Help! Seat Counter question
 

Hello,

I am flying from Hnl to Sfo tomorrow on the last flight of the evening and I am looking to get bumped as I could use the voucher for a trip to JFK... I looked on seat counter and it shows one seat left. Is that one seat left in the inventory to sell or is it one seat left in positive space on the plane?

Not an answer to your question, but I think the terms "one seat left in the inventory to sell" and "one seat left in positive space on the plane" are equivalent. That is, confirmed reservations that are oversold are just as much "positive space" reservations as the first ticket sold on a flight. I bring this up because although I know what you mean to ask, the term "positive space" has a very specific meaning, and especially if you use it with airline personnel, they're going to interpret it in the standard manner and may miss your meaning.

It means they will sell one more seat. They may already be oversold by 30, but they are willing to oversell by 31 total. The actual oversell situation would only be known by the airline.

If this is the UA 10:50P dep. on 13 Aug., it is currently F0, V1, B2, Y2. While it does appear overbooked, it may not be over by so much that it becomes oversold or by much, as UA would have to overnight VDBs/IDBs. Also, if 10:50 pax move up to the more lightly booked earlier eve. flight, that would relieve pressure on your flight. So now, looks certainly possible for an oversale but may or may not actually be one tomorrow.

I often find that a quick call to the airline will get me that information for a specific flight.