BUMPING
 

Have been checking my itinerary for an upcoming US trip to the Left Coast. I've noticed that when I check the seat map through ITN.net, the seat map for my leg to SAN is not available. Do I make the assumption that all seats are therefore taken and to assume a higher than normal bump probability??

Not necessarily. Airlines usually cut off advance seat assignments when the flight is about 60%-70% full. The rest are held for airport check-in only. The best way to find out if a flight is overbooked is by calling Reservations. The agent might even "slip" the boarding total numbers to you.

I keep seeing these hints that ITN has some special insight into seating availability. Do you have to book the trip through them or can anyone find this info (I don't see anything obvious when I pop over to itn.net)

Tom, when you register, make sure to check the box that you are an advanced (or experienced...) user. Then when you pull up flights, you will see the inventory for all the fare classes (which could be the begining of the battle).

True of most airlines, but I don't think that holds true of US. I've seen plenty of US Express flights which were the flight was authorized to 40 or so and 36 seats were sold. Only one little green seat was available.