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Help to check BA seat availability and BA flight loads

Old Jul 9, 2017, 11:09 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: Tobias-UK
This is community help desk which allows members to assist each other in finding out how many seats are available on any given flight.

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 and probably unauthorised (so buyer beware)


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.
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Help to check BA seat availability and BA flight loads

Old Jul 9, 2017, 1:10 pm
  #31  
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: NCL
Programs: FB Plat; BAEC Gold
Posts: 930
Would someone be able to post the seat map for tomorrow's BA1?
DaveNCL is offline  
Old Jul 9, 2017, 3:42 pm
  #32  
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: London
Programs: SK Gold, ITA Executive, Sixt Diamond, Hertz PC, Avis PC, IHG Platinum
Posts: 5,163
Originally Posted by DaveNCL
Would someone be able to post the seat map for tomorrow's BA1?
jms_uk is offline  
Old Jul 9, 2017, 10:43 pm
  #33  
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: NCL
Programs: FB Plat; BAEC Gold
Posts: 930
Thanks jms_uk.
DaveNCL is offline  
Old Jul 11, 2017, 2:03 pm
  #34  
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 77
Can someone please check:

LHR-DXB 22/07 and 23/07

Flight numbers are BA107, 109 and 105
Crubber is offline  
Old Jul 11, 2017, 4:20 pm
  #35  
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: ANR, BELGIUM
Programs: DIAMANTAIRE EXTRAORDINAIRE
Posts: 453
Hello

Please could someone let me know the loads for :

19/07/17 BA 397 BRU-LHR
19/07/17 BA 109 LHR-DXB

Thanx a lot in advance for the help
diamantaire is offline  
Old Jul 11, 2017, 8:04 pm
  #36  
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London
Programs: BAEC : GGL; HHonors : Diamond
Posts: 181
Originally Posted by Crubber
Can someone please check:

LHR-DXB 22/07 and 23/07

Flight numbers are BA107, 109 and 105
Here you go - a LOT of zeroes!!
Attached Images  
timcjp is offline  
Old Jul 11, 2017, 8:07 pm
  #37  
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London
Programs: BAEC : GGL; HHonors : Diamond
Posts: 181
Originally Posted by diamantaire
Hello

Please could someone let me know the loads for :

19/07/17 BA 397 BRU-LHR
19/07/17 BA 109 LHR-DXB

Thanx a lot in advance for the help
Here you go:
Attached Images  
timcjp is offline  
Old Jul 12, 2017, 1:28 am
  #38  
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: ANR, BELGIUM
Programs: DIAMANTAIRE EXTRAORDINAIRE
Posts: 453
Originally Posted by timcjp
Here you go:
Thanx a lot timcjp
diamantaire is offline  
Old Jul 12, 2017, 2:00 am
  #39  
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 77
Originally Posted by timcjp
Here you go - a LOT of zeroes!!
Thanks for that timcjp. Something doesn't seem quite right with those figures for the dates. I know for a fact that there were at least 50 seats on each flight a couple of days ago. Just wanted it double checked
Crubber is offline  
Old Jul 12, 2017, 2:15 am
  #40  
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: BHX
Programs: BA GGL CCR GfL, SQ Gold, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond, Marriott Plat, Cafe Nero Loyalty Card (7 Stamps)
Posts: 7,325
Originally Posted by Crubber
Thanks for that timcjp. Something doesn't seem quite right with those figures for the dates. I know for a fact that there were at least 50 seats on each flight a couple of days ago. Just wanted it double checked
The seat maps show a LOT of unallocated seats, but given it's the first day of the school holidays for most of the UK I'm not surprised to see them zeroed out.
Wozza2404 is offline  
Old Jul 12, 2017, 2:17 am
  #41  
Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club, easyJet and Ryanair
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: UK/Las Vegas
Programs: BA Gold (GGL/CCR)
Posts: 15,913
Originally Posted by Crubber
Thanks for that timcjp. Something doesn't seem quite right with those figures for the dates. I know for a fact that there were at least 50 seats on each flight a couple of days ago. Just wanted it double checked
Crubber welcome to FlyerTalk and the BA community. It's always good to see new contributors, now that you've broken your duck please do stay around.

How did you know there were at least 50 seats a couple of days ago, if you don't mind me asking?
Tobias-UK is offline  
Old Jul 12, 2017, 2:52 am
  #42  
Ziz
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Canada
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 1,253
Would someone mind checking BA99 LHR-YYZ July 19 and BA98 YYZ-LHR August 1? Thanks!
Ziz is offline  
Old Jul 12, 2017, 2:55 am
  #43  
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Lewes, UK
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 231
Originally Posted by Ziz
Would someone mind checking BA99 LHR-YYZ July 19 and BA98 YYZ-LHR August 1? Thanks!
UK Position

BA 99
LHR 19/07/17 17:00
YYZ 19/07/17 19:50
789
F1 A0 J6 C1 D1 R1 I0 W2 E0 T0 Y0 B0 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 G0

BA 98
YYZ 01/08/17 22:00
LHR 02/08/17 10:05
777
F7 A7 J9 C9 D9 R9 I7 W9 E5 T0 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V9 S8 N9 Q6 O0 G0
peterinlewesuk is offline  
Old Jul 12, 2017, 3:10 am
  #44  
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 77
Originally Posted by Wozza2404
The seat maps show a LOT of unallocated seats, but given it's the first day of the school holidays for most of the UK I'm not surprised to see them zeroed out.
How do you check the seat maps?
Crubber is offline  
Old Jul 12, 2017, 3:12 am
  #45  
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: BHX
Programs: BA GGL CCR GfL, SQ Gold, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond, Marriott Plat, Cafe Nero Loyalty Card (7 Stamps)
Posts: 7,325
Originally Posted by Crubber
How do you check the seat maps?
With an Expert Flyer or KVS (I think you can do it on KVS but I don't use it so can't be 100%) subscription.
Wozza2404 is offline  

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