ricktoronto

I have to assume that it is though the "2" is a bit of an odd addition to "B". YYZ-DFW-SCL-MIA-YYZ is a very good deal (CDN$2,560) in all B2 class which I hope means:

a) Upgradeable with only 10,000 miles each way if available (no co-pay)
b) 1.50 Q-Miles per mile

Am I correct? Full fare Y via DFW both ways is CDN$4,160 and D is $5,760.

JonNYC

B is B for the purposes of a and b (no co-pay, 1.5 q-points) many (most, actually) fares have more letters or numbers after them.

ricktoronto

Assuming I can snag this most excellent deal, what is the code on the BP? C or X or R? For the SCL parts that is.

I note that J seems to just say J without numbers.

JonNYC

You mean once you upgrade?

BTW, no idea if it's available on your dates, but expertflyer shows a much cheaper r/t B-fare YYZ-SCL as well.

ricktoronto

The $2,560 CDN price would be about US$2,048 - is it lower than that? The dates are outbound YYZ 3:56 p.m./DFW 9 p.m. 7/29 inbound from SCL 8/3 at 8:45 p.m to MIA then to YYZ at 8 a.m. so I can go to work by 11.

As to the former, yes, to make sure the class is consistent with 1.5 Q-Points when I get the BP so I know it is done right. Doesn't say Q or Z or something.

JonNYC

There is a fare:
BHE6MCL
AA
B
Round-Trip
1672.00 (CAD)
But-- I think-- not for your dates.

