Originally Posted by
sexykitten7
Well the next flight showed Full in coach and first on the app. It's possible the GAs had better intel than me but I don't think so. There were 4 GAs split between 2 gates (boarding simultaneously) and during the announcement she said "We're looking for volunteers on our flight to (where? oh.) FLL," which didn't inspire confidence. My theory is bolstered by the fact that both flights went out full with no standbys.
Of course, for all I know, the first flight went out even and no one was harmed, but it did strike me as odd to offer seats you don't have (according to the app).
Were seats available for sale? "Full" on the app is more of a suggestion than anything else. I've SDC'ed onto flights that were listed as Full, and I've also seen flights go from Full to Available repeatedly. I
think it shows Full when the flight is 100% booked, but that doesn't mean they're not willing to oversell by a few seats more.
My guess is that if any volunteers from the first flight were needed, they were put into confirmed space on the second flight, even if it appeared "Full" on the app. That
might have pushed the second flight into an overbooked situation, which could then have been resolved with more volunteers or natural attrition (no shows / missed connections). It's also possible that they knew they'd need two seats and proactively grabbed them (making the flight show Full in the app). And, from time to time, UA does get the number exactly right -- they overbook by exactly the number of no-shows they end up with and the flight goes out even.
I'd actually love to volunteer only to find that the seat they tried to offer wasn't really there. I'd expect a big payday.
