AY codeshare earning on QFF

[wowmaybenot]

Hey folks,

Does anyone have experience with crediting AY codeshare A booking classes to QFF? The partner earning tables classifies these as discount economy sectors when they're ticketed as first class sectors. The QFF service center refuses to budge on recognising these as a first class fare for crediting purposes. I'm not sure why QFF would classify these as discount economy unless this is another MH situation? Is it worth trying to push more on this?

Here's the actual travel class on the booking reflecting First in A -


But the earning table showing discount economy:

 

[SYD]

Wow! That’s a new one. I assume you’ve already flown and only received Y- points/SCs?

Personally, I’d hazard a guess that some intern has programmed that incorrectly. Most partners (including BA) use A and F for “First” class.

Although, I can also see IB appears to show “A” as Discount Economy also and I assume it’s also possible to buy an IB codeshare on BA metal in First…

You could try a different approach and try and complain that the table is wrong in that AY are clearly selling First codeshare flights as “A”. As far as I can tell, they do not sell Economy (A) fares at all (but I can’t confirm that).

In the meantime, for others playing at home - check the earn table VERY carefully when booking codeshares!

 

[wowmaybenot]

I haven't flown this sector yet, I got worried after seeing 25 SC earn in the manage booking page. I'll call the QFF service center and make the argument that this is a real first class booking, not an economy fare.

Interestingly enough according to Expertflyer IB does not sell A bucket fares on it's BA codeshares, it's just AY.

 

[SydneySwan]

This sounds a bit like the problem where BA had left 'P' class off their earning table and took years to correct. P class was a J class product but BA used to give you zero points for it.

 

[markis10]

Finnair does not have any fare class that credits into first full stop. What you fly and what gets credited under a codeshare situation are very often two different outcomes.

 

[serfty]

Hey folks,

Does anyone have experience with crediting AY codeshare A booking classes to QFF? The partner earning tables classifies these as discount economy sectors when they're ticketed as first class sectors. The QFF service center refuses to budge on recognising these as a first class fare for crediting purposes. I'm not sure why QFF would classify these as discount economy unless this is another MH situation? Is it worth trying to push more on this?

Here's the actual travel class on the booking reflecting First in A -
View attachment 526998

But the earning table showing discount economy:
View attachment 527002

What fare is this that has a Finniar marketed segment booking into A class?

I presume seat selection is at the pointy end.

 

[wowmaybenot]

Finnair does not have any fare class that credits into first full stop. What you fly and what gets credited under a codeshare situation are very often two different outcomes.

I agree that's what the earning table says. I'm asking here to see if anyone has had any success getting Qantas to credit this as a first class booking as they would with AA or BA. There's data points that BA has done this in the past (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/35678993-post17.html) so I'm hoping QF will do this too, but not hopeful.

What fare is this that has a Finniar marketed segment booking into A class?

I presume seat selection is at the pointy end.

This is a sector on a AONE* fare, and yeah I have 1A selected.

 

[serfty]

Fare rules indicate that A class on a Finnair Marketed flight is NOT a valid fare bucket for a oneworld Explorer fare (even if on BA metal). See section 5 (b) Booking Codes in the attached.

This could mean you have an invalid ticket.

Expert Flyer does indeed return A class availability on this BA flight via the Finnair Codeshare; I do note that Iberia does not.


Also note, that E/F considers this to be a Coach fare bucket:

 

[wowmaybenot]

The ticket was autopriced and ticketed as normal, so I don't think this was an invalid ticket. If it was invalid I would've expected autopricing to fail. Ideally I'd switch to the prime code or the AA codeshare but some combination of point of commencement/point of sale restrictions are zeroing out those buckets for me.

Fare rules indicate that A class on a Finnair Marketed flight is NOT a valid fare a oneworld Explorer fare (even if on BA metal). See section 5 (b) Booking Codes in the attached.

I suspect that table is for booking on the prime codes as all the carriers that have a first booking code that's not A don't operate a first cabin. AS is the only exception but they operate a US domestic first which usually books into D anyway.

 

[serfty]

The ticket was autopriced and ticketed as normal, so I don't think this was an invalid ticket. If it was invalid I would've expected autopricing to fail. Ideally I'd switch to the prime code or the AA codeshare but some combination of point of commencement/point of sale restrictions are zeroing out those buckets for me.


I suspect that table is for booking on the prime codes as all the carriers that have a first booking code that's not A don't operate a first cabin. AS is the only exception but they operate a US domestic first which usually books into D anyway.

What entity ticketed it?

 

[serfty]

AS is the only exception but they operate a US domestic first which usually books into D anyway.

Like AY, neither AS or IB have a First cabins. Both do operate and sell international flights.

It has to be Finnair who are making A (and F) available here.

I suspect because of this anomaly, you are SOL unless changed.

 

[madrooster]

Hey folks,

Does anyone have experience with crediting AY codeshare A booking classes to QFF? The partner earning tables classifies these as discount economy sectors when they're ticketed as first class sectors.

AY historically used A class for discount economy. Even today, A class is filed as a discount economy fare class.

There is an anomaly with long haul AY codeshares operated by BA - for some reason AY has filed F and A classes tied to the same F and A classes on the BA prime flight.

AY don't file first class fares on any routes worldwide, so in theory, there are no valid fares outside of the oneworld alliance fares that would even permit the use of a AY codeshare on BA in F or A classes.

Personally, I’d hazard a guess that some intern has programmed that incorrectly. Most partners (including BA) use A and F for “First” class.

Although, I can also see IB appears to show “A” as Discount Economy also and I assume it’s also possible to buy an IB codeshare on BA metal in First…

The intern is not always at fault. AY historically used A class for discount economy, as does IB (even today). For AY prime flights, A class is still filed as a discount economy class, albeit it is not currently used.

Fare rules indicate that A class on a Finnair Marketed flight is NOT a valid fare a oneworld Explorer fare (even if on BA metal). See section 5 (b) Booking Codes in the attached.
View attachment 527218
This could mean you have an invalid ticket.

The ticket was autopriced and ticketed as normal, so I don't think this was an invalid ticket. If it was invalid I would've expected autopricing to fail. Ideally I'd switch to the prime code or the AA codeshare but some combination of point of commencement/point of sale restrictions are zeroing out those buckets for me.

It sounds like you're an agent... just because a GDS autoprices an itinerary, does not mean you are good to ticket it. The GDS may well price and let you ticket something, but if you've ticketed something that fails the fare rules, then you are leaving yourself potentially subject to audit and an ADM.

In particular when it comes to circle and RTW trips, the GDS autoprice guarantee specifically excludes these types of itineraries from their guarantee. This means that even though an itinerary autoprices, it could well be invalid in terms of the fare rules.

As @serfty has pointed out, the oneworld explorer rules stipulate that you have to book D class for AY coded international flights, even if A class exists in a first cabin (like on AY*BA codeshares), so you are potentially leaving yourself liable to an out of class ADM.

In this case you may wish to go to BA and see if they will convert it to a prime segment for you.