I’ve blogged previously on how to upgrade your flights under the new business class regime, and so I was surprised to find out that some of my research wasn’t quite right. I’m currently booked on a 9+ hour flight from Chicago to Rome in early August. The nice folks at Carlson Wagonlit went ahead and ticketed the flight so I could request an upgrade from American Airlines. I knew I was ticketed in YCA, and was stupid to assume that that fare was “full fare.” After looking at their website, I thought I’d be out 20-30k miles for the upgrade. Turns out I’d be out 50k + $600 (termed a “copay”) for two tickets, as YCA counts as “discounted economy class” as far as upgrades are concerned. Assuming a value of ~ $.02 per airline mile, the upgrade would set me back $1600, 4x more than the $400 I was expecting to pay. That said, it’s still cheaper than cost constructing, as the difference between a YCA fare and a regular Y fare is running ~$2400 for two tickets. Plus, if you flush with miles, the $300 copay might not seem all that bad.

I’ve been trying to find a good way to fly my dog to the desert in the middle of summer (more on that solution by septel) and it turns out I have to fly through FCO. The one-ways were crazy…thousands of dollars above the contract fares. As is my wont, I walked around FSI bitching about how hard my life was. Here’s the rub: you’d be surprised how many folks told me that I could use the contract fares on alternate routings (e.g. flying through FCO instead of FRA). Sorry, but no. Check out 14 FAM 546, which basically says that the only time you can use the contract rates are those that follow the orders to the letter (including stop-overs, if they’re on the way) and are the least-expensive way to get there.

As an aside, during my fare search my FCO-post segment was 3x cheaper if booked as a round-trip instead of a one-way. Carson Wagonlit is prohibited from booking a ticket like that, so you’d have to purchase the fare on your own. Before doing that, you’d want to make sure that your EX will reimburse your voucher.

Tony P. came up to me and asked me if there was a way to fly from the Caribbean to India on a foreign carrier, as flying BA would take only 1.5 days and flying United would take 3 days. I gave him some long and convoluted answer about upgrades and cost constructing and everything and he walked away confused. Then he comes back to me later that day telling me I gave him bad info. Apparently, Fly America doesn’t apply due to the origin and destination both being foreign. Turns out, I knew that, as I flew Avianca from Bogota to Buenos Aires even though an AA flight through Miami would have been cheaper on the contract fares. I’m an idiot.

[Update]: I was thinking about it again and thinking that something still smelled fishy. Turns out, I was only kinda right. Fly America doesn’t apply on foreign-to-foreign flights if it would cause a trip that is 6 hours (or more) longer than a Fly America flight. For all intents and purposes, it’s pretty much the same. See this page for more information on the exceptions from the Act. There are some exceptions for US travel when it would cause a delay of 24 hours or more, as well.