Thread: How good is ZED Light when it comes to swapping airlines?

Originally Posted by flyer146

My question is fairly obvious: if am entitled to ZL fares on a given airline, but decide to swap to another airline operating the same route as well, am I correct in assuming I will not be able to use my ZL ticket with them if the agreement with that other airline is for ZM?

Is is possible to pay up the difference at the airport, similar like you sometimes have to pay extra taxes if you route otherwise (and more expensive) than first forseen, or is it not possible to pay the fare difference between ZL and ZM at all?

Just curious to your answers/experiences! Thanks.

your assumption is correct. your zed ticket will let the agent know the zed type purchased - the agent should know what the interline agreements are between your airline and the one you are flying on. normally, the low fare will trigger deeper investigation, as all zonal tickets are the same in each category (+/- due to int'l taxes). a zone 3 ZM is obviously higher than that of a zone 3 ZL.

you can't take a ZL and expect another carrier to board you if your employing airline agreement calls for ZM...technically, it would be travel fraud and possible cause for dismassal from your airline. not worth the risk..your employee number and airline employer is listed on those zeds....

your Zed ticket is transferrable between your airline's agreement partners - however, the mileage zone has to be within the same zone or the other airline won't take your ticket (ie: if you have a zed you paid for in zone 3, you can't use it for another zone above 3 but you can go down to zone 1 or 2). There are 9 mileage zones. Each connection requires a zed ticket. As for any additional charges or differences in fares, that has to be taken care of at your respective carrier.

that's the beauty of zed's...unlike ID-type tickets which are route-specific..

Thank you for your reply; definitely much appreciated!

I can see how it works, although it looks weird to me for an airline with open seats left and a ZED agreement in place to leave somebody behind, just because they prefer ZM iso ZL, since in the end it means some revenues are lost for them, doesn't it? Okay, maybe they could have taken 100 dollars from a regular ZM ticket, but why snub at let's say 70 from the ZL and prefer nothing instead?

BTW, do you happen to know how it is done when taxes aren't identical to the ones paid on your ticket, for instance due to a last minute swap from hubbing through MUC to a routing through the more expensive FRA, even though both are in the same milage zone?

FWIW, I've been taken onboard by a certain ZED carrier which doesn't have an agreement with my company, although that was on a regular ZM fare, so maybe that's completely different then?

As a last question: how common are ZL tickets actually? We're entitled to them on a handful of airlines since a few months now, so I am fairly new to this, hence me asking.

Originally Posted by qxramper

So lets say i have a ZL on DL from NRT-SEA. I could use This same ticket on UA NRT-SEA Because our agreements with them are also ZL?

That's an easy one: since both accept ZL, and the route is the same, that's a definite YES.

Even if the route would not be exactly the same, but within the same milage zone, the answer should be YES.

My question is what UA would do if they'd only have a ZM agreement in place with your airline, whereas DL has the ZL and you try to board the UA plane with your ZL ticket, originally intended for use on DL. I've heart from people that they got on the plane of a ZM carrier with a ZL ticket without problems, but then others have told me this is not possible, so I'd like to know what are the rules on this, and how 'flexible' they are in real world...