Hi, I just registered for FlyerTalk, and from what I can see the topics and discussions are really interesting. I managed to dope out most of the acronyms and stuff but had a few questions that I would appreciate help with:

1. Where do you get the flight profiles codes like A0FO for a flight and how are they interpreted?

2. When I perform a search and look at a resulting thread, then hit the 'back' buttom to look at another thread, I get dumped back in the main forum screen. Is there a way to just return to the search results?

3. Is there a CO FAQ posted anywhere?

Thanks for any help.

Well, I don't believe that there is a Continental FAQ, and I'm not exactly sure what you mean regarding the search function.

However, I can help you with your first question. You referred to the letter/number sequence as a "flight profile". I believe the term you are looking for is known as the "fare buckets". They represent the number of seats available in each bucket. I'm not positive, but I believe that the following letters are all of CO's buckets:

A,D,F,R,Y,H,K,B,V,Q,S,T,U,I,N,E,W,G (whew!)

Most FTers here used to work with a website, seatmap.com, for pulling up flights. However, it has since closed and most of us now use itn.com. In order to view the fare buckets for a flight, you need to register and set your skill level to "Expert" (or its equivalent). Then you can search for flights and the various buckets will show (although not all, such as the infamous R).

Hope this helps.

[This message has been edited by Cory6188 (edited Jan 25, 2004).]

When I do that with my browser, I get the search results. I'm using IE 6.0. As a workaround, you could go to each post by opening the link in a new window.

You should try posting this question in a more general forum - perhaps the Technical Issues board.

OK. Thanks for your help, but I'm still confused regarding buckets. I went to ITN and got the following buckets for a particular flight:

A4 D4 Z0 Y7 H7 K7 N7 B7 V7 U7 Q7 I7 S7 W7

1. I notice that there is no 'F' which seems from other threads to be the upgradeable FC seat. Am I wrong?

2. How does one decipher the numerical codes? 4, 0, 7, etc.

3. What code would indicate a BF seat that can be upgraded (with miles, of course)?

Thanks, Hugh

To make a very long story short, there is no reliable set of data available online to see if upgrade inventory exists; there are a few ways to make an "educated guess" (as suggested in countless posts here), but unfortunately, the only real way is to call Continental directly and inquire about availability there.

Please be advised that multiple calls asking the same question to Continental's "phoney" agents will normally result in a multitude of answers.

Yes. F is no longer available from Continental (on most flights). FC upgrades come from 'R', which is a subset of 'Z'. 'R' is not available to the public. Also, CO phone reps cannot upgrade you even if there is availability. They will tell you to wait for the EUA to run. If you're using miles, that's a different story.

-RM