julies

I was just doing a search on itasoftware (I've used this site tons in the past) and something came up that I have never before seen. I assume it is some type of code for availability to different fare classes, but maybe I am wrong.

avail checked(LIVE): J9 C9 D9 I9 Z9 W0 S0 Y9 B9 M9 U9 K9 H9 L9 Q9 T9 E0 N9 R9 V0 G0 ; O-D

And, if it is what I think it is, where do I find out what all the different fare calsses are?

Thanks.

kybourbon

It appears to be telling you the seat load by airfare class. I'm surprised that popped up and there are several paid services where you can't get that info (much discussed on flyertalk), but I wasn't aware of anywhere providing it for free.

kybourbon

This is from an old thread on Flyertalk. Expertflyer is a paid service that many frequent flyers use to determine loads as seat maps on the airlines websites and other online travel sites (Expedia, Orbitz, etc.) aren't accurate.

Nov 18, 05, 10:26 pm
I was checking some availability of flights at expertflyer and saw the following. I know that if it shows a lot of ZERO then the flight is definitely packed. Based on the following, is the flight really packed?

F5 A1 P0 Y7 B7 H7 L7 W5 M5 V4 G2 K1 S0 N0 Q0 O0

However, AA seatmap looks really packed because there are only two unassigned seats in coach (plus the row 7 on MD-80 I guess).

It has been many times that my upgrade requests don't cleared at 72-hour window.

Expertflyer tends to be more accurate than aa.com. From what I read there are 6 first class seat's AA is willing to sell. The plane has a lot of people on it, but it is not 100% full either.

Gardyloo

It's how many seats in each fare class are still for sale.

Not sure what airline is being referenced, but J, C, D, I and Z are typically business class seats on Star Alliance (and some independent) carriers; Y and below are economy class fares, with Y and B being "full fare" buckets and the rest being discounted fares, each with its own booking rules, validity, etc.

I haven't seen fare bucket information on ITA either. How did you come upon it?

julies

I was doing a couple searches, and on one it just popped up without my doing anything. These are Delta/ KLM flights.

When you say Y and below, does that mean reading to the right from Y all of these are variations on economy class?

Thanks.

Gardyloo

<i>When you say Y and below, does that mean reading to the right from Y all of these are variations on economy class?</i>

Yes, although some might be special fares - military, clergy, etc. Generally "hidden" fare categories - upgrades, mileage redemption seats, employee discounts etc. - are not shown on these tables.

Gardyloo

Meant to add, these are NOT cumulative, and usually the number 9 means "9 or more" in that fare class. In other words J9 C9 D9 I9 Z9 doesn't mean there are 45 business class seats available, it means there are at least 9, and that one can purchase a business class seat in any of those categories as of the date the inventory is queried. As the date of flight approaches, some fare buckets will expire as they pass their "sell-by" dates (advance booking requirements), so you might look tomorrow and see J9 C9 D9 I0 Z0. That just means you can no longer buy a seat with the "Z" fare rules.

kybourbon

This is a couple of years old, but probably still accurate (Delta).

Y - Full coach fare
B, M - slightly discounted coach fare
H,Q,K - discounted coach fare
L,U,T - deeply discounted coach fare
F - Full First class fare
A - discounted first class fare
J - Full Biz class fare
D, I - discounted biz class fare
V - Upgrade bucket for domestic upgrades
X - Upgrade bucket for domestic upgrades on flights considered business instead of first
Z - Upgrade bucket for international upgrades (miles, PMUs)
N - Coach skymiles bucket
O - Business skymiles bucket
R - First skymiles bucket
E - Special coach bucket (Was used in the past for the fly 3 get 1 flight free promotion)
S - used to be student fares

Gardyloo

http://www.klm.com/travel/aw_en/plan...ions/index.htm

julies

Super helpful information to have. Thanks to all. Cheap soul that I am, I'll be looking for those L, U, and T fares.

kybourbon

I don't think all airlines use the same fare letters so you will need to check. Some cheap fares don't earn FF miles either.

AnselmAdorne

"<i>I haven't seen fare bucket information on ITA either. How did you come upon it?</i>"

Gardyloo, there was a thread on this on the AC forum this week:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-c...ilability.html

I am not familiar with ITA as I subscribe to ExpertFlyer.