FARE BASIS CODE
BHE6MCL
*
BK CODE
B -
*
PENALTY
CANCELLATIONS ANY TIME CHARGE 10 PERCENT FOR CANCEL/NO-SHOW/REFUND. CHILD/INFANT DISCOUNTS APPLY. WAIVED FOR ILLNESS OR DEATH OF PASSENGER OR FAMILY MEMBER. NOTE - WAIVER ALSO APPLIES TO TRAVELING COMPANION. CHANGES BEFORE DEPARTURE CHARGE USD 50.00/CAD 75.00. CHILD/INFANT DISCOUNTS APPLY. WAIVED FOR SCHEDULE CHANGE/ILLNESS OR DEATH OF PASSENGER OR FAMILY MEMBER. NOTE - WAIVER ALSO APPLIES TO TRAVELING COMPANION. CHANGES ARE PERMITTED PROVIDED THE NEW ITINERARY MEETS ALL THE PROVISIONS OF THE NEW FARE PURCHASED I.E ADVANCE RESERVATION/TICKET PURCHASE/MINIMUM/ MAXIMUM STAY REQUIREMENTS. WHEN THE NEW ITINENARY RESULTS IN A LOWER FARE THE DIFFERENCE WILL BE REFUNDED AND THE USD 50.00/CAD 75.00 CHANGE FEE WILL APPLY. WHEN THE NEW ITINERARY RESULTS IN A HIGHER FARE THE DIFFERENCE WILL BE COLLECTED AND THE USD 50.00/CAD75.00 CHANGE FEE WILL APPLY. AFTER DEPARTURE CHARGE USD 50.00/CAD 75.00. CHILD/INFANT DISCOUNTS APPLY. WAIVED FOR SCHEDULE CHANGE/ILLNESS OR DEATH OF PASSENGER OR FAMILY MEMBER. NOTE - WAIVER ALSO APPLIES TO TRAVELING COMPANION. WHEN THE NEW ITINERARY RESULTS IN A LOWER FARE THE DIFFERENCE WILL BE REFUNDED AND THE USD50.00/ CAD75.00 CHANGE FEE WILL APPLY. WHEN THE NEW ITINERARY RESULTS IN A HIGHER FARE THE DIFFERENCE WILL BE ADD COLLECTED AND THE USD50.00 / CAD75.00 CHANGE FEE WILL APPLY.
*
MAX STAY
RETURN TRVL MUST COMMENCE NO LATER THAN 6 MONTHS. MEASURED FROM DPTR FROM ORIGIN TO DPTR FROM LAST STOPOVER POINT.
*
SEASONS
9-31JUL OR 10DEC-10JAN THE FOLLOWING YEAR. SAME DATES APPLY EACH YEAR. SEASON IS BASED ON DATE OF ORIGIN AND IS DETERMINED BY DATE OF DEPARTURE OF FIRST INTERNATIONAL SECTOR.
*
BLACKOUTS
NO BLACKOUT RESTRICTIONS APPLY.
*
FLT APPL
NO FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS APPLY.
*
STOPOVERS
2 FREE STOPOVERS ARE PERMITTED AND UNLIMITED ADDITIONAL STOPOVERS ARE PERMITTED, AT USD 60.00 EACH PER ADT AND USD 45.00 EACH PER CHD AND USD 6.00 EACH PER INF. APPLIES TO ROUNDTRIP ITINERARIES. A STOPOVER OCCURS WHEN THE PASSENGER DOES NOT DEPART AN INTERMEDIATE POINT WITHIN 24 HOURS.
*
TICKET RESTRICTIONS
NO SALES RESTRICTION APPLY.
*
SURCHGS
FUEL SURCHG OF CAD 35.00 APPLIES PER ADT/CHD/INF IN EACH DIRECTION. APPLIES TO WESTERN HEMISPHERE INTL SECTOR.
*
DISCOUNTS
75 PCT OF THE ADT FARE IS CHARGED FOR A CNN PSGR 2 THRU 11 YRS OF AGE. CNN PSGR MUST BE ACCOMPANIED ON ALL SGMTS BY AN ADT PSGR TRAVELING IN THE SAME COMPARTMENT. - - - - 10 PCT OF THE ADT FARE IS CHARGED FOR AN INF PSGR UNDER 2 YRS OF AGE NOT OCCUPYING A SEAT. INF PSGR MUST BE ACCOMPANIED ON ALL SGMTS BY AN ADT PSGR TRAVELING IN THE SAME COMPARTMENT. *** 5TH AND EACH ADDITIONAL ACCOMPANIED CHILD 2-11 NO DISCOUNT. INFANT UNDER 2 WITH A SEAT CHARGE CHILDS DISCOUNT. TOUR/ AGENT/ ALL OTHER DISCOUNTS DO NOT APPLY. TOUR CONDUCTOR/ SALES AGENT AND OTHER DISCOUNTS DO NOT APPLY.
*
REROUTE
SEE PENALTY.
*
TRANSFERS
4 TRANSFERS PERMITTED, 2 IN EACH DIRECTION. -1 IN EACH DIRECTION IN CHILE. -1 IN EACH DIRECTION IN CANADA. ADDITIONALLY UNLIMITED ONLINE TRANSFERS PERMITTED ON AA.
*
COMBINATIONS
CARRIER / RULE / FARE CIRCLE OPEN ROUND BASIS TRIP JAW TRIP SAME / SAME / SAME C C C SAME / SAME / DIFF C C C SAME / DIFF / SAME C C C SAME / DIFF / DIFF C C C DIFF / SAME / SAME C C C DIFF / SAME / DIFF C C C DIFF / DIFF / SAME C C C DIFF / DIFF / DIFF C C C Y / PERMITTED N / NOT PERMITTED - / DOES NOT APPLY C / SEE TEXT FOR CONDITIONS CONDITIONS APPLICABLE TO ROUND TRIP/CIRCLE TRIP/SINGLE OPEN JAW - -MAY BE COMBINED WITH ANY ROUND TRIP FARE GOVERNED BY ANY RULE IN IPRW/IPRWC VIA AA. -MOST RESTRICTIVE CONDITIONS APPLY. ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS APPLY ROUND TRIP - -PERMITTED. -MAY NOT BE USED IN AROUND THE WORLD FARE CONSTRUCTION. CIRCLE TRIP - -PERMITTED. -MAY NOT BE USED IN AROUND THE WORLD FARE CONSTRUCTION. OPEN JAW - -SINGLE OPEN JAW PERMITTED AT EITHER ORIGIN OR DESTINATION. END-ON-END - -PERMITTED. TRAVEL MUST BE VIA THE FARE COMBINATION POINT.
*
OPEN RTN
NOT ALLOWED.
*
REFUNDS
SEE PENALTY.
*
CO-TERMINALS
NOT APPLICABLE.
*
INTL CONST
MAY BE COMBINED WITH APPLICABLE ARBITRARIES.
*
MISC
FOR TRAVEL AGENCY BOOKINGS MADE IN MEXICO / THE CARIBBEAN / CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA - AA WILL ASSESS A USD 25.00 FEE ON ANY UNTICKETED RESERVATION NOT CANCELED BEFORE DEPARTURE.

ricktoronto

Well it fits the season restriction (just barely - outbound is all that seems to matter) and has a 10% penalty for cancel vs. zero on the B2, how do you tell if it is available on my dates, and why wouldn't AA.com show it? 10% penalty is nothing for $800 off the price.

