Sep 14, 2017, 7:20 am
Last edit by: Flame3601
Information on Load requests
The number of seats for sale for a flight are available via ExpertFlyer.com, a subscription-based service with a 5-day free trial. A subscription is $9.99/month and can be enabled and disabled any time. It is encouraged to subscribe rather than post repeatedly in this thread.
NB: Op-up changes or overselling of a flight cannot be determined with certainty from this information, only inferred to be more or less probable.
For a once-off load request please follow these guidelines:
Flight loads >7 days out are not very useful, as the airline could still sell many seats, unless availability of a specific fare bucket (e.g. Business Saver upgrade) is requested. If you wish to know the general flight load please don't post >7 days before departure.
When requesting a load please provide the following information:
- Date of flight (departure date)
- Flight Number
- Origin
- Destination
These four fields are mandatory in searching on ExpertFlyer (see screenshot below) and it isn't fair to except those who pay for their subscriptions to also have to go look up which cities a specific flight number is from and to (also some flight numbers are onward flights (5th freedom routes, e.g. CMB-MLE) and loads will differ significantly depending on which sector of the flight is checked.
The number of seats for sale for a flight are available via ExpertFlyer.com, a subscription-based service with a 5-day free trial. A subscription is $9.99/month and can be enabled and disabled any time. It is encouraged to subscribe rather than post repeatedly in this thread.
NB: Op-up changes or overselling of a flight cannot be determined with certainty from this information, only inferred to be more or less probable.
For a once-off load request please follow these guidelines:
Flight loads >7 days out are not very useful, as the airline could still sell many seats, unless availability of a specific fare bucket (e.g. Business Saver upgrade) is requested. If you wish to know the general flight load please don't post >7 days before departure.
When requesting a load please provide the following information:
- Date of flight (departure date)
- Flight Number
- Origin
- Destination
These four fields are mandatory in searching on ExpertFlyer (see screenshot below) and it isn't fair to except those who pay for their subscriptions to also have to go look up which cities a specific flight number is from and to (also some flight numbers are onward flights (5th freedom routes, e.g. CMB-MLE) and loads will differ significantly depending on which sector of the flight is checked.
Flight Load Check request
Jan 4, 2017, 12:13 am
#61
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Hong Kong
Programs: WY SL, EK Gold, CX MPO
Posts: 185
On a side note, does anyone know what is up with the 'H' fare buckets? They always seem to be inconsistent with the rest of the data. For example, on some flights all classes except Y, E and R are zeroed out. But H remains displaying 9. Is there a reason for this?
Jan 4, 2017, 1:21 am
#62
Join Date: Jul 2014
Programs: Skywards
Posts: 946
H is for EK Holiday bookings
Jan 4, 2017, 8:22 am
#64
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Oxon, UK
Programs: Mucci des canapes, Skywards Gold, BAEC Gold, IC Plat Amb, Accor Gold
Posts: 1,948
I definitely would do as HKPrince mentions, and not rely on EF for upgrade availability if that was your intention. Also note that Flex+ isn't any more likely to have upgrade availability than Flex or Saver, it's just cheaper to upgrade (well and Saver can't be upgraded before check-in).
)
Jan 4, 2017, 11:28 am
#65
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 14
Thanks
Just a line to thank Skywardhunter for the info. You're a star. I Will sign up for EF to avoid this embarassments in the future.
I lost available Y Seats on sale for the first outbound flight. So I need to call them for the Gold benefit anyway.... most likely I will buy the ticket over the phone.
I will post op-up experience if it happens (hope so - for more than 2 year I only turn right on boarding for short haul, now it's time to spend some miles).
Again, thanks a million.
I lost available Y Seats on sale for the first outbound flight. So I need to call them for the Gold benefit anyway.... most likely I will buy the ticket over the phone.
I will post op-up experience if it happens (hope so - for more than 2 year I only turn right on boarding for short haul, now it's time to spend some miles).
Again, thanks a million.
Jan 4, 2017, 11:34 am
#66
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Economy, mostly :(
Programs: Skywards Gold
Posts: 7,801
Just a line to thank Skywardhunter for the info. You're a star. I Will sign up for EF to avoid this embarassments in the future.
