J,C,D,I,Z are Upper Class fares in order of the most to the least expensive & flexible.
W,S,H,K are Premium and Y onwards are Economy.
So J6 C4 D2 I0 Z0 doesn’t mean there are 12 seats free in UC, it means VS are willing to sell a total of 6 seats, all of them at full price (J), 4 at the next most expensive price (C), 2 at the next most expensive (D) but none in the cheapest buckets (I & Z).
It doesn’t even mean there are necessarily 6 seats free in UC: airlines oversell so there may well be fewer, but they’re willing to sell 6 nonetheless and hope there’ll be some no shows.
Also note the numbers for each bucket never exceed 9, so Y9 could mean there are 9 full fare Economy tickets for sale or 299. But if you see 9s across the board it’s a pretty good indication that the flight is quiet.
Never rely on load checks though - things can change very quickly if, say, an earlier flight is cancelled and its passengers are rebooked on yours at the last minute. And even a seemingly quiet Premium or UC cabin can leave full thanks to upgrades and staff travel.
The 81% in the example above does not mean the flight is 81% full, but indicates that flight’s punctuality record. 17m means it’s, on average, 17 minutes late (which is nothing for a long haul flight).
Last edited by gumshoe on 29 May 2018, 13:27, edited 2 times in total.
