and Virgin). I think it's only offered to holiday destinations - Martinique, Guadeloupe, Reunion, Mauritius, those kinds of places. So far my seat is not allocated and it is not possible to know exactly were I will be seated ("Alizee" according to my TA). Call Air France and ask for a seat. You should be able to get advance seat advancement in Alize. How come that fare codes do not exactly match cabin classes ? The use of the "A" fare code by the airline (A for "Alizee" instead of A for "discounted first class" according to IATA rules seems to be misleading software systems - and passengers !). Probably ITA Software programmers did not code up explanations for Air France fare codes correctly. To what extent is it permitted for an airline company to sell "first class discounted" tickets to passengers that will eventually travel in economy class or enhanced economy ? The airline company did not sell you a ``first class discounted'' ticket. They sold you a ticket in economy, which is what you will eventually travel in. You can use Travelocity to look at Air France fare codes. For example, ``ALOW: Economy class restricted normal fare, BK code A'' and so on. Your beef should be with ITA Software and/or your travel agent, not Air France. Air France fares are coded up correctly in CRS. |
#7
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Code signification: fare or cabin ?
In article ,
Not the Karl Orff wrote: To what extent is it permitted for an airline company to sell "first class discounted" tickets to passengers that will eventually travel in economy class or enhanced economy ? not usual but then you are flying on an unusual airline! Air France is not all that unusual, not since they stopped their Concorde service AOM by any chance? Hasn't AOM merged with Air Liberte and then liquidated after some kind of protracted bankruptcy process a few years ago? |
#8
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Code signification: fare or cabin ?
In article ,
Hilary wrote: To what extent is it permitted for an airline company to sell "first class discounted" tickets to passengers that will eventually travel in economy class or enhanced economy ? If they knew they were withdrawing the service and continued selling the tickets at the higher fare, then than would probably count as some sort of fraud. I doubt this is what happened. Air France has not had first class service to the Caribbean for quite some time. If you bought your ticket a number of months before travel and afterwards they withdrew that class, that's a different matter. Unfortunate though. Contact the airline and ask for the difference between First and Club class to be refunded. Except that he bought neither a First-, nor a Club-class ticket. He bought a ticket in premium economy, for which the fare code happens to start with A (presumably, for ``Alize''). I don't think the airline would refund any money. |
#9
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Code signification: fare or cabin ?
On 23 Mar 2004 11:55:16 -0800, (Joe) wrote:
I recently bought a return ticket from France to French Indies, coded "First Class", displayed "First Class" by QPX (ITA Software) pricing system and sold with the A fare code ("discounted first class" according to IATA resolution 728). Air France haven't had F class on those routes for a long time. It sounds like whoever you booked it through doesn't interpret the codes used by AF correctly. This is one of the problems of using booking agents rather than booking directly with the airline. Booking codes vary from airline to airline. I later checked my itinerary with my reservation code (www.checkmytrip.com) and found out that I will be seated in coach. My travel agent informed me that the airline is not operating first class anymore on this route, but (international standard) business class, economy and a kind of "enhanced economy" in a separate cabin called "Alizee". So far my seat is not allocated and it is not possible to know exactly were I will be seated ("Alizee" according to my TA). Alizé actually. Never mind a travel agent, what did Air France say? Could they not allocate your seat? I have a few questions: How come that fare codes do not exactly match cabin classes ? The use of the "A" fare code by the airline (A for "Alizee" instead of A for "discounted first class" according to IATA rules seems to be misleading software systems - and passengers !). To what extent is it permitted for an airline company to sell "first class discounted" tickets to passengers that will eventually travel in economy class or enhanced economy ? The airline hasn't sold you "first class discounted" tickets, apparently a booking agent has. You need to take it up with them. --==++AJC++==-- |
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