Originally Posted by
jerryhze
For transpacific flights (US-Asia), what would be the best day to book for GUC waitlisting? I would assume not weekend since they are more popular, but on the other hand they are more popular for leisure flyers in Y? Weekday load factor should be lower, but maybe higher percentage of business travelers (thus taking away potential J space for GUC)?
This is the real question, isn't it?
My best guess would be Wednesday is the best option.
For domestic travel, weekends are often quieter up front. But for longhaul, and especially very longhaul like Asia, it's not uncommon for business travelers to go for a couple of weeks at a time, and to travel over the weekend since you lose so much time getting there. If you want to get to Asia for a Monday morning meeting, with any of Delta's Asia flights you need to depart on Saturday. (Presumably some business travelers are setting when their meetings will take place and don't want to lose their weekend, so they push for meetings later in the week -- but for most people if your client tells you the meeting is on Monday morning, you get on the Saturday flight.)
In theory even a Monday flight might have lower front cabin loads since that only gets you to Asia in time for a Wednesday meeting, but if people are doing a 2-week trip and don't want to give up their weekend beforehand, Monday departures could still be attractive.
Delta probably skews somewhat more toward US-based travelers than foreign travelers, but people based at the other end come into play too. Like Thursday departures from the US aren't likely attractive to many US-based business travelers, unless they are going for Monday and want to get there a few days early to sightsee or adjust to the jet lag, but Thursday departures would be attractive to any business travelers based in Asia who are on a trip to the US and want to get home by the weekend.