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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 Nov 19, 2018, 7:14 am
  #2716  
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: London
Programs: BA Silver, ZSL Silver
Posts: 2,552
Originally Posted by Gastrocnemius
My request got a little lost in a flurry of activity yesterday:


Please could someone check

BA113 LHR-JFK 23/11/18

Thank you
Keeping me busy today! Again, with UK POS.

F8 A7 J9 C0 D0 R0 I0 W9 E9 T9 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V9 S9 N9 Q9 O9 G9
gustavmahler is offline  
Old Nov 19, 2018, 7:19 am
  #2717  
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: Mucci, BAEC GGL/CCR, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond Ambassador, Stena Gold
Posts: 1,094
Originally Posted by gustavmahler
Keeping me busy today! Again, with UK POS.

F8 A7 J9 C0 D0 R0 I0 W9 E9 T9 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V9 S9 N9 Q9 O9 G9

Thank you, I appreciate it!
Gastrocnemius is online now  
Old Nov 19, 2018, 7:40 am
  #2718  
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Programs: BA Silver - hard drop from GGL :( SPG Gold, Hilton Diamond, AC E50k
Posts: 567
Could someone kindly help me with the load for BA94, YUL-LHR on Nov 20th (Tue). Many thanks in advance!
LondonCanuck is offline  
Old Nov 19, 2018, 11:15 am
  #2719  
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: London
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, HH Diamond, IHG Spire Ambassador
Posts: 77
Would someone be able to help me to check the loads on BA85 LHR-YVR tomorrow (20 November)? Thanks!
dycc is offline  
Old Nov 19, 2018, 12:14 pm
  #2720  
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Las Vegas
Programs: BA Gold; Hilton Honors Diamond
Posts: 3,228
Originally Posted by LondonCanuck
Could someone kindly help me with the load for BA94, YUL-LHR on Nov 20th (Tue). Many thanks in advance!
Sure, here you go, and this is with a UK point of sale: J9 C0 D0 R0 I0 W9 E0 T0 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L6 V3 S0 N0 Q0 O0 G9
Geordie405 is offline  
Old Nov 19, 2018, 12:17 pm
  #2721  
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Las Vegas
Programs: BA Gold; Hilton Honors Diamond
Posts: 3,228
Originally Posted by dycc
Would someone be able to help me to check the loads on BA85 LHR-YVR tomorrow (20 November)? Thanks!
Of course - with a UK point of sale, here's the loading for tomorrow's flight: F3 A2 J9 C3 D3 R0 I0 W9 E5 T0 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M7 L5 V3 S0 N0 Q0 O0 G9
Geordie405 is offline  
Old Nov 19, 2018, 1:27 pm
  #2722  
 
Join Date: May 2018
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 219
Originally Posted by firstlight
It's possible ba104 is being substituted with an air Belgium wet lease. This plane does not have F or WT+ class. Assuming the wet lease continues through February you will soon get an email about it - it happened with our jan flight to dxb two weeks ago. If you want to stay on ba quickly phone up and get moved onto another ba flight.
Thanks (and thanks too to Schwann).

In theory I have no problem with staying on Air Belgium, as the timings are good for us. However, I could do with a bit more leg room than economy will provide. Are they likely to push me into business as an option?
bigwalrus is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2018, 4:04 am
  #2723  
 
Join Date: May 2018
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 219
Email received today - flight will be operated by Air Belgium. Well called!
bigwalrus is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2018, 4:32 am
  #2724  
ors
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 3
Flight load

Could anyone help me by checking the following:

27/11, BA0274
28/11, BA0163

Thanks !
ors is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2018, 4:34 am
  #2725  
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Gold, HHonors Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,546
Could somebody kindly check the BA269 LHR to LAX on 19th December. We are book in F on a 241. The cabin has been empty for ages and then two more seats go reserved last week and then all of a sudden this week BA aren't selling any more F tickets which worries me that they might have earmarked to cancel that service? It could be that they have genuinely sold those seats and 10 people just haven't reserved a seat in F?
Gomac is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2018, 4:46 am
  #2726  
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, Hilton Diamond *, IHG, Couples Romance Rewards
Posts: 2,351
Originally Posted by bigwalrus
Email received today - flight will be operated by Air Belgium. Well called!
and I see you booked into business on KF so a happy ending!
firstlight is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2018, 5:01 am
  #2727  
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 9
BA2203 21st Nov 10:45

Thanks
Darren Brooks is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2018, 5:05 am
  #2728  
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Surrey, UK
Programs: BAEC Gold, QRPC Silver
Posts: 518
Available Classes: J2 C2 D0 R0 I0 W6 E6 T4 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V9 S9 N9 Q9 O9 G9

Ex uk sales but don't understand why it should be different from default USA

BA2203

Last edited by spec119; Nov 20, 2018 at 7:28 am
spec119 is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2018, 5:11 am
  #2729  
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,756
Could someone please have a look at BA 189 (LHR-EWR) for tomorrow - Nov 21?
PAL62V is online now  
Old Nov 20, 2018, 6:21 am
  #2730  
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Programs: BA GOLD
Posts: 604
Originally Posted by ors
Could anyone help me by checking the following:

27/11, BA0274
28/11, BA0163

Thanks !
Originally Posted by Darren Brooks
BA2203 21st Nov 10:45

Thanks
It would be helpful if you could advise the departure and arrival airports to make it easer to find loads - many thanks
spec119 likes this.
Brighterside is offline  


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