how full that plane?
 

Howdy all, my first adventure here. My hope is that someone can direct me to a web site which can inform me the percentage full/empty any given flight. On long hauls, >12 hrs in plane, nice to lie flat without Business class ticket. Often on very early departing am flights, the wee hours, fewer travelers and more empty seats, maybe 3/4 across near the rear of the plane suitable to sleep upon. I will be traveling from USA to Hong Kong post knee surgery and I'm a tall guy. Are such records as 'number of passengers on flight' public info or kept private? thnx

Some airlines, such as AA, allow you to see the current seat map on a flight before you book. I'm not aware of any centralized site that will allow you to search based on current empty seats.

There's of course no way to know that the seats around you won't fill up over time. If you'll really be in pain should you get stuck in coach all flight, the best course of action is to try to at least get an exit row seat, and if you can afford it to fly in business.

You should check out ExpertFlyer.com, which will tell you how many seats are left for sale on a given flight and let you view the seat map (which is not a reliable means of determining how full a flight is, but will tell you where the empty seats currently are).

It's a rare long haul these days that is empty enough to let you spread out across 3+ seats. Airlines need to fill all the seats to make money. Unless you're booking the day of your flight, finding an empty row in coach will boil down to luck. If you want to stretch out, get some miles under your belt and upgrade, or buy a business class ticket outright.

I did not make myself clear, sorry. I am interested in historical patterns of emptiness, not current seats available. If we can see that flights from X to B at 9 am are 100% full and same X to B at 2 am only 65% full, data from the past year, we can learn something about probability of an empty or two seats. Sure, I'd prefer Business or Premium Elite, or Tiger Woods' private plane but i don't see that in my, humble, future.

Am I to understand from your post that you are looking to score an empty seat up front without paying the upfront fare? This, based on historical data as to when those cabins go out with empty seats?

I'm pretty sure from the OP's post that s/he's trying to find a way to predict which planes are likely to have lighter loads in back so s/he can have some chance of being able to lie across 3 or 4 seats to sleep.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

"Sure, I'd prefer Business or Premium Elite, or Tiger Woods' private plane but i don't see that in my, humble, future."

Welcome to FT!

You have a lot to learn about flying in premium cabins. :) If you are credit worthy, and can charge a few thousand dollars over a few months, you should be able to garner enough miles for a Business or First Class ticket from NYC to HKG. Check out the MilesBuzz! forum for information on the current credit-card sign-up bonuses.

I think the OP is using "X" and "B" as variables to represent destinations, not as fare classes.

He just wants to know if he can predict which flights will have empty rows of seats in coach. I don't know of any site that does this.

OP -- Either way, this is a fool's errand. Even if you did manage to find a flight that consistently was 65% full in the back, the odds of finding a flight that's 65% full in the back where NOBODY else on the flight takes any of the seats in the empty rows are just next to nothing. It's a matter of luck, and the empty rows usually go to the status passengers.

Better solution: earn a bunch of miles (through flying, or credit cards, or any means necessary) and use those miles to upgrade yourself to business.

And Welcome to FT!

BTW, regardless, I applaud the analytical approach. If you're a software engineer in the Bay Area please PM me. :-)

The days of three empty adjacent seats in coach are long go... the best you might find are three empty middle seats in three adjacent rows... but that is a bit tough to lie down in. :)

Unfortunately, I think you will either have to make do with one seat... and possibly get lucky enough to have the middle seat beside you empty... or do as others have suggested and work on miles to get an upgrade.