co.com seat maps...how accurate?
 

I've read on here many times that the seat maps on co.com are not accurate. So, just how inaccurate are they? For example, #88 on June 16th PEK - EWR shows 18 free seats out of 44 in the BizFirst cabin. How far from reality is this?

Scott

Seat maps are accurate for their intended purpose, which is to tell you which seats are currently available (or not available) for assignment. They do not show "free seats".

If you are looking to make an educated guess as to the loads, you need to look at availability data instead:

[KVS Availability Tool 2.8.3/Platinum - Apollo: ITN/US-ARL]
In this case, assuming that CO does not overbook its C cabin, it would be safe to presume that at least 9 seats are "free". Beyond that, only a CO employee would be able to tell you the exact number of "free" seats.

I meant "free" as in not yet purchased or still available to be purchased, not "free" as in no money needed to sit there.

So, if the seat map indicates 14 available seats and KVS indicates 9, that leaves 5 seats floating around. Have they been sold to passengers who have yet to choose which specific seat they wish to sit in? What explanations are there for this?

I'm just trying to understand how all this works.

Thanks for your response, KVS.

Scott

That's what I meant too :).

Again, a seat map does not indicate "available" seats, it shows assignable seats. As for availability, CO will only show up to 9 seats, because no one outside of the company needs to know the exact number.

That is, indeed, one the most common reasons. Also, some types of passengers (e.g. groups) may not be able to choose specific seats at all.

Scott - My answer to your original question is "not much".

Let me give an example: I have an upcoming flight and am hoping to get upgraded, so I am checking the KVS tool and CO seatmaps. KVS says that CO is still willing to sell 9 (or more) seats in First. The CO seatmap shows 4 seats available for assignment. Why? I dunno - maybe this flight has historically had a high number of no-shows, so CO will oversell. Maybe CO has a high inventory of "downgrade kits" and it wants to use some of that inventory... :p

A couple of months ago, I had a flight that operated with a very light load - maybe 20% full. A week before that flight, the CO seat map showed most of the seats available for assignment. A couple of days before that flight, the CO seatmap showed only a few seats available for assignment, all at the rear of the plane. Why? I dunno - maybe weight/balance concerns.

In my experience, the seat map is a notoriously unreliable estimate of load for flights originating in Asia and going to the US. Particularly in coach, the seat maps quite often would indicate the plane is empty but it operates full. I don't know if this is due to group travel or something else, but that is my experience.

KVS supplied the correct answer - looking to see how many seats the carrier is willing to sell in each fare class is typically more accurate than checking the seat map. In my experience, the seat map is often highly misleading.

KVS shows availability up to 9 seats. If there are 9 seats, 14 seats, or 25 seats available, KVS shows only 9. If the seat map shows 14 and KVS shows 9, there may or may not be 14 available. All you know is that at least 9 are available and as far as I know that's as much as you can find out.

I disagree.

The seat map is ~98% accurate in displaying the seats that are availble for assignment. The 2% is reserved for blocked bulkhead/aisle seats that you may or may not be able to book by calling in, and the exit row that may be available but not assignable unless you are gold/platinum. Otherwise the map is 100% accurate at showing you which seat(s) CO will let you pick to sit in.

Anyone assuming that it is providing any other service, such as load indication, is misusing the tool. Don't blame user error on the tool.

Let me tell how unreliable the seat maps are, sometimes.

My mom flew IAH-FLL in April on a coach fare. I was watching the seatmaps for FC almost daily to see her chance of upgrade. Can't remember the planes, but I believe it's 738 outbound, 739 in.

The outbound show lots of assignable FC seats, so I thought good chance of EUA, all the way until a few days out. Not so for the inbound.

But by the time of EUA (3 days out, for Gold), suddenly FC's all filled, and she didn't get upgraded EUA or otherwise.

Conversely, the previously hopeless return flight suddenly gets a dozen FC seats opened on the 739, and she got EUA at 3 days out.

What I saw and expected was 100% wrong on both legs.

You and I are in complete agreement. The seat map is a nearly-perfect indicator of which seats are available for assignment.

I was assuming that the OP was asking if the seat map is a good tool for estimating the load on the flight, or the chance of getting an upgrade. I was stating my opinion that the seat map is a lousy way of trying to judge those things.

I've been having trouble with the seat selector maps during the reservations process--even as to which seats are available for assignment.

For example, CO's seat maps for a 752 (16/159 config) show seats 16A - 16F. However, the seat maps shown for the seat selector during the reservation process show 16D, E, F missing. I've tried this for a few different flights in the next month, and I have seen the same thing.

Did CO change the 16/159 Configuration for a 752? Neither the CO website nor other sites like seat-guru are showing this, nor have I found a thread discussing it here on FT.

Welcome to FT! Could you provide a specific flight #/date example?

CO doesn't display the 16D, E, F seats until a couple of days before the flight. Same thing happens with some of the rows in the back of widebodies... Sometimes if you look closely at the seat maps, you will see a few missing rows (in the 30's, if I recall). Those seats do exist in the airplane, but CO reserves those until a few days before flight.

Certainly, try CO1618 on 24 June.

Thank you!

Wait until you look at a 772 seat assignment map! Missing are:

10DEKL (on the ultra-longhauls)
16-17DEF
36-37ABCDEFJKL
45DEF

You also won't see 6DE and 31DEF, which exist on 2 of the 20 772s; but you WILL see 28DEF, which don't exist on those two planes.

Thanks for the information--I'm embarrassed to say that I've stared at the coach maps for CO's 752 and the 772 during seat selector many times and never noticed the missing seats until the other day.