J seat map full, yet tickets for sale
Jan 6, 2019, 10:06 pm
#1
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J seat map full, yet tickets for sale
Was looking at a flight from BWI to MIA on a 738. ExpertFlyer showed J2 but showed a full J cabin. On aa.com, I could buy the J ticket but it also showed no seats available. I'm not sure I've ever seen this in J. Any ideas why this might be?
Last edited by ikwia; Jan 7, 2019 at 11:03 am
Jan 6, 2019, 10:58 pm
#4
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The airline is banking on one or more of the following:
- A passenger will no-show
- A passenger will mis-connect
- A passenger will cancel or change flights in advanced
- A passenger booked in discount I will accept compensation to move to Y or J in another flight for less than the delta between their I and your J ticket.
Jan 6, 2019, 11:26 pm
#5
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Yes, I'm aware of the concept of overbooking. With that said, IME, which is perhaps not representative, AA doesn't generally overbook domestic J cabins. So I am still surprised to see this. Equipment is 738, as mentioned in the original post.
Jan 6, 2019, 11:37 pm
#6
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If there's also a FC cabin, AA can move some people up from J to F to create space. I doubt that the displaced passengers would complain or demand compensation for such an OPUP. [This is unlikely for the aircraft used on the route mentioned in the OP.]
Jan 7, 2019, 12:42 am
#7
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Did you check expert flyer to see if any of the seats might mearly be blocked and not occupied.
Jan 7, 2019, 5:53 am
#8
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Data point: A couple days ago I changed my DFW-EGE booking to an earlier flight time which showed J2D2I2 where all seats were marked as occupied on aa.com and EF. I set up an EF seat alert for all 16 seats and was alerted the next morning then went online and got my seat assignments. When I changed the ticket, the agent said they do overbook domestic first, but not on the DFW-EGE route.
Jan 7, 2019, 6:08 am
#9
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Was not aware of any 3-class 738's, with F/J/Y, so wondering if this might just be a glitch in the seating chart. If 2-class, a 738 ought to show as F/Y, Is OP booking an onward international connection?
Jan 7, 2019, 7:21 am
#11
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A 2 class domestic 738 uses J despite the marketing that says first class.
Jan 7, 2019, 7:22 am
#12
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Jan 7, 2019, 7:30 am
#13
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I'm curious how prevalent this is. As mentioned in my original post, I'm not sure I've ever seen this before, on thousands of domestic flights. I'm not at all saying it doesn't happen, but I suspect that the overbooking is focused on specific routes or even flights. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone with good info on this topic.
Jan 7, 2019, 7:46 am
#14
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I'm curious how prevalent this is. As mentioned in my original post, I'm not sure I've ever seen this before, on thousands of domestic flights. I'm not at all saying it doesn't happen, but I suspect that the overbooking is focused on specific routes or even flights. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone with good info on this topic.
Jan 7, 2019, 10:32 am
#15
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Interestingly enough I booked a last minute first ticket this past weekend (4 hours prior to departure) and was in the same situation where there were no seats to be assigned. When I checked in at the Admirals Club the agent noticed I didn't have a seat, and I told him I would check back prior to departing, but he mentioned there was a software bug right now that reserved some first seats when they shouldn't have been reserved and was quickly able to get me a seat. So perhaps this is also a reason.