BulaRae

I am hoping there might be some folks here that could shed some light for me.

I have a friend from Europe who is flying non-rev as friends and family on United. He knows how to use the system and has been doing so for two years. Unfortunately he lost his domestic partnership status and another friend put him on as friends and family.

So anyway, he was trying to get from Frankfurt to Denver yesterday via Chicago and the two flights when I looked on United.com showed over 50 seats available, including the entire First Class cabin (11 of 12 seats) and about 20 in Biz Class, about 30+ in economy.

But inside the non-rev system it was showing him there was -9 and there were about 8 people on the list above him.

So he wouldn't take the chance because the system was showing him no availability.

I tried to convince him to do it anyway as there were 50+ seats and he just wouldn't take the chance, and now he is screwed and lost in limbo-land in DC going back and forth between IAD and DCA trying to get flights. It's stupid.

Can anyone explain what the deal is with this?

Thanks much!!

SEA1K4EVR

Yes..the deal is that seat maps are completely unreliable when determining how many seats are actually available on a flight. If the internal UA system said the flight was oversold by 9..it wasn't lying. It is possible that many people have confirmed tickets on the flight but do not have seat assignments...this happens more often in economy than it does in biz or first (especially when regular economy is full and there are only economy plus seats left)...but it can happen in biz & first as well if upgrades clear and the pax doesn't select a seat. In this instance the most likely story is that economy was way oversold but biz & first were not...so UA would upgrade people into those other cabins to make room in economy.

glasnost7

Also, IIRC, NRSA pax have to be with their sponsor in order to travel in 3-class F. So even if there were seats and biz wasn't oversold, I don't think your friend would've been allowed to make the trip in F.

BulaRae

Thanks. Makes sense. And no, he's the kind that can travel along in Biz but not First. Sorry I don't know all the lingo. And he can fly codeshares domestic but not International, as I understand it.

saxman66

This is actually not true anymore. Buddies and companions can travel alone in F.

Your friend probably should have at least tried. It never hurts.

PropClear

Nope, still can't travel in 3-cabin F w/o the employee or travel eligible (maybe in domestic it's possible, but not int'l).

planemechanic

You never make it on board a flight you don't try for. Been there, done that. If you want to fly you have to actually go to the airport.

absolu7

i got on with -8 the other day cdg->ord
never hurts to try.. always no shows for non revs and revs.