Sorry, what I meant to say in this second post, was that I had booked an econo fare - that is an error.

Empress:

I was not alluding to ITN, in terms of seat availability per se - however, ITN does tell me something if all fare classes are zeroed out, and there is an X before the flight, indicating that there is no seat selection available on that flight (for essentially all US flights, on the days in question). Even on the one or two flights where there were no zeroes across the board, when I clicked on those flights, a message came up that those particular flights were sold out, after all.

However, when I was booking the seats on the AC.com web site, and when I was clicking on the seat selection option, more than half the seats on both AC 550 and AC 551 (on the seat map) were available, to be selected. That tells me something (complementing the inference one can get from the fact that all fare categories were listed as being available on both flights).

My thread was not meant as a generalization that AC flights to American convention cities do not get full as early as US flights to these cities - but a question on this statement. It was not posed to ask about revenue management issues. What I am asking is whether the AC forum's participants personal experiences in terms of flying on AC, vs US carriers, to US cities, during conventions.

However, if my statement is true, then my thread is there to inform the AC forum participants living in USA close to the Canadian border, that AC flights to the US convention cities remains an option, if one has neglected to book the flights until close to the convention day.

This conference will have about 35,000 participants. COMDEX (in Las Vegas) which I have attended as a "guest" of my wife (several years ago, before the technology stocks' crash), has 100,000 participants. I wonder whether those YYZ to LAS (and back) flights on AC get sold out at all, and sold out (from personal experience of the AC forum participants) weeks to months, in advance of the conference.

I should also state that a few years ago, one of these large US medical conferences was held in Toronto. The domestic flights to Toronto, including those from Ottawa, Calgary, Montreal, Vancouver etc. had seats available, until the last day. The AC flights from various US cities, to Toronto had seats available, until a week, or so, before the convention. The US airlines had sold out flights, from their hubs to Toronto, a couple of months in advance of the conference.

FlyerGoldII

FlyerGoldII