If you travel every week for work, I would be booking full fare (refundable), not non-basic restricted fares. Especially since if you are booking inside a week of departure the difference is not that great anyway.
>If you travel every week for work, I would be booking full fare (refundable), not non-basic restricted fares.
Why? I don’t fly that much, especially for work, and I’ve never had a problem getting to use my credits from cancelling flights. The price difference between credit-refundable and full refundable is usually significant and doesn’t offer me anything.
If the price difference is significant then sure. My experience booking 3-5 days ahead of time is there isn't much difference. In addition to no credits to keep track of, which don't seem to be your concern,
- simplifies expense filing
- if paying with a personal card (vs a corporate card), i'm not floating extra cash that is now converted to a credit
- full fare is less likely to get bumped on overbooking
If something is happening in my life where I can’t use my airline credit within a year, I’ve got bigger issues. Even then at least with Delta, you just have to book a flight using the credit before it expires - and the flight can be after the credit would have expired - wait 24 hours cancel the ticket and then receive a new credit that resets the timer.
Why? I don’t fly that much, especially for work, and I’ve never had a problem getting to use my credits from cancelling flights. The price difference between credit-refundable and full refundable is usually significant and doesn’t offer me anything.