How are the different classes of coach seats broken down and what is the difference? I don't understand why "Y" or "U" or whatever it is is better than the other - either you are in coach or you aren't is all I see.

Thanks.

The seats themselves are the same. A "Y fare" is unrestricted coach, which is potentially better because it's the easiest ticket to transfer to another airline with in the event a flight is cancelled (it's pretty much the equivalent of cash), can often be upgraded to first, when space is available, for a small additional fee, and sometimes (as has happened to me - though not for many years) can be upgraded to first automatically if they need more coach seats to accomodate overbooking. It's also the most expensive, sometimes hugely so.

If you are talking about United, remember that there are two classes of seating in coach, regular and a premium "Economy Plus" -- which is all the rows forward of the wing and entails more leg room. You can't get "Economy Plus" unless you have premier status w/UA, not even by paying extra money.

With a few exceptions, such as United's Economy Plus that is cited above, the letter designators are mostly about how many tickets are available at different price points. Fares change all the time, so the cost of an H class fare today on a given itinerary can be different 10 minutes from now. As reservations are made (or not made) during various time periods, the number of seats in a given class can and does change. It's called "yield management" and it's all about trying to get the most possible seats filled with the greatest amount of revenue possible. Some hotel chains use the same type of system.

When all of the "Q" fares sell out for a given flight, you may be forced to buy an "M" class. It costs more, it still has plenty of restrictions and it won't have any impact on the quality of your seat. If you are looking for minimum level award seats for FF miles, you may be looking for "W" class on a given airline. (Many fare class letter designators vary by airline.)

Here is a tool I use to look at availability of fares in given classes:

http://flyaow.com/classavailability.htm

Remember that if you see "9" seats available, it means "at least 9"; there could be more.

Here is another handy site that gives you insight into the advantages and disadvantages of various seats in a given aircraft's seating configuration:

http://www.seatguru.com/

Play around with the sites for a little while and it will all begin to make some sense (but not everthing about airfares and seating IS sensible, mind you! LOL!)

Flyboy: Great links! Definitely go in my Airlines folder. Thanks much!

Thanks "flyboy" - it still seems a murky area, but I do understand the cost thing. Ya gotta make money to stay in business. I, too, am checking out your websites - we already had seatguru.com bookmarked, but I'm off to check out the other one right now. Thanks again!