Jan 1, 2014, 6:10 am
Last edit by: NWIFlyer
If you wish to request availability for a specific flight, please state the date and origin/departure airport codes, not just the flight number.
Please also restrict requests to BA/oneworld flights - flights for other airlines may be removed to avoid cluttering the thread and taking it away from BAEC.
As of 15 Oct 2014 flightstats.com no longer displays flight availability.
Fare class availability can be queried in various ways*:
* Please update wiki if you know of any others.
** Origin of data concealed
What do the codes mean?
Suppose we have a result as F1 A0 J9 C7 D0 RC IC W9 E9 T4 Y9 BC HC ...
This means:
There is 1 seat in the F bucket for sale
There are 0 seats in the A and D bucket for sale, but you can join the waitlist in case seats get released later.
There are at least 9 seats in the J, W, E and Y buckets.
The R, I, B and H buckets are closed to waitlisting.
There are two important things to note about how to interpret these numbers that many people don't understand as it is very counter intuitive:
1) There is NO direct relation to the actual number of seats available on the specific flight. They only mean that the airline is willing to sell this many seats on that specific flight. The airline may intend to oversell seats or withhold seats from sale for many reasons.
2) In the example above, the results show W9 E9 T4 (which are all WT+ buckets). This does not mean that there are 9+9+4=22 seats for sale. Interpret these numbers as "there are at least 9 seats for sale in WT+". There could really be anywhere between 9 and 22 seats for sale - we just can't tell from the numbers the system gives us. Therefore, the conservative approach of assuming that there are at least 9 seats for sale is usually the best one.
What does the "C" mean?
Closed to waitlisting.
In the example above we have RC, IC, BC and HC. This is different to A0 and D0: The A and D buckets are "full" but you can apply to join their waitlists (if your fare permits waitlisting). With R, I, B and H you cannot even request a seat.
The carrier will determine how to confirm your seat if it wishes. Sometimes this may happen immediately, other times only a few minutes before the flight's departure. The order of the waitlist is determined by the carrier privately, but your Executive Club status will push you towards the front of the queue. Many cheap fares do not allow waitlisting.
Differences for non-BA airlines
Please also restrict requests to BA/oneworld flights - flights for other airlines may be removed to avoid cluttering the thread and taking it away from BAEC.
As of 15 Oct 2014 flightstats.com no longer displays flight availability.
Fare class availability can be queried in various ways*:
* Please update wiki if you know of any others.
** Origin of data concealed
What do the codes mean?
Suppose we have a result as F1 A0 J9 C7 D0 RC IC W9 E9 T4 Y9 BC HC ...
This means:
There is 1 seat in the F bucket for sale
There are 0 seats in the A and D bucket for sale, but you can join the waitlist in case seats get released later.
There are at least 9 seats in the J, W, E and Y buckets.
The R, I, B and H buckets are closed to waitlisting.
There are two important things to note about how to interpret these numbers that many people don't understand as it is very counter intuitive:
1) There is NO direct relation to the actual number of seats available on the specific flight. They only mean that the airline is willing to sell this many seats on that specific flight. The airline may intend to oversell seats or withhold seats from sale for many reasons.
2) In the example above, the results show W9 E9 T4 (which are all WT+ buckets). This does not mean that there are 9+9+4=22 seats for sale. Interpret these numbers as "there are at least 9 seats for sale in WT+". There could really be anywhere between 9 and 22 seats for sale - we just can't tell from the numbers the system gives us. Therefore, the conservative approach of assuming that there are at least 9 seats for sale is usually the best one.
What does the "C" mean?
Closed to waitlisting.
In the example above we have RC, IC, BC and HC. This is different to A0 and D0: The A and D buckets are "full" but you can apply to join their waitlists (if your fare permits waitlisting). With R, I, B and H you cannot even request a seat.
The carrier will determine how to confirm your seat if it wishes. Sometimes this may happen immediately, other times only a few minutes before the flight's departure. The order of the waitlist is determined by the carrier privately, but your Executive Club status will push you towards the front of the queue. Many cheap fares do not allow waitlisting.
Differences for non-BA airlines
- Some carriers (those using Sabre such as AA) only show a maximum of 7 available seats (not 9). Others only show a maximum of 5.
