Originally Posted by
MarJon
Maybe a better way to ask it is, how do you use EF functionality when making paid-for reservations well in advance?
Personally, I use it to see available fares and to check the rules of cheaper fares to see whether/how/when I could build a trip to take advantage of them.
In addition, I check the expiry (or ticket by) dates of the fares so that I know how urgent the decision-making process is. (While fare rules are available via ITA as well, you can only see them after picking specific dates; EF allows the exploration process to be done in the opposite order.)
The availability displays then point me to the flights on which I'm likely to be able to get space, and identify flights which won't work for the fares I want to pay.
Minimum Connection Time information also helps me to build itineraries, if I'm dubious about the connections that are automatically offered.
And while personal schedules and flight timings are likely to dictate which flights I take, in the case of a dead heat then I might use seat maps to pick a flight that's got physical seats on the aircraft that I prefer.