C Inventory Question
 

I may have missed this... If I have an upgradeable fare, is the inventory taken from C? I am tracking a flight for later this month and see the C inventory declining and thought that was strange, as we can't request the upg until 7 days prior to the flight.

OR is this also the inventory that is used for reward tickets?

I asked the same question just a few mins ago in a different thread. In thinking about it, I am guessing what happens is that as the plane fills up, they take back from C and put it into J so as to maintain J at 9.

However I wait for the experts http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Remember the "New Math" with sets and subsets? At least to us older folk it was new!

C is a subset of J
Just as B is a subset of Y, and V is a subset of B.

As the C inventory is used, [It is also the class used by Air Canada Executives] it will decrement. But also as J is sold, it might trigger the Revenue management program as being different from the original booking curve. If J stays at 9 then the C inventory will likely rise again. A conversion of J inventory to D [aeroplan reward] will suddenly change the program also.

To specifically answer your question...

C is sold as discounted biz class and IS the inventory used for upgrades.

D is used as reward inventory for biz class.

J is full fare biz class.

S is the J class seating on routes (YYZ-GLA for example) that don't give J class service.

Dorian

An increasing number of international routes have a paid C fare, including LHR and TLV. This and the other reasons might explain the shrinking C inventory. What route are you looking at?

As I just posted on the other thread the IMartin refers to, (i) reward seats (ii) RTW's (iii) paid C seats all affect the C-class count

Actually the whole flight affects C class. If a flight starts to overbook, you'll see C class slowly goes down or even being zeroed out. Just because no one took a seat from that inventory doesn't mean it'll remain the same until departure date.

Isn't that all of the routes now? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif Sorry, couldn't resist... bad Dogstar.

Thanks all. It is a LHR-YYZ route and it looks like there are still J9 C1 Y9... and the seat maps shows J almost completely open (yes, I know that could mean there are J class pax without preassigned seats)

But flight is still 10 days away so I guess there is hope.

SO - when I call to get the upg and there is no C inventory, will they put me on a waitlist and is that on a first-come basis?

You'll be placed on a waitlist and it is on a first come-first served basis. Beware though, last time i was on the waitlist for YVR-HKG, I found out that you don't clear the waitlist immediately if C class appears in the inventory, it's probably a couple times a day sweep thing. I happen to be checking ITN and saw my flight went from C0 to C1, I called AC up right away and agent told me I wasn't upgraded yet and did it for me right away.

[Btw, just proved again that ITN is quite accurate. Upgraded my YVR-YYZ flight next week and C immediately dropped by one. It's quite accurate once the number goes below 9.]

I wonder what the sweeps for the waitlist for upgrades are on other airlines. When I last flew on AA a few years ago, as CP Gold (there were reciprocal privileges between AA and CP for upgrades), the computer checked the availability of upgrades every 2 hours.

Vaab: You should also be careful if your waitlist hasn't been confirmed to a seat I, and others, have been waitlisted, then when we checked at the gate there was no record of the waitlist staus at all. Be sure to check that you're on their file once you get to the airport.

I don't believe the C class waitlist transfers to the airport. It's probably a whole new list once the flight is under airport control.

Yes, it is a new list when under Airport control because their list only shows PAX actually checked in with a boarding pass for the flight.

I think it was better than that -- probably pseudo-real-time. As an Executive Platinum I regularly received e-mails confirming my upgrade within seconds of the threshold. I think the best was 4 seconds.