Thread: Fly Confirmed For Less - "I didn't know you could do that."

A comment that I get regularly when doing something with a FCFL ticket is: “I didn’t know you could do that with that ticket”. I haven’t heard it since last evening when I was using Global Upgrades for a TATL trip where we have set dates and the flights are filling up already in J.

There are some aspects of Fly Confirmed for Less which many employees aren’t aware of and therefore don’t make their Pass Riders, especially parents, aware of or take advantage of themselves. That is that the Fly Confirmed For Less (FCFL) program has some interesting provisions for Pass riders who have Medallion Status. Important: These DO NOT apply to the Fly Confirmed for Even Less program. I know that many employees use FCFL themselves when they have to be somewhere at a specific time and/or need to be back at work by a certain time and their destination isn’t one that they can comfortable get to and or back via NRSA.

The most important aspect is that the FCFL pass rider gets ALL of the benefits that come with their Medallion Status including Frequent Flyer miles, both Qualifying and Redeemable as well as Qualifying Dollars. The also get Complimentary Upgrades and can use Global and Regional Upgrade Certificates, $ and miles for upgrades after the ticket is issued. If they have Diamond or Platinum status, they will be upgraded to Comfort+ automatically when booking. They can also do Same Day Confirmed changes. Effectively, a FCFL ticket is a discounted regular ticket for leisure travel only. In that respect it is basically the same as a NRSA ticket.

While many employees have Sky Miles accounts, I don’t believe that there are too many who have Medallion Status. There are those of us who qualify to use FCFL who also travel enough for business to have Medallion Status, mostly parents. I’m a Diamond Medallion as a result of my business travel and also my “have to be there at a certain time” pleasure travel such as a wedding or other social event where we can’t leave until the same day or day before. I buy FCFL for pleasure and take advantage of my Medallion Status. So for those of you who have Medallion Status or have Pass Riders who have Status and are eligible for the FCFL program, I recommend that you review the benefits and go over them with your eligible Pass Riders – ESPECIALLY YOUR PARENTS if they travel a lot.

We have choices when we travel for pleasure; NRSA, Award, FCFL and Regular Tickets. We’ve learned that there’s a time and place for each of them and so we plan each trip with that in mind. We’re fortunate that our son enjoys helping us and doesn’t mind the few minutes it takes to look something up or book something for us.

I'd like to wish all of you a Happy and Healthy New Year and Safe Travels.