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Old Jan 1, 2014, 6:10 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: NWIFlyer
If you wish to request availability for a specific flight, please state the date and origin/departure airport codes, not just the flight number.

Please also restrict requests to BA/oneworld flights - flights for other airlines may be removed to avoid cluttering the thread and taking it away from BAEC.


As of 15 Oct 2014 flightstats.com no longer displays flight availability.

Fare class availability can be queried in various ways*:

        * Please update wiki if you know of any others.
        ** Origin of data concealed


        What do the codes mean?
        Suppose we have a result as F1 A0 J9 C7 D0 RC IC W9 E9 T4 Y9 BC HC ...

        This means:
        There is 1 seat in the F bucket for sale
        There are 0 seats in the A and D bucket for sale, but you can join the waitlist in case seats get released later.
        There are at least 9 seats in the J, W, E and Y buckets.
        The R, I, B and H buckets are closed to waitlisting.

        There are two important things to note about how to interpret these numbers that many people don't understand as it is very counter intuitive:
        1) There is NO direct relation to the actual number of seats available on the specific flight. They only mean that the airline is willing to sell this many seats on that specific flight. The airline may intend to oversell seats or withhold seats from sale for many reasons.

        2) In the example above, the results show W9 E9 T4 (which are all WT+ buckets). This does not mean that there are 9+9+4=22 seats for sale. Interpret these numbers as "there are at least 9 seats for sale in WT+". There could really be anywhere between 9 and 22 seats for sale - we just can't tell from the numbers the system gives us. Therefore, the conservative approach of assuming that there are at least 9 seats for sale is usually the best one.

        What does the "C" mean?
        Closed to waitlisting.
        In the example above we have RC, IC, BC and HC. This is different to A0 and D0: The A and D buckets are "full" but you can apply to join their waitlists (if your fare permits waitlisting). With R, I, B and H you cannot even request a seat.

        The carrier will determine how to confirm your seat if it wishes. Sometimes this may happen immediately, other times only a few minutes before the flight's departure. The order of the waitlist is determined by the carrier privately, but your Executive Club status will push you towards the front of the queue. Many cheap fares do not allow waitlisting.

        Differences for non-BA airlines
        • Some carriers (those using Sabre such as AA) only show a maximum of 7 available seats (not 9). Others only show a maximum of 5.
        • Some carriers use "L" instead of "0" (e.g., CL DL YL) to indicate you may waitlist for the seat. This tends to happen when the entire flight is on a list basis.
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        Old Nov 24, 2016 | 10:09 am
          #4096  
         
        Join Date: Aug 2008
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        Originally Posted by benberg2013
        f4 a4 j0 c0 d0 z0 p0 g0 e0 n0 y9 b9 m9 u9 h9 q9 v9 w8 s0 t0 l0 k0
        thank you :-)
        rrsrrs is offline  
        Old Nov 24, 2016 | 1:00 pm
          #4097  
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        Originally Posted by Andriyko
        Sorry.

        Please see below.

        Results from ExpertFlyer.com
        Code:
        Flight Availability Search
        Departing BRU on 12/13/16 7:00 AM for BOM
        Connecting at LHR 
        
        
                                                                             Frequency
        Flight        Stops  Depart             Arrive             Aircraft  Reliability     Available Classes
        
        1 Connection
        BA 399        0      BRU                LHR                321       Daily           J9 C9 D4 R9 I0 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V0 N0 Q0 O0 S9 G9 
                             12/13/16 6:15 PM   12/13/16 6:25 PM             65% / 18m
        BA 199        0      LHR                BOM                777       T,W             F0 A0 J9 C8 D4 R0 I0 W9 E2 T0 Y9 B9 H6 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 G0 
                             12/13/16 9:00 PM   12/14/16 11:15 AM            82% / 17m


        Thanx a lot appreciate it !!
        diamantaire is offline  
        Old Nov 24, 2016 | 11:30 pm
          #4098  
         
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        could someone tell me how booked up these two flights are from southwest are on dec 27, 2016? flight 4541 & flight 3354 ? thank you !
        Ke.Slo is offline  
        Old Nov 25, 2016 | 12:20 am
          #4099  
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        Originally Posted by Ke.Slo
        could someone tell me how booked up these two flights are from southwest are on dec 27, 2016? flight 4541 & flight 3354 ? thank you !
        Welcome to FlyerTalk and the BA forum Ke.Slo!

        Can you please read the wiki post at the top of the thread and add the missing information and I'm sure someone will help you.
        agehall is offline  
        Old Nov 25, 2016 | 3:16 am
          #4100  
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        Originally Posted by Ke.Slo
        could someone tell me how booked up these two flights are from southwest are on dec 27, 2016? flight 4541 & flight 3354 ? thank you !
        Originally Posted by agehall
        Welcome to FlyerTalk and the BA forum Ke.Slo!

        Can you please read the wiki post at the top of the thread and add the missing information and I'm sure someone will help you.
        Welcome to Flyertalk and welcome to the BA Forum Ke.Slo, it's good to see you here, and it's a great place to find out about British Airways, less so about Southwest! But to save everyone some trouble here, if your flight has a WN prefix then you best stick to analysing Southwest's own website, since they don't fully disclose sales buckets to external channels. We don't get the same bucket information for that airline, in common with most low cost carriers.
        corporate-wage-slave is offline  
        Old Nov 25, 2016 | 3:48 am
          #4101  
         
        Join Date: Jun 2013
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        Hello to you all,

        I checked on free expert flyer and it was indicated the 18 seats left in Business class, but yesterday all seats were blocked (with a cross).
        So is someone can help find out if I have a chance to ask for an upgrade and give me some flight availability ?

