C9 but UA says oversold?
Mar 7, 2006, 7:48 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 1999
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
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C9 but UA says oversold?
Okay, so I'm looking at a FRA-SFO flight and United.com shows C9 and the seatmap shows 21 seats un-assigned. But when I call UA they say it is sold-out /oversold. What's the story? Does LH have seats that UA shows as sold or something? I mean I know they overbook, but for it to say sold out and for it to show C9 and D9 seems very odd.
Mar 7, 2006, 7:49 pm
#2
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: San Francisco
Programs: UA 1K MM, AA EXP, US CP, *W Plat, Hyatt Plat, Marriott Silver, HH Gold
Posts: 449
Could be a function of cargo they carry/plan to carry on the flight.
Mar 7, 2006, 7:55 pm
#3
Join Date: Feb 2001
Posts: 1,724
Did reservations say the flight is oversold or sold-out? I believe those things are usually different. A flight can be oversold, but United can still want to sell numerous seats on the flight. However, in this case, I find it unlikely that the flight is oversold in C, yet United is willing to sell at least 9 more seats. Have you tried calling back to see if another agent always says it is oversold? Additionally, is it possible they were saying that Y is sold out, but united.com is showing C9 for business? Lastly, the seatmap is rarely an accurate indicator of the number of seats left.
Mar 7, 2006, 8:27 pm
#4
Join Date: Nov 2004
Programs: UAL
Posts: 4,746
What do the other fare buckets say?
If they're all 9s, you could be seeing some sort of glitch.
Yeah, I know. A glitch in UA's computers. Just how likely could that possibly be?
If they're all 9s, you could be seeing some sort of glitch.
Yeah, I know. A glitch in UA's computers. Just how likely could that possibly be?
Mar 7, 2006, 8:31 pm
#5
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Alexandria, Va. USA
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I think they mean overbooked. It will only be oversold on departure day if more pax show up than the number of available seats. These two terms are sometimes used interchangably as though they mean the same. They do not.
Mar 7, 2006, 8:34 pm
#6
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Join Date: Oct 2004
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Posts: 13,967
UA can and does oversell the C cabin, and they may be doing so on this flight. What are your dates/flights?
Mar 7, 2006, 9:17 pm
#7
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: What I write is my opinion alone..don't read into it anything not written.
Posts: 9,686
Lets say, for insstnace that the plane has 12 F seats and 49 C seats. Lets take a made up example of say a 20% no show rate for the biz cabin. 20%=10 passengers. The underwriter/statistician would say to overbook by 12, (20% of the cabin, plus 20% of the overbook) but I would bet UA would not be so aggressive as an IDB for paid C could be VERY costly, both short term and long term. Now say that F is sold to 1, and there is little probability of selling more, yet C has alot of demand...you could operationaly upgrade 11 more C seat (not couting the 12 you got for the no show rate) and on average, get away with overbooking by 22-23 seats.
This is an EXTREME made up example, but one that probablility says would be a revenue generating move for UA.
And oversold does NOT mean more peoople show up than there are more seats. The OP has it correct, oversold means more confirmed reservations than seats. DENIED BOARDING means more people show up than there are more seats.
Don't try to understand the airlines, go with the flow, book the best value you can get, and fly on the best airline with the best value for your $$/comfort possibly. Trying to figure out individualy what 100's of employees with data behind them is a no-win situation for you.
This is an EXTREME made up example, but one that probablility says would be a revenue generating move for UA.
And oversold does NOT mean more peoople show up than there are more seats. The OP has it correct, oversold means more confirmed reservations than seats. DENIED BOARDING means more people show up than there are more seats.
Don't try to understand the airlines, go with the flow, book the best value you can get, and fly on the best airline with the best value for your $$/comfort possibly. Trying to figure out individualy what 100's of employees with data behind them is a no-win situation for you.