Economy is not Economy. Depending on when you book , you may get B or K class both under the economy class ticket. The price difference is substantial = several 1000 b.

How do I know if I paid for the higher K class that the agent did not buy the ticket for the lower B class and pocketed the differnence?

Can you ask the travel agent? They should be willing to give you an e-ticket receipt and itinerary. From that you should be able to determine the fare bucket; it is usually the first letter in the fare basis. On most airlines a B fare is more expensive and less restrictive re: length of stay, date/routing changes etc. than a K fare.

What is the airline and route? Did you specifically request a certain fare bucket? Usually a TA will just get you the least expensive tickets based on your requirements and need for flexibility. They should be asking you specific questions and offering you options.

Economy is not Economy. Depending on when you book , you may get B or K class both under the economy class ticket. The price difference is substantial = several 1000 b.

How do I know if I paid for the higher K class that the agent did not buy the ticket for the lower B class and pocketed the differnence?

Is there a booking code on the itinerary? Usually a string of letters and numbers. The booking class is normally the first letter in the string.

If you can't find it on the itinerary or on the e ticket receipt just call the airline. Y is full economy and Q/K is usually the lowest of the economy fares. T is usually a freebee ticket and J/C are business class as well as D which is discount business class. First class is F or P and discount or free is A. B is not business but usually the next level down from economy. I'm forever being told by passengers that they are in the wrong seat, etc. etc. and when I look at their tickets I'm able to show them what is actually booked.

Unfortunately, some airlines do not use the same booking codes. For example Z on some airlines is Business Class but on EVA it is deluxe economy. I booked a Bizz ticket from an online agency (Indian call center with HQ in NYC) and when I verified with EVA I was shocked to find I had been screwed. Fortunately, Eva helped me fix the problem, while the travel agent tried to avoid responsibility for its negligence.

The only way to make sure is to call the airline reservations office and check your flight out yourself. Or if you can go online with the reservation confirmation number, you can see what your ticket conditions were. Travel agents make errors and consumers have to check everything they do.

Personally I'd recommend always asking a TA for a detailed quote, this results in a booking that can be held for a minimum of 24 hours, then review the quote which should include all the details of the fare, then either ask for it to be ticketed or start again. You might pay a few baht more or less between booking and ticketing owing to exchange rates changing on some fees priced in currencies other than the one you will ultimately ticket in.

Ask for the fare basis, booking code and fare rules. This is totally acceptable.

Thai Airways International (TG) uses the following booking codes:

First Class: FAPZ O

Business Class : CDRJL I

Premium Economy: U

Economy Class: YBMHQNVWSTGK X

Fare buckets are listed from most expensive/least restrictive to least expensive/most restrictive. The O, I and X buckets are used for award tickets.

Sometimes you will see a TG fare basis like YLEE45 but the fare bucket is really M.

Wiki has a page on codes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travel_class

Please be aware that, simply due to the nature of Wiki, these may not be no longer be accurate or current.

It does, however, give you a good idea as to the various classifications.

Gee, I was not sure if my question was too naive, too .......whatever.

But now all of you have introduced me to a new science, thanks a lot!

I was also surprised to see how one internet agent is competing with another. By asking again and again I got the price of the first quote down substantially down.

BUT WHAT I AM STILL AFTER IS=

Are there any last minutes business class tickets which can be booked sooner than shortly before departure at the airport, e.g. online ??

Are there any last minutes business class tickets which can be booked sooner than shortly before departure at the airport, e.g. online ??

Not likely. Most of the sites I use on a regular basis will not allow bookings of any kind less than 48-72 hours prior to departure. I've just tried a couple (Gulf and Emirates) though, and when they aren't freezing up and timing out, it looks like they might actually let me book a seat less than 24 hours in advance (I didn't take it to the "pay now" stage to see if I could get that far).

Booking on the day of departure might be a little more difficult though.

However, a while ago in Pattaya, I tried to find a ticket for a friend that had to leave sooner than expected. Couldn't book anything online though. She went to one of the many travel agents on soi Bukhao and got the ticket in person. That may be your best (and quickest) bet.

Gee, I was not sure if my question was too naive, too .......whatever.

But now all of you have introduced me to a new science, thanks a lot!

I was also surprised to see how one internet agent is competing with another. By asking again and again I got the price of the first quote down substantially down.

BUT WHAT I AM STILL AFTER IS=

Are there any last minutes business class tickets which can be booked sooner than shortly before departure at the airport, e.g. online ??

That appears to be a different question than the one you started this thread with?

Almost always no. The lower-priced Business Class fare buckets (D/R/J sometimes Z) tend to sell out very early. You might find one with a Consolidator, who purchased it at first offering (a bit like Bordeaux futures?). These fare buckets are also used for code-share and RTW tickets. Say an aircraft has 40 business class seats, at IPO there might be two (2) award seats, two(2) upgrade seats, eight (8) D seats and the remainder (28) are C seats. Guess which sell out first? (I've simplified things immensely for this example and have not factored in over-sells.)

That's not to say that every route always sells out, obviously they don't, but generally you will always pay more as your departure date approaches, if only because you cannot meet the APEX (advanced purchase requirements), and because the airline potentailly has a commodity, albeit perishable, that you require.

That appears to be a different question than the one you started this thread with?.

I was aware of that, lomatopo but since I seem to have gotten the right audience of knowledgeable people, I didnt want to lose this very audience.

And it worked, for me , I got a very precise answer to my afterthought.

Perhaps a bit selfish not to start,a separate thread, I m sorry.

But thanks a lot again, much obliged

I tried to be clever, in vain,

How to find the definition of Apex for the flights?

I got many return from google

http://www.google.com/search?num=100&h...ng_en%7Clang_th

Try this one....

But be aware that the individual airlines will have, as far as I am aware, differing criteria regarding booking period, different lengths of minimum stay etc.

You really need to ask the travel agent at the time to issue you with the terms and conditions... they just need to print it out.

Edited as the url would not work... please copy and paste or just do a google on Apex fares (this comes up as number 1)

Economy is not Economy. Depending on when you book , you may get B or K class both under the economy class ticket......

The airlines have quoters for each ticket class within Economy for example: so many seats of class W and so many of class V etc.

If you seek the cheapest possible ticket you have to keep to exact flights with any changes incurring penalties and probably forgo airmiles etc.

Pay more for your ticket and you can change the return flight free or reduced cost, or get 50% airmiles etc.