Note AA.com shows a $1,485 fare in H which is no good and if I put in FF Coach and don't specify DFW outbound and MIA back it comes up only with Y at $4190 instead of the $2560 I found.

And I found that fare only by not using Full Fare combined with search by price but by using full fare combined with search by schedule and picking the 4 flights individually using multi-city - frankly this system is more a fluke than anything scientific in finding fares that are decent deals.

Can expert flyer tell if there are upgrade seats on

7/29 1203
7/29 945
8/3 912
8/3 1552

JonNYC

Respectfully-- and I really do mean that-- I think you can/should pay expertflyer a few $ and check for yourself. I only say this in that expertflyer is a fantastic service and, IMHO, they provide the service at a reasonable cost-- but that only works if people subscribe. Plus, you'll probably need to keep checking back, etc. YMMV.

BTW, call AA and check on those fares just to be sure.

ricktoronto

But it can tell, right? The cost is nothing really for the amount of value it seems to have.

JonNYC

Oh, of course-- expertflyer shows -C- class (as well as almost anything else you could ask for)-- I'm sorry I misunderstood ya'!

inlanikai

Yes, upgrade availability (C, X, R, whatever) is viewable on expertflyer.com.

And yes, to answer your original questions, they (B2) are considered "full fare", upgradeable with only 10K miles and no fee, and get 1.5 Q-points. I say this from experience as I bought 3 tickets for this summer to Europe and one just upgraded LHR-JFK into C for this weekend and 10K was pulled from my account and two others were upgrade when I bought them because I checked expertflyer and chose my flights based on upgrade availability.

The only problem with B fares is that you can't seem to purchase them on AA.com. If you ask for "full fare coach" you get the Y fare. If you ask for the other two coach fare choices you useally get an H fare and deep discounted fare. AA.com will give yo the lowest available deep-discounted coach fare, the lowest available discounted coach fare, but the highest price "full fare" coach. But if you call AA, or ask a TA I suppose, and specifically ask for the B-fare, there it is and they will happily sell it you.

ricktoronto

OK, signed up for it and am looking for "C" class correct? Points upgrade , international 2 class flight. Bad luck there are seats back via MIA not there via DFW, and that's the B ticket I got.

ricktoronto

Somehow I fluked out and got the one today to no avail as it seems as there are no C there, just back. Am now trying to go there a few days earlier and come back on the day I was leaving more or less - we have a holiday here and I am trying to use that Monday. So I need to find flights with B and C available- B for the price and C for the upgrade correct?

I should have signed up for expert flyer before this.

JonNYC

expertflyer rules. BTW, are you sure you are saving money over just buying the -H- fare (w/ copay ) instead of the B fare? As in, if you don't end up upgrading one-way, maybe it will turn out you were better off paying the lower fare +$250 + 15,000 more miles-- or something like that.

BTW, you can also look for flights that have -B- avail. and high # J,D (and maybe even I) and then just waitlist for -C- to come up.

ricktoronto

The H fare plus US$500 wound up being nearly the same adds +30,000 miles as well to upgrade, and is non refundable. And on a 12,000 mile trip , loses 50% Q-Points.

So I went back to EF and AA.com and by doing multi-city again, and unrestricted coach (not full fare coach) I got a B2 fare again this time, same fare, and leaving the 28th back the 2nd vs, leave the 29th back the 3rd, I think it is clear Fri-Sun is tough. Thursday is easier as is coming back on a Tuesday.

DFW-SCL on 7/28 C5
SCL- MIA on 8/2 C7

Plus C1 and C4 on the YYZ DFW/MIA connections.