Overbooked?

I'm flying LGW > MCO on VS27 on 15th March (full W fare). The "Availability Tool" shows the remaining seats as:
J2 D2 Z2 W4 S7 K1 Y0 B0 L0 M0

Now, I'm new to this interpretation malarky, but I'm thinking that this shows limited availability in UC, ok availability in PE, and Econ sold out (possibly overbooked). Am I right? [?]

Cheers!

[Pete]

Yup, Economy looks very oversold (although keep an eye on it, as it can change all the way up to the time of departure).

Upper is also looking pretty full - odd that that would fill up quicker than PE, especially on a B&S route.

Pix

[Nottingham Nick]

The same happened to me on a recent BOS flight - showing oversold until a week before the flight, then more seats were relaesed - it was full when we took off though!

Nick

Thanks guys - I wonder what's going on there then, or is it not so strange to have this type of booking behaviour?

[mitchja]

Try the Expedia seat map tool too.

I've just checked for VS19 on 18th Apr for my flight using Availabllity Checker:

LHR SFO 1100 1350 VS 19 J4 D4 Z4 W4 S7 K0 Y7 B7 L7 M7 74S

Glad it showing the magic 74S though.
On Expedia however, its showing 32 empty J seats - at least its showing my 6K seat as been occupied which is a good thing!!!!! Looks like the Expedia map is a Suite map as it goes up to row 20 in J.

James

quote:Try the Expedia seat map tool too.

Now, I've seen mention of this before, but I can't see how to view the seat map - do I have to reserve the flight?

[mitchja]

Hi Michael

No you dont have to reserve the flight - not sure if you need to be logged on and regestered with Expedia though, even if you do it's free.

Go through the normal flight booking process - you will need to enter your name any other personal details but on that page make sure you check the 'Choose specific seats' option then click proceed to booking. The seat map should then load. On exiting the seat map page you are taken to the credit card number page, obviously dont enter anything else here but just click 'Cancel and view itinerary'then click 'Delete this flight' then 'yes to confirm deletion'

James

Thanks for that - I dunno why I've always missed that "choose specific seats" option, maybe 'cos I've never booked a flight through Expedia

Having looked, I didn't get any options for PE (don't Expedia offer that?), UC showed only 9K free, and no flights were found for Econ (presuming that means "full").

All this reminds me, I'm going to have to chase up on my tickets when I get in the office tomorrow

Cheers

[mitchja]

Opppps sorry - I forgot Expedia dont do PE (or any other enhanced economy) - How crazy is that [?] [?]

quote:How crazy is that

Just a little bit! I don't know why that should be - although I do know that CO and other airlines that codeshare VS metal flights aren't allowed to sell PE. Can't see that affecting Expedia too much though

quote:Originally posted by me
I'm flying LGW > MCO on VS27 on 15th March (full W fare). The "Availability Tool" shows the remaining seats as:
J2 D2 Z2 W4 S7 K1 Y0 B0 L0 M0

At one stage a few days ago, it was:
J0 D0 Z0 W7 S4 K0 Y0 B0 L0

Interesting, the day before the flight, it's now:
J3 D3 Z1 W4 S4 K4 Y4 B0 L0

[?]

[Nottingham Nick]

Michael

I am guessing here, and I could be WAY off the mark, but I wonder if Virgin Holidays or other travel agents have anything to do with this?

Presumably they book a block of seats on each plane and if they don't sell them I am assuming they 'return' them to VS - thereby making them available again.

Just a thought

Nick

Nick

Good call, this could well be it - UC was not full, can't speak for PE as I didn't venture upstairs, but Economy was busting at the seams (kids - aaargh!)

Cheers

Could someone please tell me where this 'availability tool' is?

I'd like to check my flights in September...

Thanks.

TJ

TJ

You can get it from:
http://www.stud.ntnu.no/~hartberg/ft/SabretoolSetup.htm

Cheers

[Bazz]

Michael,

I noticed the same thing with my recent flight, availability increased slightly just before the flight departure, I assumed certain reserved seats had been released or there had been some cancellations.

Bazz

Yeah, it's looking like that - just seems strange that they're leaving it til the day before departure to release them (unless of course, this is something to do with pre-check-in upgrading?). If it's VH that are reserving them, I doubt that VS direct can sell from that allocation until it's released - not maximizing revenue?

Cheers

Michael,

Thanks for the link to the tool

Have downloaded it and will check out my September flights

It's a shame the tool isn't available on Mac OS X though [:(] I have to access it on my work PC.

Anyhow! Thanks again

TJ

TJ

No problem, but sorry about the MAC - that's the only link I know of, although you might want to check out the FlyerTalk pages to see if there's an alternative?

Cheers