- Some carriers use "L" instead of "0" (e.g., CL DL YL) to indicate you may waitlist for the seat. This tends to happen when the entire flight is on a list basis.
Help to check seat availability and flight loads
Sep 13, 2015, 6:37 am
#1561
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,857
They are a bit clever like that: at J and Y the differential in fares may not be high, so they would rather pack 'em in than turn it to J7. Depends on the start point of course, but LHR to LIS is now £575, J is £699. So a block of 3 in Y = £1724, whereas 2 CE is only £1398. I bet they are offering £145 POUGs to further squeeze the margin. It won't be full, but I would guess there's about 10 to 12 seat potentially available after allowing for no-shows. If it was J2 Y6 I would give a different opinion.
Sep 13, 2015, 6:56 am
#1562
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: London
Posts: 17,007
They are a bit clever like that: at J and Y the differential in fares may not be high, so they would rather pack 'em in than turn it to J7. Depends on the start point of course, but LHR to LIS is now £575, J is £699. So a block of 3 in Y = £1724, whereas 2 CE is only £1398. I bet they are offering £145 POUGs to further squeeze the margin. It won't be full, but I would guess there's about 10 to 12 seat potentially available after allowing for no-shows. If it was J2 Y6 I would give a different opinion.
Sep 13, 2015, 6:58 am
#1563
Join Date: Nov 2012
Programs: BA Bronze, United 1K, HH Gold, SPG Platinum, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 3,477
Code:
Frequency
Flight Stops Depart Arrive Aircraft Reliability Available Classes
0 Connections
BA 39 0 LHR PEK 744 Daily F9 A6 J9 C9 D9 R9 I9 W8 E3 TC Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L6 VC SC NC QC OC G0
16/10/15 16:30 17/10/15 9:30 54% / 30m
0 Connections
BA 38 0 PEK LHR 744 Daily F2 A0 J9 C9 D9 R5 IC W4 EC TC Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V9 S6 N1 QC O9 G0
24/10/15 11:15 24/10/15 15:10 60% / 31m
Last edited by StuckinITH; Sep 13, 2015 at 7:02 am Reason: More info
Sep 13, 2015, 2:34 pm
#1564
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 390
Anybody able to check BA25 on Tuesday 15th September?
Not able to change seats on MMB [don't particularly want to, just wanted to see what was available], which doesn't seem a good sign to me.
Not able to change seats on MMB [don't particularly want to, just wanted to see what was available], which doesn't seem a good sign to me.
Sep 13, 2015, 2:40 pm
#1565
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 2,676
Originally Posted by Wiki
If you wish to request availability for a specify flight, please state the date and origin/departure airport codes, not just the flight number.
Sep 13, 2015, 2:41 pm
#1566
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Kirkcaldy, Fife
Programs: BAEC Blue, United MP member, Marriott Reward Silver member, IHG, KimptonKarma
Posts: 107
Sep 13, 2015, 3:38 pm
#1569
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 2,676
Yes - WTP looks busy. But how busy it actually is is hard to tell. Could be already sold out and being oversold - but the back looks wide open - so I'd expect those are more likely to be exact seats numbers available.
Sep 13, 2015, 3:50 pm
#1571
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,857
Sep 13, 2015, 5:24 pm
#1573
Join Date: Dec 2013
Programs: QRPC Platinum, KFEG
Posts: 999
Is anyone able to check the fare buckets for BA33 (LHR-KUL) on Sunday, October 4th?
Thanks!
Thanks!
Sep 13, 2015, 5:25 pm
#1574
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,857
Unlikely to be an issue. The seat map often drops out if the flight is full around 3 days before departure - and that fullness may come from having to give free upgrades to CW customers. F is overbooked by one seat, but not usually close in, so if you had seen it as F0 and no seating open to you say a week ago then I'd have suspicions. If you booked very recently and never had a seat allocated then I'd worry. If overbooked, the last person in is usually the one for the chop. On the other hand if you have seats allocated and have been booked fora while, then you should be fine.
Sep 13, 2015, 5:53 pm
#1575
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Berkshire
Programs: BAEC GGL/CCR/LTG
Posts: 684