Originally Posted by
lori in az
I am planning to book a flight that have one stop in Newark, NJ. The first flight began in PHX and 2nd leg end in Quebec City, Canada. The second plane is very small: Embraer RJ145 (Continental).
I can see that there's only one seat left in the last row but the problem is that I need to book two and on their website it still accept two of us.
I am wondering, is it possible that they will upgrade to bigger plane? Or I really have to hope that someone will miss the flight in order for us to get on together? Do planes ever switch planes when they see that they need more seats as time get closer?
If the site sells you two confirmed tickets, then the airline is committing to take you on that flight except in the very rare case of involuntary denied boarding (IDB), in which case they'd be required to rebook you onto other flights and pay each of you up to $800 cash (unless there are different rules for Canada in place).
Reality: getting IDB'ed is very, very rare. The airline will first look for volunteers willing to accept vouchers or free flights to use later. You guys would be as eligible to volunteer to take vouchers if you like the offer as anyone.
But that's only if they are actually oversold: the more likely reality is that everything works out, a few people don't show up, and the flight goes out as planned without any problems.
Equipment change is also very unlikely: that tends to happen more often as a result of irregular ops (whether with your plane or another one) - not as a result of a flight selling out.
There are days when I'll be headed for the airport thinking it's going to be a near-certain VDB-fest...depending on where I'm headed, I'm sometimes willing to accept vouchers for a later flight. More often than not, I'm wrong and they have the flights loaded about right.