US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Inventory management madness!

Called DM reservations at 8:00 PM Friday night to try and get a seat on the 9:15 PM CLT-MSY flight. Was able to book a 20K award in Z class on the spot on the phone, paid $75 same day ticketing fee plus $5 security fee, but the check in agent could not issue me a seat, said I'd have to get it at the gate.

Get to the gate and the agents asked how I got put on the flight. Turns out they were already taking volunteers, and when all was said and done they took two volunteers, including one to get me a seat.

Of course they wouldn't have needed a volunteer for my seat if they hadn't given me a seat in the first place just an hour before!

I don't see what is so unusual. Overbooking and seat allocation is all based on probabilities, and the number of no shows for this particular flight was below normal.

I would also bet that some full fare or positive space employee seats were booked after you, because as you say, Z class isn't allocated to flights that are expected to go out full.

It gets even better. Tried booking a Florida to Seattle trip for next weekend. Every time I went back to the previous selection, the price was different. It is a rolling tariff. Went from 300 bucks to 1200. Took me about 2 hours on and off, but eventually I hit the low end. Madness.