I lost available Y Seats on sale for the first outbound flight. So I need to call them for the Gold benefit anyway.... most likely I will buy the ticket over the phone.
I will post op-up experience if it happens (hope so - for more than 2 year I only turn right on boarding for short haul, now it's time to spend some miles).
Again, thanks a million.
I lost available Y Seats on sale for the first outbound flight. So I need to call them for the Gold benefit anyway.... most likely I will buy the ticket over the phone.
I will post op-up experience if it happens (hope so - for more than 2 year I only turn right on boarding for short haul, now it's time to spend some miles).
Again, thanks a million.
As for the Gold guarantee, best of luck, I've tried to use it in the past but it prices out ridiculously high as its full-fare Y (so often even higher than the Flex Plus price shown on the website, as already mentioned), in my case it was going to cost as much for return Y using the guarantee as one-way J and back Y both in Flex on a regular day. BUT you will literally be at the top of the list for op-ups so hopefully that'd work out!
(eternaltransit shared this nugget of wisdom with us recently, that within Flex Plus its further ranked by status and then fare bucket)
Jan 4, 2017, 11:38 am
#67
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 5,454
The problem in using the seat guarantee is that it's usually so full that J (or F) is 100% and there are no op-ups - all that's happened is someone (usually STF confirmed) has been IDB.
At least, all the times I used it in 2016 - no luck!
At least, all the times I used it in 2016 - no luck!
Jan 4, 2017, 12:35 pm
#68
Join Date: Jul 2014
Programs: Skywards
Posts: 946
You're welcome, and we're always happy to help here.
As for the Gold guarantee, best of luck, I've tried to use it in the past but it prices out ridiculously high as its full-fare Y (so often even higher than the Flex Plus price shown on the website, as already mentioned), in my case it was going to cost as much for return Y using the guarantee as one-way J and back Y both in Flex on a regular day. BUT you will literally be at the top of the list for op-ups so hopefully that'd work out!
As for the Gold guarantee, best of luck, I've tried to use it in the past but it prices out ridiculously high as its full-fare Y (so often even higher than the Flex Plus price shown on the website, as already mentioned), in my case it was going to cost as much for return Y using the guarantee as one-way J and back Y both in Flex on a regular day. BUT you will literally be at the top of the list for op-ups so hopefully that'd work out!
Jan 4, 2017, 12:43 pm
#69
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Economy, mostly :(
Programs: Skywards Gold
Posts: 7,801
sorry that I am cherry-picking, but it's a Y-Class fare you have to pay and not a full fare (still expensive, sometimes more than a O Class fare, but have never seen Economy closed and O/I open...). Most of the time higher than the shown Flex+ Fare on the homepage, as there are different booking classes for Flex+ (for most routings R,E,Y).
What do you define as a full fare? By full-fare Y I mean it's the Y fare bucket, which is the most expensive fare in Economy, typically, vs the other fare buckets that are generally considered discounted off Y
Jan 4, 2017, 12:50 pm
#70
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 5,454
Jan 4, 2017, 12:57 pm
#71
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Economy, mostly :(
Programs: Skywards Gold
Posts: 7,801
Jan 4, 2017, 1:01 pm
#72
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 5,454
Jan 4, 2017, 1:06 pm
#73
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Economy, mostly :(
Programs: Skywards Gold
Posts: 7,801
sometimes I don't believe you when you say you work in hospitality...So on a LHR-JFK they take fares of all the 97 airlines (made up figure, I know it's probably not 97!) that operate that route and work it out from there?
Jan 4, 2017, 1:20 pm
#74
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 5,454
Also, some airlines refuse to accept YY fares on some routes - it's only really used these days for two reasons, creating a benchmark for concessionary travel and for routes where a carrier doesn't want to bother generating a fare.
Basically for every route, a carrier decides whether to participate or not.
Jan 4, 2017, 2:29 pm
#75
Join Date: Jul 2014
Programs: Skywards
Posts: 946
the full fares are public (okay not on the homepage but in Amadeus etc, filed with 7 in the end for EK eg ...AE7. It's a bit a 'fake full fare' as normally - as et explained - there are full fares from iata (iirc yif in Y, cif in J and fif in F), where you can combine nearly every airline with each other and with any routing (there are some limitations...). *geek mode off*
edit: lot already mentioned above...
jetlaged sorry...