United Airlines quietly updated its fare codes for some premium cabin tickets and upgrades over the weekend.
With Polaris First class now just a memory, United has pulled A and F fare classes traditionally used to designate first class. Domestically, United will still call its front-cabin product “United First” but use business class fare codes instead.
Here’s how business class fare codes will now map out:
- Revenue: J, C, D, Z, P
- Award: JN, ZN, IN, I
- Upgrade: PN, PZ
Revenue fare codes are listed in order from high to low, with J representing unrestricted business class and P representing the cheapest business class fare available. This will apply to both domestic and international flights.
Award tickets in business class do not change. JN and ZN remain “Anytime” awards (JN is enhanced inventory for United MileagePlus Premier members and Chase co-branded credit card holders). IN remains enhanced saver business class inventory for United Premiers while I indicates standard saver business class for United Airlines and its partners.
We see that the upgrade fare bucket has changed from R to PZ. PN has been used, and remains, a special upgrade bucket for Global Services members.
If you are holding a confirmed upgrade, you will see that R has been replaced by PZ on your reservation.
Finally, note that upgrade space (PZ) is still available for viewing in Expert Mode:
Why This Change?
This change is about more than just the end of first class. It is also about the brith of United’s premium economy product. In fact, that’s the reason why United claims the move was necessary:
Starting the evening of Friday, October 19, into the early hours of Saturday, October 20, we are realigning some premium booking codes and discontinuing the use of others to prepare for the launch of United® Premium Plus.
It’s unlikely to me that premium economy class will used the “F” fare class and perhaps not even “A”. Rather, it appears that United will use “R” class to designate its Premium Plus product.
>Read More: Premium Plus, a New Premium Economy Product on United Airlines
CONCLUSION
First class is out. Premium economy is coming. The long-term question now is what will happen to upgrades. Let’s hope United will continue to allow Global Premium Upgrades (GPUs) from economy class to business class well into the future.
I won’t need to buy international business for another month or two, so it will be interesting to watch what happens to upgrade space. I am aware of two TATL flights I was off-handedly watching that had R but after the weekend have PZ0. Now, R used to appear and disappear at random, so it is too early to tell if that is connected.
Also, I’m not entirely sure I’d be too unhappy about requiring PE to use a certificate or miles to upgrade to business, if it were to mean that upgrade space was easier to find (because it brings the cost up to about heavy discount business class). BA does that, and the total cost usually still seems reasonable to me.
So we lost RN. I’m not sure I ever saw RN > R, but without a designator there is no hope for enhanced upgrade space for elites.
“This change is about more than just the end of first class.” Real first class ended a long time ago on United, but I guess it’s time to make it official!
Some info on how upgrade process will work with Premium Plus
Starting December 3, 2018, we’ll begin selling United® Premium Plus — our premium economy experience on select long-haul international flights.
For aircraft with United® Premium Plus:
MileagePlus members seated in United Economy can use a single Global Premier Upgrade request to move to a United® Premium Plus seat or upgrade to the United Polaris® business class cabin.
If you’d like to be considered for a move to a United® Premium Plus seat or an upgrade to the United Polaris business class cabin, we’ll move you to the first available seat. If the first available seat is a United® Premium Plus seat, we’ll continue to look for space in the United Polaris business class cabin without requiring an additional Global Premier Upgrade.
Members who have purchased United® Premium Plus upgrade-eligible fares will also be able to request an upgrade to the United Polaris business class cabin using one Global Premier Upgrade.
United Polaris business class upgrade requests for members who have purchased United® Premium Plus seats will be processed in priority order first, followed by upgrade requests for members who have purchased United Economy seats. Learn more about upgrade priority order.
There will be no fare class restriction for members who have purchased a United Economy seat and request to move to a United® Premium Plus seat, and no fare class restriction for members who have purchased a United® Premium Plus seat and request an upgrade to the United Polaris business class cabin.
Members requesting to move to a United® Premium Plus seat only and who have domestic portions of their itinerary will not be automatically waitlisted for United First. To be waitlisted for United First on domestic portions of an international itinerary, use your Global Premier Upgrade to request an upgrade to the United Polaris business class cabin
I’ll be addressing this in a post tomorrow.
Why can’t I get those fare classes to show up on my United searches? I’ve already gone in and selected everything possible, but I get no returns looking like that.
They show up after you sign in and then click “details” under a flight segment. They see also now showing up in the app as of a month ago.
What really annoys me is …..on the passenger manifest whichthe crew are provided, It shows PZ in Polaris Class. When it comes to the meal choices, I give them both my selections , however, I did not get either of them,and had an unidentified bowl of curry slop for dinner which I had three mouthfuls of. (I can fill up on mid flight sandwiches. I did not complain, but, when I went down to the galley after the meal service there are the crew munching on my Fillet steak request & The Chicken second preference. I calculated that the money spent to get a 30,000 mile award plus the $600 co pay is the equivelant to buying a Polaris fare ,but, as I said , the crew know you are upgraded so the give the Polaris fare travelers better service….so , a class within a class. And , I had to sit next to a female passenger who ordered a special meal , and She says to the flight attendant “Is my bread gluten free ?” For God’s sake……..it’s only wheat woman !
Can anyone explain what “Expert Mode” is where you can see the availability of PZ upgrades? I have requested an upgrade to PZ class on United and would love to know what my chances are of getting it.
https://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2012/09/25/unitedcom-restores-expert-mode/
Question on United Expert Mode – What are the fare classes to see if GPU is available for use on Lufhansa ? Is it I ? R ?
I for business, O for first.