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Help to check BA seat availability and BA flight loads

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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

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Old Apr 25, 2018, 5:51 am
  #1651  
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Programs: BAEC (Gold), IHG Rewards (Gold Elite), Marriot (Gold Elite), HHonors (Gold Elite), SPG (Gold)
Posts: 165
Flight Status Check

Hey everybody,

flying DXB to LHR tonight in economy (BA0106 - 01:30 26th April).

wondering if anybody can tell me if flight overbooked as looking at seat selector economy looks rammed...

had to detour to go to LIN tomorrow instead of back to ABZ and going straight to a meeting so would like an indication of any Op Ups might be on the go so I at least might get a sleep!

though the fare was a really low fare bucket so I doubt it but can at least maybe live in hope for a few hours while I chill by the pool.
duncgor is offline  
Old Apr 25, 2018, 5:53 am
  #1652  
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Gloucestershire
Programs: BA Gold (ex-GGL, maybe future Silver), Hilton Diamond
Posts: 6,197
F1 A0
J0 C0 D0 R0 I0
W0 E0 T0
Y0 B0 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 G0


Here you go. It's approximately as full as Monty Python's Mr. Creosote.
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Cymro is offline  
Old Apr 25, 2018, 5:56 am
  #1653  
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Programs: BAEC (Gold), IHG Rewards (Gold Elite), Marriot (Gold Elite), HHonors (Gold Elite), SPG (Gold)
Posts: 165
Hahaha, holy cow that’s a pretty full plane! But doesn’t look like anywhere to really put anybody if only one seat in F.... I’m guessing they may have to resort to bumping folks!
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Old Apr 25, 2018, 6:00 am
  #1654  
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Gloucestershire
Programs: BA Gold (ex-GGL, maybe future Silver), Hilton Diamond
Posts: 6,197
Originally Posted by duncgor
Hahaha, holy cow that’s a pretty full plane! But doesn’t look like anywhere to really put anybody if only one seat in F.... I’m guessing they may have to resort to bumping folks!
Quite possibly, although they may have closed down availability over the last couple of days to make sure that there is space for op-ups, so it might not be as bad as it looks

Obviously the dream scenario for op-ups is F9 J9 W0 Y0 but that is pretty uncommon and yet op-ups are still fairly frequent on full flights.
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Old Apr 25, 2018, 6:08 am
  #1655  
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Programs: BAEC (Gold), IHG Rewards (Gold Elite), Marriot (Gold Elite), HHonors (Gold Elite), SPG (Gold)
Posts: 165
Well I’ll keep my fingers crossed. Only Op Ups since I had with BA was WT to WT+ from DXB to LHR last year and WT to WT+ both ways LHR-LOS last year but think both of them were full fare tickets. This is lowest of the low so not totally getting my hopes up but you never know.
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Old Apr 25, 2018, 6:29 am
  #1656  
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Gloucestershire
Programs: BA Gold (ex-GGL, maybe future Silver), Hilton Diamond
Posts: 6,197
Originally Posted by duncgor
Well I’ll keep my fingers crossed. Only Op Ups since I had with BA was WT to WT+ from DXB to LHR last year and WT to WT+ both ways LHR-LOS last year but think both of them were full fare tickets. This is lowest of the low so not totally getting my hopes up but you never know.
Was op-upped last week on avios. Have even been op-upped as a blue, MIA-LHR, on a flight when six people were denied boarding at the gate, on a Ł1.50 (plus YQ and tax!) ex-OSL fare.
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Old Apr 25, 2018, 7:44 am
  #1657  
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 725
How about LHR-KBP 26/5 ?? :-)
lfc84 is offline  
Old Apr 25, 2018, 7:50 am
  #1658  
 
Join Date: Oct 2016
Posts: 36
Could some check the ba154 Cairo to London for tomorrow please, tried choosing a seat for a friend with no status to sit alongside me and the cabin is full is wt+. Can I also have the results for the ba 155 London to Cairo on 29/4/18 please to see if it is worth paying for seats for them on the return. We should have booked on the same payment card so they could choose a seat for free with my gold card 😕
Davehereford is offline  
Old Apr 25, 2018, 7:55 am
  #1659  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: London, UK
Programs: BAEC Silver, ITA Club Executive, Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 3,598
Originally Posted by Davehereford
Could some check the ba154 Cairo to London for tomorrow please, tried choosing a seat for a friend with no status to sit alongside me and the cabin is full is wt+. Can I also have the results for the ba 155 London to Cairo on 29/4/18 please to see if it is worth paying for seats for them on the return. We should have booked on the same payment card so they could choose a seat for free with my gold card 😕
BA154 26/04
J4 C0 D0 R0 I0 W5 E0 T0 Y5 B2 H2 K2 M1 L1 V1 S1 N1 Q0 O0 G0

BA155 29/04
J5 C1 D0 R0 I0 W9 E9 T9 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V9 S9 N9 Q2 O0 G0

You can still choose a seat for them if you're a GCH and they're on a a separate booking. You have to call though.
ringingup is offline  
Old Apr 25, 2018, 7:57 am
  #1660  
 
Join Date: Oct 2016
Posts: 36
I did not know that thanks for telling me! And thanks for the info
Davehereford is offline  
Old Apr 26, 2018, 6:51 am
  #1661  
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Programs: BAEC Gold, Marriott Plat
Posts: 686
If some kind soul could check BA283 on 12th May I would be much obliged. Umming about a paid upgrade offer that has appeared in MMB...
peck is offline  
Old Apr 26, 2018, 6:56 am
  #1662  
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 532
Originally Posted by peck
if some kind soul could check ba283 on 12th may
ba 283 lhr lax
05/12/18 9:50 am
f3 a3 j9 c9 d9 r9 i0 w3 e0 t0 y9 b9h9 k9 m9 l9 v9 s0 n0 q0 o0 g0

Last edited by tinkicker; Apr 26, 2018 at 7:16 am
tinkicker is offline  
Old Apr 26, 2018, 7:07 am
  #1663  
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Programs: BAEC Gold, Marriott Plat
Posts: 686
Originally Posted by tinkicker
BA 2830LHR
05/12/18 9:50 AMLAX
05/12/18 1:05 PM388
Daily
81% / 48m F3 A3 J9 C9 D9 R9 I0 W3 E0 T0 Y9 B9H9 K9 M9 L9 V9 S0 N0 Q0 O0 G0
Thank you tinkicker. Seems WTP is pretty busy so very tempted by the upgrade offer now... 🤔
peck is offline  
Old Apr 26, 2018, 12:51 pm
  #1664  
 
Join Date: Feb 2018
Posts: 245
Hello
Please could someone check
13 May LHR - HND
BA4600 (JL 44)

Thanks in advance
Voda_boy is offline  
Old Apr 26, 2018, 2:05 pm
  #1665  
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 532
Originally Posted by Voda_boy
Hello
Please could someone check
13 May LHR - HND
BA4600 (JL 44)

Thanks in advance
Obviously depending on which airline you put in you get different responses. So the first one is as JL44 and the second is the BA codeshare.
JL 44
LHR HND
05/13/18 7:15 PM
05/14/18 3:00 PM
F3 A3 J0 C0 D0 I0 X0 W0 E0 Y9 B9 H9K9 M9 L9 V9 S8 N7 Q5 O6 G3
BA (JL) 4600
F2 A2 J0 C0 D0 R0 I0 W0 E0 T0 Y7 B7H7 K7 M7 L7 V7 S4 N0 Q2 O0 G0
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tinkicker is offline  


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