US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Overbooked, but by how much?

a cp international rep told me the other day that my fiancee and i have been confirmed in seats 1 g/h phl-fra on a 330 (yay!) for an upcoming flight. she also said that the flight was "quite oversold in back".

this has led us to brainstorm possible alternative plans -- since this is a purely leisure trip for us, we'd be willing to change our plans some in exchange for a free ticket (if, indeed, that's what they offer on international routes -- i'm not even sure what they offer).

but is there a way to tell how far oversold a flight is? best i can tell, itn just zeroes out -- doesn't provide information about how oversold a particular flight might be.

i called the cp desk back and talked to a different rep who responded as though i were threatening our national security by asking how oversold it was. she was aghast to hear that one of her colleagues had even allowed it to slip that the flight was oversold at all. she went on at some length about how even if she could tell me, she wouldn't because (quoting directly) "i don't have time to do that -- i am in sales. that is what the company tells me. this is my job -- feel sorry for me." whatever. then quit, sweetheart.

anybody know if/how i can tell? my sister used to work for delta and could find that stuff out, but i think that may be because she had access to info that the public may not be able to see.

lemme know if anyone's got any know-how. thanks.

-- he who slacks

[This message has been edited by OverpaidSlacker (edited 09-24-2003).]

I have been told that "real" numbers are not available outside the US system. Sabre and other air systems do not carry the oversold number.

At least this is what I have been told. Could be wrong.

That's company sensitive information, so don't count on getting it. And, that number likely changes on a daily basis. If it were 20 oversold today, for example, it could be only 5 oversold tomorrow based on people's travel patterns changing. In fact, as your trip date nears, you may see some of those zeros in ITN start to increase.

I recommend you simply keep those great seats 1G/F and take the trip as planned. If, when you get to the gate, they are looking for volunteers, see what they are offering. Being that you are in Envoy, they may not be as interested if you were in oversold coach, though.

I don't believe it's worth it, though. A free 'bump' ticket on US is subject to capacity controls like an award ticket. In the end, it's not nearly the value that you get by a nice transatlantic trip in row 1 on the A330.

In my practical experience even a flight that is oversold even by like 15-25 will sometimes go out with open seats in Coach. It's really sirprising to me sometimes, but with people changing plans, misconnects, weather, anything like that, even if it looks overbooked it may not be when push comes to shove, I'm not saying they don't ask for volunteers, but everytime I get excited in a similar situation it never works out.

Have fun on your flight though!

I volunteered my seat for PHL-AMS this past May & I had my choice of either $400 check or a $600 travel voucher. (I chose the $600 voucher). I went out the next day at the same time.

In June of 2000, I received a $600 voucher for volunteering my seat on CLT-FRA. They put me on a flight CLT-CDG & on LH CDG-FRA. I arrived about 5 hrs later & had a very nice lunch at CDG with US paying for it.

The free tickets are usually for giving up seats on the domestic legs.

I would believe that if you gave up your seat, you would get (my guess) a $600 voucher, seats in Envoy the next day. Doesn't hurt to ask when the time comes.

As for booking loads, the clubs are pretty decent letting me know what loads are on my upcoming flights.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by OverpaidSlacker:
i called the cp desk back and talked to a different rep who responded as though i were threatening our national security by asking how oversold it was. she was aghast to hear that one of her colleagues had even allowed it to slip that the flight was oversold at all. she went on at some length about how even if she could tell me, she wouldn't because (quoting directly) "i don't have time to do that -- i am in sales. that is what the company tells me. this is my job -- feel sorry for me." whatever. then quit, sweetheart.</font>

Um, maybe she should read US Airways' Customer Commitment #9
http://www.usairways.com/customers/customer_commitment/

"We commit to tell you, upon request, if your flight is overbooked."

AS for getting a free trip, US's standard offering is a $400 check or a $600 voucher. Even if you flight is oversold, a lot can change. Sometimes the count will decrease by as much as 40 on the day of departure, from misconnects and noshows and the like, so its anybody's guess.

I don't think that anyone outside of US would be able to tell you how oversold a flight is, but within US, just about everyone has access to that information, so you could try sweet-talking an agent at the airport.

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No thanks, I'm just lurking. Call me the Lurker!

[This message has been edited by The Lurker (edited 09-24-2003).]

The exact number of seats overbooked is company proprietary information. Ask the clerk at the store how much cash they have in the safe, and you will get the same response: "None of your business".

If an agent gives you the overbooking numbers, that person may be terminated. Go right ahead and badger them -- maybe they'll get away with it, and maybe you'll end up helping BBB get rid of another employee at no cost to him. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

Also, let's please use the correct terms. If a flight is sold out, it means all fare buckets are zero, and you cannot buy a ticket. It can't be "more sold out". It's either sold out or available (not sold out).

Let's say the flight is sold out, and the overbooking count is X (number of reservations minus number of seats on the plane). If the inventory people decide that the flight deserves more sales, they can add more seats to inventory, and suddenly the flight is not sold out anymore. However, the overbooking count at the moment the seats are added to inventory is still X. Unless they change the equipment type to change the physical number of seats on the plane, they cannot change X.

The only thing they can do is allow the flight to become even more overbooked by adding seats to inventory and then sit back and watch people buy more tickets.

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"There's no sadder sight in this world than that of a football player trying to think." -- Daria