BF Seat Guarantee
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Hudson, OH
Programs: UA-MM; Hilton Lifetime Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,350
BF Seat Guarantee
Recently, there have been several threads asking something along the lines of "How often does the BF cabin become fully booked?"
One of the benefits of full-fare BF tixs is the ability to change flights at the last minute. Used to do this quite often; expect a seat anytime I wanted if on the full fare. Never a problem with changes. So CO always seemed to hold a handful of seats till the last hour.
This is why so many non-revs get into BF; if those seats "reserved for changes" are still available at the +1 hr mark, they became available to the non-revs. Now, I haven't done this since 2002, but I'm guessing the basic philosophy is still the same. Anyone know if this is NOT the case anymore??
One of the benefits of full-fare BF tixs is the ability to change flights at the last minute. Used to do this quite often; expect a seat anytime I wanted if on the full fare. Never a problem with changes. So CO always seemed to hold a handful of seats till the last hour.
This is why so many non-revs get into BF; if those seats "reserved for changes" are still available at the +1 hr mark, they became available to the non-revs. Now, I haven't done this since 2002, but I'm guessing the basic philosophy is still the same. Anyone know if this is NOT the case anymore??
#2
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: PSM
Posts: 69,232
Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9630/5.0.0.591 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)
I doubt CO is (or ever did) willingly not selling seats just in case someone wants to change flights.
I doubt CO is (or ever did) willingly not selling seats just in case someone wants to change flights.
#3
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: USA
Posts: 1,812
Correct, I believe they "hold out" for last minute purchases.
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 27,231
Depends on the route and what the historical trend in last-minute bookings is. I've certainly been on flights (and known folks on flights) where 2 of the last 3 BF seats were cleared for upgrade/awards at the 24 hour mark. So that would have left only one seat for last-minute sale. But obviously it was something CO felt comfortable with on these specific flights.
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Hudson, OH
Programs: UA-MM; Hilton Lifetime Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,350
I doubt that this would involve more than 1 passenger per flight (though once, three of us did such a change within 2 hrs; we had contingency plans for 2 of us). But as I said, that was over 8 years ago.
#6
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: IAH/EWR-LGA/MIA
Programs: UA Global Services 3.2 MM, Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium Elite, AA Exec Plat
Posts: 2,505
You make it sound like BF flights operate like domestic F flights, with multiple flights per day for last-minute changes -- but there are only a couple of BF routes that offer more than one flight a day. So I don't really understand the scenario under consideration.