More reasons to familiarize yourself with airline fare classes.

Price is not the only reason to understand how fare classes work when it comes to air travel. Even without charging you directly, that little letter stamped on your boarding pass can take a bite out of your wallet, especially when it comes to things like frequent flyer programs.

Last fall, we took a trip to Paris on Air France, a roundtrip of more than 10,000 miles, and I was eagerly awaiting to see our combined total of 20,000 miles in our Air France frequent flyer memberships. So imagine my surprise when we were credited with only 5,000 miles total instead.

The airline’s explanation was simple: Under Air France’s rules, our super-cheap T class ticket was only credited with a quarter of the miles flown, anywhere. And the amount of miles they give you is at their discretion. You have no recourse.

Want full mileage credit? they said. Then pay for a better class of ticket!

Which brings up yet another wrinkle in the fare class structure. Not all airlines treat all classes the same way. Other airlines might well have credited us with all those miles we flew, T class fare or not.

The fare class also may determine the life of your ticket. Say you have some sort of family emergency and have to change your travel plans. If you’re holding a T class ticket, some airlines may tell you that your ticket has no shelf life. You either fly as scheduled or forfeit your money.

How do you know which airline does what with their fare classes? Not easily. As we’ve noted in previous blog entries, the airlines seem almost allergic to full disclosure when it comes to things like this, at least initially. Their attitude seems to be one of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” If you don’t ask, they won’t tell. And odds are, this little piece of information won’t be on their reservations Web page.

(My ultra-traveler fried Walt tells me Delta is one of the exceptions. Here’s Delta’s link. Many thanks, Walt!)

So if flexibility in your ticketing is as important or almost important to you as price, you’ve got to do your homework, whether with the airline directly, or with an experienced travel agent who knows the deal — and can help you find the deals.

(This sounds like another reason the airlines increasingly want to cut out the middlemen, i.e., travel agents. It also sounds like a good reason to use one. But just as with airfares, you need to shop around for a good one.)

While we’re on this subject, here’s a little boobytrap that airlines spring on the flying public at the worst possible time.

You’re in the midst of your trip, having a great time, when the worst happens, a critical illness, injury or even a death in your family. You’re got to go home immediately. You’ve heard that the airlines offer bereavement fares for such a situation. Seems like a kindly thing to do, right?

Hold that thought.

When you inform the airline of your circumstances and rush to get a seat on the next flight home, the airline will give you its cheapest seat category, all right — Coach — but NOT its cheapest fare class. In fact, they most likely will hit you with the most expensive fare class they have in Coach. The result could be a one-way ticket that’s a lot more expensive than the original roundtrip fare you paid. But you’ve got to get home — NOW — and they know it.

Grief, you will learn in that moment, can be expensive.

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