I'm still lost...well, kinda...so I am assuming that when travelling to Europe - where taxes vary GREATLY - I should not assume that while I might be meeting both the ZONE & FARE LEVEL (ZL/ZM/ZH), I now may have a problem because of the taxes paid on a pass, thus denying me boarding because of it? Just clarifying! Thanks for all the great info!Originally Posted by mrs767er
I believe that delta is relaxing the rules, as far as the mileage is equivalent, you now can do it.
the point is not regarding DL acceptiing a zed--it's a zed tkt purchased per DL rules/agreement and if another carrier will or will not accept the DL issued zed (or whichever airline has whatever rules) I'm not crazy enough to buy a zed for AF CDG to ZRH and find out I can't use is for CDG to CAI or CDG to ARN (even if they are priced in the same zone--ZED is for zone pricing not ravel anywhere within that mileage zone) Thta's my take on the system as our rules read. Maybe it differs with another airline.
There are generally some very strong business reasons for a carrier to NOT implement an agreement for ZED Low fares or, for accepting a ZED Low ticketed that has been walked over to it. ZED Low can often be lower that an airlines own employee travel fares, in which case, the transporting airline would be providing a better deal to another airlines' employees than they do to their own. Not acceptable.
Guess that's why we only have that deal w/AF--it's reciprocal.
I'm not sure I follow you. DL collects the airport fees/taxes after you travel, so it wouldn't matter where you wanted to go, only where you went.
As I read DL's ZED agreement as long as you stay in a zone the price is the same. The only thing that would change it is if one were travel through a connecting city that moved the mileage into the next zone. (Disclosure- I've only used a ZED ticket once CDG-MUC, so maybe I'm missing something)
"I'm not sure I follow you. DL collects the airport fees/taxes after you travel, so it wouldn't matter where you wanted to go, only where you went."
no no--DL only collects on THEIR nonrev flights after the fact and deducts from payroll.
You have to "buy" a zed ticket point to point and you PAY UP FRONT at tkt desk--we're talking about buying a zed for another airline.Those tickets are paid on a credit card or cash and are refundable within 90 days [typically] if unused in part.
Similar to ID90somethings but those are airline specific and God help you if you can't find a DL employee who knows how to do them anymore!!
Ah, I see. I hope someone writes that ZED article that was suggested.
The basic premise is:
go to your carrier ticket desk
buy a zed fare from them to use on contracted afifiiated carrier for specific travel between airport A and B
pay for the zed (based on the mileage, but ticketed city to city within that zone--500 mile, 1500 miles, 2500 etc)space available
show up for that origin/destination with appropriate zone level tkt (Zed L, M or H) with their lsiting requirements and ask to be activated for whichever flight you hope to take
you have already paid the fare--if you don't get on that route, you can refund the ticket at your carrier's tkt desk
Okay, since I've apparently asked a very interesting question here, which got several conflicting answers and raised another few questions from others as well as myself, I've actually bothered to check with both MY airline (SN) as well as with LH's staff travel office and this is what they had to say on ZED:
1- you ALWAYS have to buy tickets for a flight on a ZED participating carrier at your own airline.
2- most ZED carriers require ZM, so this is the standard ZED fare, but occasionally some require ZH whereas the 'really good friends' (like LH+SN+LX or DL+AF for instance) are satisfied with merely a ZL from each others employees.
3- ZED tickets are valid on ALL participating ZED carriers, but only those which have an agreement with the airline issuing the ticket MUST honour it, the others MAY, but don't have to (provided the fare class and the zone is correct, obviously)
4- ZH will obviously always be honoured even by airlines requiring just ZM or ZL, but ZL will only be accepted by those airlines which have an agreement with your airline for this Low class in place, the others likely won't, but again, they may decide to do so. When traveling on a route which is operated by several airlines, some of which (but not all) accepting a ZL from your airline, you either have to buy 2 tickets (a ZL and a ZM) and get the unused ticket refunded, OR you can just use the ZM ticket, knowing you'll be paying too much in case you get on the ZL carrier's flight.
5- You can NOT pay up the difference to 'upgrade' from ZL to ZM or ZH, as this is ticket related and is thus the responsability of your own airline.
6- You can NOT pay up the difference to 'extend' your zone, as this is ticket related and needs to be done by your own airline.
7- you CAN pay taxes though, since a ZED ticket NEEDNT have the taxes included,
and this is where it get's interesting: you can ask for a ZED ticket to be issued WITHOUT specific destination and thus only pay for the milage zone. At the airport, you pay the exact taxes depending the destination you fly to. Alternatively and most commonly, you will have a destination mentioned on your ticket however, in which case taxes for that destination will be included, but you're still entitled to switch destination, so in case the taxes don't match, you can be asked to pay the difference, although most airlines won't bother.
8- since ZED isn't route specific, you can swith hubs (interesting for instance on LH, since it allowes switching from MUC to FRA and vice versa, which is BTW, latin for 'the other way round' as somebody had asked me) on condition switching hub doesn't cause a shift in milage zones on either of the stretches.
Now, the above matches how I understood it to be, and is also in line with how I've used ZED tickets before (notably on the fact i've already switched destinations), but it doesn't seem to match with all that was said by Mr767er, so maybe that's just his airline not wanting to bother with it and thus imposing stricter rules for its own employees, although they should still follow the above general rules for OAL employees if they are a ZED airline.
That's it in a nutshell. Looking forward to any imput from you all.
Last edited by flyer146; 12-Mar-2010 at 04:30 AM.
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