USEast1

I have been reading some of the upgrade threads trying to figure out this little game that you seem to have to play.

Anyway, is is true that flights holdd 25% of their F seats until day of departure to be released at the airport.

Therefore, would a 757 have 2/8 F seats held until departure all the time?

Now, also, if the availability on ExpertFlyer is indeed showing F0, does that truly mean at this time, there are none left, or have they just been released to the airport?

thanks

PHL

F0 usually means that all the seats are spoken for. The 25% rule isn't fast and hard. Yield management is a science that nobody except the bean counters fully understands. They have nothing to lose by holding back a few seats until departure date.

USEast1

fair enough, thanks.

McFlyPHL

I think it should be 25% (or that's the intent). Considering they don't SELL 25% yet often wind up with F0 before flights, I'm guessing that if you game the system correctly in the last day or so, you'll be able to score an upgrade.

PremiumSeat

The 25% rule applies to almost every legacy US (US East) operated domestic flight within 7 days. From 8 days to 331 days, the hold back is 50%. At the 7 day mark (CP upgrade window) it flips to 25%. Years ago, the holdback used to be 25% at all times. The only consistent exception is LAS where the holdback is 100% until the gate. This rule does not apply to any international flights (including the Caribbean/Mexico/Latin America) in which case the hold back is generally 75% or more until 7 days before departure. Personally, I think the 25% domestic formula is good. Some airlines like UA use much more complicated logarithms to determine what seats are available for upgrade --- these numbers can change multiple times per day. US uses fixed numbers and, in my opinion, is a much, much better system.

If it shows F-0, that generally means all of the seats are gone. Even after the flight is under airport control, it will still show availability until around boarding time.

mrhotelman

I am not sure where you have gotten this information from. But it is incorrect. LAS flights operate under the same policies/procedures with regards to upgrades as any other flight.

LAX1K to AmWest

I can confirm that I have been upgraded ahead of the gate on the LAS-PHL flights..

kudzu

I found this true in several trips CLT-LAS last year...I simply could not clear at my window, no matter how wide open the flight, and I remember the gate dances

Jan 2007 - all 3 weekends so far have been spent in LAS, and I'm glad to report that all but one upgrades have cleared at the window ^ A nice change, indeed.

mrhotelman

Its got nothing to do with the window or how many seats they hold back, etc. It has to do with the fact that most of the time they run those horribly configured 757s with only 8 F seats in them. Thats why the chances of getting an upgrade ahead of time are so slim. As I said before, the policy on seats being held back does not vary from one market to the next.