Originally Posted by
aacharya
Fare class is a much better indicator, and requires one less click.
You know, every time we have one of these threads, we have this debate. ;-)
I simply disagree.
What you said is the common perspective on FT. But, in my practical experience, I find seat maps to be more valuable than they are given credit for and I look at the maps as well as the fare class buckets.
Recently, I had an eye-opener. There was a thread where it was discussed that LH actually holds back fare class availability (capped at 4) even when it's larger than 4. This made me realize that there could be a case where a fare bucket shows something less than 9, but, there are more than 9 seats for sale, because an airline might not show all inventory.
Why they do this? I have no idea. But, it shows the value of checking seat maps to corroborate what is shown in fare buckets.
Fare buckets can be > 9 and there can be fewer seats if they are planning to oversell also.
Originally Posted by
goodeats21
It is a piece of the puzzle, and is helpful in the way you describe.
It is not a science and is subject to pretty dramatic changes, especially in irrops. All indicators can look good for an upgrade (fare buckets, seat maps, historical experience, high booking class)...but watch what happens if an earlier flight to that destination cancels.
Totally agree. I was given a tough lesson in this recently. I booked DEL-MUC-SFO on LH hoping to use GPU, about 3 weeks out. F and J were both wide open, in fact, they were almost empty. All buckets were at 9. It seemed like the closest thing imaginable to a no-brainer. On day of departure, all buckets were at 0. Everything on both flights was sold out.
Besides irrops and other similar factors, I think airlines generally, and UA in particular, have become vastly more aggressive about selling inventory either with cheap HODs/TODs or by dropping P/Z fares to irresistible levels.