Buyer Beware: Do Your Homework Before Booking a Flight With A “Basic” Fare

I’ve been doing some serious planning for our upcoming domestic travels. Since I’ve booked most of our recent flights on Southwest or JetBlue, two of our favorite airlines, I haven’t been paying much attention to changes the major airlines like American, Delta and United have made to their basic economy fares. I know they started to offer bare bone, or basic airfares, claiming that this will help them remain competitive with low cost airlines.

Originally, these fares were only supposed to be offered on routes where they were in competition against airlines like Spirit, Frontier or Allegiant. However, as you can imagine, the airlines have rolled these fares out to a larger number of routes, including some of the ones I now needed to book flights on. Here’s the restrictions these fares have for the big three airlines:

American Airlines – Basic Economy

When you book a Basic Economy ticket with American, here is what you get:

• One item that fits under the seat in front of you
• One carry-on bag that fits in the overhead compartment
• Seats are assigned at check-in
• Fees to choose a specific seat 48 hours before departure
• Not eligible for upgrades
• No flight changes or refunds
• Board in last group (Boarding Group 9)

American does have some exemptions for elite members of their AAdvantage program and those who hold a co-branded American Airlines credit card. They can:

• Keep your priority or preferred boarding privileges
• Keep your checked bag benefits

Delta Airlines – Basic Economy

Delta Airlines’ version of Basic Economy comes with the following restrictions:

• Your seat will not be assigned until after you check in to your flight. If your seat number does not appear on your boarding pass, your seat will be assigned at the gate before you board and your boarding pass will list, “Seat Assigned at Gate.”
• Passengers traveling together, including families, may not be seated together
• You will not be eligible for same-day changes or ticket refunds after the Risk Free Cancellation Period
• Basic Economy customers will board last; access to overhead bins may be limited.

Frequent Delta flyers and cardholders of the co-branded Delta Skymiles American Express cards will still get some benefits when flying on basic economy:

When flying on a Basic Economy fare, Medallion Members will continue to enjoy waived checked baggage fees, Priority Check-in, Priority Boarding and Medallion mileage bonuses. However, please note Medallion Members will not receive paid or Complimentary Upgrades when flying on a Basic Economy fare.

Medallion Members, others with elite status, and Delta SkyMiles American Express credit card holders continue to enjoy their Priority Boarding benefits.

Delta gives members of their co-branded American Express cards priority boarding and one free checked bag even when booking basic economy fares.

United Airlines – Basic Economy

United’s Basic Economy fares are the most restrictive of the “Big Three” airlines. Be prepared if you book one of these fares and don’t be like the passenger who didn’t know they were flying on a Basic Economy ticket.

(The bold type is added for emphasis)

Final Thoughts

I looked through the restrictions of basic economy fares and found that there are major differences between the three major airlines offerings. Delta’s basic economy rate’s only major drawback is that you’re not able to pick your seat until check in (or maybe not at all).  After flying on a Delta Basic Economy ticket, we’ve decided this fare type just isn’t for us.

American’s recent Basic Economy changes have brought them in line with the fare that Delta offers. United rightfully earns the last spot with restrictions that would make RyanAir proud, like that you can’t bring a full-size carry on (with a $25 penalty if you do bring one to the gate on top of the normal baggage fee), no ticket changes, being in the last boarding group and not even being able to check in online if you are not checking a bag.

While the reasoning airlines gave to offer these fares was sound, to compete with ultra low cost carriers like Spirit and Frontier, in reality it just does not, to lack a better word, fly. These fares are offered on routes not served by any of the ultra low cost airlines. Other blogs have noted that the fares did not go down in price at all. The previous economy fare just became the new basic economy fare and the regular economy fare increased. The irony of these “no-frill” fares is that low-cost airlines like Southwest and JetBlue still offer lower fare structures and manage to offer Wi-Fi (still not available on many American flights), free checked bags (Southwest) or live TV (JetBlue) at a fare that is less than these “basic” fares. The true ultra low cost carriers, like Frontier, have fares as low as $39 or offers like Spirit’s $9 fare club. These are true “basic economy” fares that are up front about giving you nothing but a seat and having you pay for everything else. These new basic economy fares are just economy tickets with more restrictions that are the same price as the old economy fares. Buyer Beware!

Have you ever purchased one of these basic economy fares? Did you know what the restrictions were when you purchased it? How was the flight experience?  Let us know in the comments, on Facebook or Twitter.

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary