Severe Overbooking???
 

I’m taking the CX 829 on May 6th, I’ve been told that the flight is severely overbooked. Can someone check expert flyer and see if its actually overbooked? Because I issued my ticket 24hours before flying and was waitlisted for V class, it then cleared within a matter of hours. If it was that overbooked, why would they release V class to be so quickly? Surprised they didn’t make me buy B class fare. I’m just trying to figure out how CX does its revenue management for future situations to see if I can always book 24 hours ahead. I’ve dropped down to GO so the seat guarantee is only 72 hours.

Show me software I can access that displays overbooked flights, and I'll gladly lay my credit card down for a subscription. ExpertFlyer, AFAIK provides information that may be suggestive of an oversell - and even then, the degree of oversell would be unknown

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I think they are just overbooked in economy but fairly light up front.

Interesting... There’s still 4 seats left in Y, but apparently the flight’s been oversold by almost 20 people according to reservations....

My guess is that they'll just move a bunch of DMs and GOs into upgrade class.

Does anybody actually pay for Premium Economy? (Except those who then use miles to upgrade to business)

I usually upgrade into it, I don’t see the point in paying for it if I can block off the seat next to be in Y. i considered upgrading into it, but since the flight is so overbooked I decided to take a gamble for an op-up, its also my birthday too. I don’t expect anything but I did grab a good seat in the forward mini cabin of Y.

On company dime, I'm flying PEY now. But I would NEVER pay for it. And I actually feel bad for my company that pays for it. But I think CX has it and it does exactly what CX wants it to do:

1) Make money off suckers (company) that won't pay for J class but will pay for PEY class (like mine)

2) A buffer zone for oversold Y upgrades to relief J class from overcrowding.

3) Gets people that wants to use miles to upgrade to J class

From CX's perspective PEY is a win, screw the pax.

I haven't requested blocking for a few years. I don't know whether I still can, but my neighbouring seat is often empty if the cabin is not full. In the past, even if I did, if there was a reason, CX might still release my adjacent seat even if not full. It happened once for me (and I was a DM).

As the flight is on your birthday, there is a good chance they may upgrade you anyway if the upper cabin is not full... Happy Birthday!

Thank you very much, my hopes of getting an upgrade are slim though. its T-9 hours and my OLCI still shows my seat in Y.

It used to show on my web page when I got op-upped, but not the recently. With J2 C2 D2 I2 W7 R7 E7 Y6 B6 H6 K5 M3 L3 V2 S0 N0 Q0 O0 now, involuntary upgrade is unlikely but birthday upgrade is possible. As the flight is after midnight, I do not know if they count 5 or 6 May for birthday though. You will know when you check in or in the lounge. Good luck (you may actually get J)!

speaking on the subject of severe overbooking, my friend told me PVG is way overbooked and CX is reluctant to turn would-be pax away in fear that they would jump to other airlines, so on some flights you get as many as 20-30 overbooked Y!!!!

PVG is notoriously known for no shows, I don't blame CX for overbooking by 30 people, same with TPE.

You do get a lot of no-shows all around China. It's in the cultural.

(Yes, I deal with no-shows all the time myself)

Overbooking is understandable on short-hall flights but on ultra long haul flights, no shows are rare to say the least.