Is this flight on an international route and on a 777? UA has been doing this in some cases because they think they might put the new configuration 777 on that route but aren't yet positive it will happen.

Nope. This was a domestic flight on a two-cabin aircraft.. I was trying to view F, but received that error..

Sorry, missed these follow ups.

The aircraft is the same, but in different places I get different levels of specificity.

I.e., on flight info, it shows 777 (true). On the seatmaps on the mobile seat, it shows 77N (which is of course a 777 but a subclass).

For ex, try BA139 on 9/23. The seatmap on the mobile site shows 77C. "Flight details" shows 777

Depart: LHR
Depart Time: 09/23/10 11:05 AM
Depart Terminal: 5
Arrive: BOM
Arrive Time: 09/24/10 12:40 AM
Arrive Terminal: 2 INTERNATIONAL

Airline: BA
Equipment: 777

Number: 139
Meal: M, M, M
Time: 9h 05m
Miles: 4469
Reliability: 57% / 22m

I just provided one. It's difficult though as I've only noticed this on some particular 77C/77N/777 flights on BA. And < 24 hours before the flight, the seatmaps shut down so I can't get any more data. So the sweet spot is 3 days-24 hours.

Apparently ExpertFlyer's non-mobile seatmaps omit displaying the aircraft information, which the mobile site does. BA is one of those airlines that put a IATA generic aircraft code with schedules and availability, but displays a configuration-specific aircraft code (of their making) with their seat maps.

Completely agree that having this configuration-specific aircraft code display on the main (non-mobile) website would be very useful.

CX is another airline that uses configuration-specific aircraft codes extensively, and am sure that there are others.

This is because when the airline files the Flight Details information with the GDS (which is also returned for availability queries) it files a generic equipment code. Whereas a seat map query gets all of its data in real time from the airline host, where they may return a different equipment code then the one originally filed.


The regular site has always displayed aircraft information, still does. The problem is that we didn't have the equipment codes 77C or 77N in our database and the seat map search on the regular site does a look-up on the codes to display the aircraft name. The mobile site however just shows the returned equipment code to save space.

We just added the two equipment codes to the database so problem solved. If anyone finds another equipment code that we may have missed, send us an email to [email protected] and let us know so it can get added faster, thank you.

I've seen a 77Z before as well.

Wow. Your commitment to customers and your taking immediate action based on customer feedback is impressive. You will go far.


This is an interesting way of doing things; airlines make up configuration-specific aircraft codes all the time, so you're bound to be always missing some. Plus, the way it's currently implemented, you're still not showing the pertinent information: a query on the site made right now for the seatmap of the above flight shows a label of "Aircraft: Boeing 777", yet there is no subtype (which is what is of interest here, since the seats are a generation apart from other subtypes). Wouldn't it be far simpler to simply pass through the 3-letter code on the non-mobile site as well, such as "Aircraft: 77C (Boeing 777)" (or, in case you don't have it in your database, simply "Aircraft: 77C")?

The problem, as it is, is not solved!

This is very inefficient way of doing things; if you want to keep a database of all airline-specific non-IATA configuration-specific aircraft codes, you probably shouldn't rely on the small percentage of customers that care enough to let you know when you miss one. A more scalable way is to have your system email customer service whenever it finds that an airline has returned a code that is not in the database, so that customer service can research what it is and update the database thusly minimizing the amount of incorrect/missing data you're displaying to customer. Case in point, the BA-77C code has been in use for at least a month (if not more) and you're fixing your database only now, with much delay.

Thanks, we added that as well.

Thank you.

Most airlines use the various specific equipment types that are universally used across the industry, not made up ones. Eg 738 and 739 vs just 737. Those we have specific descriptions for: eg "Boeing 737-800".

BA appears to be making up their own. If you happen to have a better description for us to use for these made up aircraft codes then let us know and we'll use them, this way everyone can know what the differences are.

It might be simpler for you because you understand the differences, but other people may not. The best thing to do is to get proper descriptions of each sub-type and use them, this way everyone understands what they're looking at.

What we will also do is display the equipment code if no specific equipment code type is in our database, so either way it's covered. I thought it did that already but I was mistaken. Your suggestion is good, maybe we'll do that as well.

That's why we prefer an email to [email protected] if the issue is a bug or lack of information in a display, such as this, as we can make many changes immediately. As BobbySteel said "Sorry, missed these follow ups."

While I like the site, am happy I paid for it, and will continue to use it -- I have to say that every email I've sent you via your preferred method has elicited the same response: "we'll think about it."

So I suspect that posting on FT is more likely to succeed in getting changes to happen!

We evaluate all suggestions equally, we can't implement all of them for various reasons, but do what we can.

We are about to work on changes to the seat map system anyway so we'll do this as well. My post wasn't meant to be ambiguous about it.

Thanks for the fast follow up here Voice. I've been a member for probably 2 years now and it's my best $100 a year in travel spending!

I'm new to expertflyer and have been playing around with searches for awards under "flight availability." I noticed that awardnexus.com is showing some seats that appear as unavailable on EF for SQ. For example, searching the last two weeks of October in Economy or Business shows some seats on certain days using ANA via awardnexus.com but no O, I, or X seats appear on EF. What am I missing? Thanks!

All award searches should be done using the Award & Upgrade search tool. The list of airlines that are supported by ExpertFlyer for Awards & Upgrades are here: http://www.expertflyer.com/sessionlessClassList.do but is also listed in the Award & Upgrade search tool itself. We do not have SQ award information at this time.

If you have any other questions about using ExpertFlyer, please contact our help desk directly at [email protected] Thanks.

This reminds me, why doesn't EF have award searched for CX and JL? They are available on a free site, so the data can't be difficult to obtain. What am I missing?