        From CDG to HKG
        26/11/2016
        fLIGHT NUMBER : 188
        Airline : Air france
        beghita is offline  
        Old Nov 25, 2016 | 5:44 am
          #4102  
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        Please would some one be good enough to check:

        LHR-JNB BA 57 9th December 2016
        CPT-LHR BA 42 23rd December 2016

        many thanks
        simonsmith is offline  
        Old Nov 25, 2016 | 6:06 am
          #4103  
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        Originally Posted by beghita
        Hello to you all,

        I checked on free expert flyer and it was indicated the 18 seats left in Business class, but yesterday all seats were blocked (with a cross).
        So is someone can help find out if I have a chance to ask for an upgrade and give me some flight availability ?

        From CDG to HKG
        26/11/2016
        fLIGHT NUMBER : 188
        Airline : Air france
        Does Expert Flyer show number of seats or are you guessing as it showed J9 C9? In which case you can't say for definite there are more than 9 seats.

        This is UK POS - maybe different from France.

        SAT 26NOV16 PARIS /HONG KONG *
        1 CDG HKG 26/2330#1820 AF 188
        P5 F2 J9 C8 DC IC ZC OC W9 S9 A9 Y9 B9 M9 UC KC H9 L9 Q9 T9 EC NC RC VC XC GR

        I can only see 2 seats available for booking (73 A&B) but having no experience of AF's seating policy, it doesn't mean much so I can't second guess what is actually available seating wise.
        Sam Bee is offline  
        Old Nov 25, 2016 | 6:10 am
          #4104  
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        Originally Posted by simonsmith
        Please would some one be good enough to check:

        LHR-JNB BA 57 9th December 2016
        CPT-LHR BA 42 23rd December 2016

        many thanks
        Would be my pleasure Seems like 2 quiet flights currently

        FRI 09DEC16 LONDON AREA /JOHANNESBURG
        LHR JNB 2055#0950 BA 57
        F8 A7 J9 C7 D6 R5 I2 W9 E9 T5 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V9 S9 N9 Q9 O9 G4

        FRI 23DEC16 CAPE TOWN /LONDON AREA
        CPT LHR 2015#0615 BA 58
        F9 A9 J9 C9 D9 R9 I9 W9 E9 T8 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V9 S9 N9 Q9 O9 G9
        Sam Bee is offline  
        Old Nov 25, 2016 | 6:58 am
          #4105  
         
        Join Date: Jun 2013
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        Hello ,
        thanks a lot for sharing.

        I just guessed because I counted the number of seat (one by one) ....
        like old times
        beghita is offline  
        Old Nov 25, 2016 | 10:39 am
          #4106  
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        Hi, now that my trip is a wee bit closer could someone be able to check the loading on BA 2157 from LGW to ANU on December 7th.

        Many thanks

        Railbob (retired as of yesterday &#128077
        Railbob is offline  
        Old Nov 25, 2016 | 3:15 pm
          #4107  
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        Originally Posted by Railbob
        Hi, now that my trip is a wee bit closer could someone be able to check the loading on BA 2157 from LGW to ANU on December 7th.

        Many thanks

        Railbob (retired as of yesterday &#128077
        Congratulations on your retirement Railbob - assuming that was something you wanted, that is!

        UK PoS:
        J9 C9 D8 R8 I4 W7 E6 T4 Y6 B6 H5 K5 M4 L4 VC SC NC QC OC G0

        So my interpretation is that this is not yet full in any cabin, but WT seems to be selling quite well.
        corporate-wage-slave is offline  
        Old Nov 26, 2016 | 2:01 am
          #4108  
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        Thanks CWS, I suppose I'll have to change my name to plain "Bob" now LOL 😂And yes retirement was planned.
        Railbob is offline  
        Old Nov 27, 2016 | 8:34 am
          #4109  
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        Could someone please check some seats for me for BA0173 (LHR-JFK) for the 28th of December? I've the choice between that and a 777-200 AA service and keen to see if 15A/K are actually taken or just blocked for bassinets presently before deciding - barring the (I'm sure) inevitable opup I'm not sure about sitting elsewhere in the cabin...

        Thanks!
        pleb is offline  
        Old Nov 27, 2016 | 8:44 am
          #4110  
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        Originally Posted by pleb
        Could someone please check some seats for me for BA0173 (LHR-JFK) for the 28th of December? I've the choice between that and a 777-200 AA service and keen to see if 15A/K are actually taken or just blocked for bassinets presently before deciding - barring the (I'm sure) inevitable opup I'm not sure about sitting elsewhere in the cabin...

        Thanks!
        BA 173 0 LHR
        12/28/16 2:00 PM JFK
        12/28/16 5:15 PM 777
        Unavailable
        58% / 29m F1 A0 J9 C9 D9 R7 I1 W5 EC TC Y0 B0 HC KC M0 LC VC SC NC QC OC G0


        15A/K are shown as blocked rather than taken.
        Rubecula is offline  


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