How do you know what kind of "class of service" you're getting and what kind are there? Everytime I book I never get a chance to pick, unless there is no such animal....I booked NW online and see that it's Economy Class (Q)...meaning? I got a seat, that's all I know. Is there somewhere something written that explains those class of services? Thanks

Classes of service are geared toward the travel industry to have meaning. It basically tells the Travel Agent or Airline Rep. that, in this case, "Q" class is a deeply discounted coach seat. Once "Q" is sold out, the next tier of class of service is available at a higher price. Discount coach seats are sold until you reach "Full Fare" or "Y" coach. This is what you'll pay when you don't have an advance purchase or if there aren't anymore discounted seats left on the flight you want. There are many different classes of coach service but it's all in the coach cabin.

CoS refers to the cabin assignment - economy, business, first (or sometimes more or less depending on airline/flight etc.)

There can be several "fare classes" (Y, Q, etc.) within each class of service. Everybody in each cabin class receives the same service, but some are paying more, others less, depending on the various restrictions and conditions applying to their fare class.

Frequent flyers receive CoS "bonuses" (extra mileage credit) for paid tickets within the premium cabins.

So it seems as having Q it means that I have a real discount ticket and you really don't know what Cos you are in until you purchase. Thanks for clearing this up.

No your <i>Class of Service</i> will be economy. No airline uses a &quot;Q&quot; <i>Fare Basis</i> for anything but coach.

For Northwest, &quot;Q&quot; appears to be a mid-range economy fare basis. Lower-priced (but still coach) fare codes for NW appear to be K, T, L and V, maybe some others. On some airlines, for example American, &quot;Q&quot; is one of the the lowest-cost, i.e., most restricted or least available, economy fare codes. On NW there appear to be some lower ones, but not all fare codes apply to all flights. If you post your itinerary we can see if it's the lowest fare code for your particular route.

But it will be Economy Class of Service, not business/first. Less legroom, little or buy-on-board food, etc., same as everyone else in coach.

Thats interesting...my intin is Pit-DTW Economy Class (Q)...DTW-Ams same class....Ams-Dus, same class...Return STR-Ams same class...and so on. I fly out on a Wed and return on a Sat...just less then 30 days.

Northwest and KLM have integrated their route systems, so you will probably fly on NW equipment as far as AMS then KLM planes to/from Germany. The ticket may say NW the whole way - the airlines use a system called &quot;codesharing&quot; that allows a NW flight number and booking code to apply to a KLM plane/flight and vice versa. When you get to Amsterdam the connecting flight reader boards ought to show both a NW and KLM flight no. for the same plane.

Yes you're right, it shows NW8707/KL1857 and on the bottom that it operates by KLM Cityhopper/KLM. And I imagine the NWA &amp; KLM service is about the same, which I hope is good. This is my first experience with NWA since I used to go USAirways and lately Delta

Different fare classes have different rules regarding to refund, change fees, upgradeability, upgrade priorities, whether you can earn 50% or 100% EQM on Continental's Onepass FF program, etc... And Northwest is one of the few airlines that actually let you specify fare class when you search your flight when you click &quot;More Search Options&quot; when finding your flight.