You will be amazed to know how United Fare classes work. It offers first, business, economy, and premium economy classes and many more like these that you aren’t aware of. These classes are divided based on the fare types and are designated with a different letter for each class. This classification helps the airline to understand your ticket type much better, like what fare class is booked and when you booked it.
It also helps to upgrade the ticket if you want it to be in the future before your flight departure. So, it’s better to take a look and gather as much information as possible to find the exact fare class you booked, which is usually printed on the ticket. This will help you have an amazing and stress-free journey.
Understanding the United Fare Classes!
Whenever you head to the United Airlines booking desk, you’ll find that United Cabins are divided into various fare classes, also known as fare buckets. These fare classes allow passengers to easily understand the fares, keep track of which seats are already sold out on which aircraft, and find the best available seats.
Not all the airlines are the same and use the same fare classes; you might see some changes in every airline’s fare systems. Let’s have a look at United Airlines fare classes for all the cabin classes:
| Economy | |
| Highest full fare | Y |
| Full fare | B |
| High fare | M, E, H, U |
| Discounted fare | Q, V, W |
| Deep-discounted fare | L, K, S, T |
| Lowest discounted fare | G |
| Basic economy | N (For Domestic flights only) |
| Premium Plus | |
| High fare | O |
| Discounted fare | A |
| Deep-discounted fare | R |
| First/business class | |
| Full fare | J |
| High fare | C, D |
| Discounted fare | Z |
| Deep-discounted fare | P |
Finding United Fare Class!
Whenever you make a reservation on United Airlines, you’ll be able to see the fare classes without putting in extra effort, as it is listed there only at the bottom of the ticket. So, if you find any alphabet written behind any cabin class, you can easily recognize the fare class for the ticket with the help of the table mentioned above. However, third-party ticket booking websites offer a different user interface, and you might find the fare class information under the details tab.
Qualifying the Elite Status!
If you are already aware of the Elite status of United Airlines, then it’s much easier for you to understand how you can qualify for the same. But, if you don’t know about it, let me explain this to you. As soon as you achieve Elite Status on United, the airline will start giving you additional benefits on your every journey with them.
It’s like a premium membership of United which includes flight upgrades, access to United Club lounges, and much more. So, paying attention while choosing your fare class is better because it plays an important role in collecting the points to earn the Elite Status. These are known as Premier Qualifying Points (PQP) and Premier Qualifying Flights (PQF). It’s not rocket science to be under these terms.
Traveling on a non-stop flight will count as one PQF and a flight with one stop counts as 2 PQF; however, remember that if you are traveling in an Economy Class, you’re not eligible to earn a single PQF, no matter how many stopovers are there in between.
On the other hand, PQP can be earned depending on various things such as the base fare of the flight, charges imposed on it, upgrades, and seat purchase. The airline clearly states that the PQP points are directly proportional to the amount you are spending on your flight. So, the more costly flight tickets you purchase, the more PQPs you’ll earn on every single journey, helping you achieve Elite status.
Making a Reservation for a Specific Fare Class!
Most travelers don’t look for the fare class when getting extremely low ticket prices. It might be possible that those low-fare flight tickets are not upgradable, and one is not getting any points as they are not eligible for the Elite Status. So, to find the best fare classes that are beneficial from every aspect, you have to follow the specific ways of searching for a flight. Follow the below-mentioned steps to do the same:
- Visit the United Airlines official website.
- Then, click on the “Advanced Search” button at the bottom of the form.
- Now, enter all the necessary flight details and scroll down.
- You’ll be able to see the “Fare Class” option.
- After filling in all the fare class details, click on the “Find Flights” button to proceed.
- Once the next page appears, you can see a regular search results page for all the fare classes you are looking to book, along with all other fare classes.
This is one of the best ways to compare the ticket prices and get the exact flights that you are searching for.
Eligibility Criteria for Upgradation!
You’ll be eligible for the upgrade only if you book the right fare class, and that too for the upgrade you plan to get. There are various upgrades, including Complimentary Premier Upgrades, MileagePlus Upgradation, and PlusPoints. However, there are different criteria for every one of them.
Complimentary Upgrade!
MileagePlus Premier Flyers can get benefits more than their expectations. If you’ve booked the flight for any mentioned fare classes and are also looking for an instant upgrade, you’ll be eligible for instant upgrades. However, these are only available on selected routes and not applicable to all routes. To understand this clearly, let’s assume that you booked a flight on an Economy Cabin with a Y fare class and will be eligible for the instant upgrade to a premium cabin when making a reservation.
MileagePlus Upgrades!
Not only the Elite Flyers will get an option for the upgrade, but the normal passengers who don’t have an Elite Status, get the option to upgrade a flight with MileagePlus miles.
Upgrades for PlusPoints Members!
Passengers with Premier Platinum memberships are eligible to receive PlusPoints to upgrade the United Flights. Premier 1K members are also eligible to receive the PlusPoints. Once reaching the status tier, platinum members will receive 40 PlusPoints and an additional 280 points for 1K members, making it a total of 320 PlusPoints.
United Airlines has Polaris Business Class, which charges up to 40 PlusPoints for the upgrade from Economy. Alternatively, it charges 80 points to upgrade from discounted economy fare class to Polaris, and that too for long-haul flights.
To understand this clearly, lets assume that you have booked a fare class for S, T, L, K, or G, then 80 PlusPoints will be required for a Polaris Upgrade. In addition, If you have O, A, and R and have a United Premium Plus fare class, you can upgrade to United Polaris Business Class and instantly skip the waitlist.
Hope this read will help you clear all your doubts on how United Fare Classes work and how you can book a flight that benefits you. Hope this read will help you clear all your doubts on how United Fare Classes work and how you can book a flight that benefits you. If you are a frequent traveler and might often change plans, especially for flight upgrades, making a reservation by checking fare class can make a big difference for you.
Although, United Airlines makes it much easier for everyone to book the flight according to their need. However, new passengers still face issues when booking flights with their preferred fare type. It’s better to read the complete details to understand better and make your journey more memorable.
FAQs
The different fare classes are United Polaris, United First, United Business, United Premium Plus, and many more.
If you have booked a flight ticket for Basic Economy, you’ll see alphabet N printed on your flight ticket.
If you see alphabet D printed on a ticket, it simply means it is for United Business Class.
Almost all the fare classes except N or Basic Economy are completely refundable.
Economy Cabin Classes don’t have any baggage allowance. So, you have to purchase them separately.