Flight sold out - likelihood of getting seats?

[DianeH]

Hi
Our family and SIL are booked for Maz in November. We are flying Alaska. Suddenly, our nephew, wife, and daughter would like to come.

OK, I'll use SIL companion ticket and book away....Wrong!

The flight is now sold out!

What do you think my chances are that this flight will suddenly have 3 seats available?

I am confused that there are no seats because when I go to my trips account and view seat maps, there are still seats available. Are there really people who have bought the tickets but have chosen not to choose their seat yet?

Is there any way to see the 'true' seat availability?

I'm searching
AS 246 Nov 10 LAX to MZT
AS 249 Nov 17 MZT to LAX

Thanks for the advice!

Diane

 

[Blues]

I am confused that there are no seats because when I go to my trips account and view seat maps, there are still seats available. Are there really people who have bought the tickets but have chosen not to choose their seat yet?

The airlines hold back a certain percentage of sold seats on every flight from online seat selection. If you're too late in selecting a seat online, even though you have a ticket, you'll be told that you have get your seat at the ticket counter or at the gate on the day of your flight. It sounds as though your flight is in this situation.

-Bob

 

[lynne]

Those flights do appear to be sold out for both your origin and return dates. You can check seatcounter.com for availability for other dates.

 

[DianeH]

Thanks Bob and Lynne,
Not exactly the news I had wanted to hear.

So is there a waiting list that you can go on?
Whats the best way to check for availability then? every morning, noon and night, online?

Diane

 

[MacDaddy]

Those flights are sold out in all classes. Since airlines routinely overbook flights, the fact that they will not sell seats on these flights means that they are probably already overbooked. It's unlikely that more seats will become available for sale between now and then. I do see that there are other flights (mostly with connections) on other airlines those days that have availability.

 

[Talent312]

While the flight may already be overbooked and the seats merely heldback to see who shows up first...

If your group bought tickets on a different flight, but with the same airline for the same day, they could go to the ticket counter and ask to standby for your flight. Then, if there are enuff no-shows, your group could get those seats (just don't count on it).
-----------------------------------
Recently, I arrived at Atlanta (from NYC) and found that Delta had cancelled my connection and rebooked me for the following day. After a few minutes of cursing, I examined the departure board and saw that Delta had another flight for my destination that was delayed at the gate.

I jogged to the gate where (thank God) they found a seat and issued a boarding pass to me. However when I tried to board, their scanner rejected me, saying "passenger does not exist." They had me wait by the door until everyone else was on board and let me on anyway.

 

[GregGH]

Those flights do appear to be sold out for both your origin and return dates. You can check seatcounter.com for availability for other dates.

Hi Lynne
Great link --thanks
http://www.seatcounter.com/
that linked me to ...
http://www.milemaven.com/
and to ( which I knew - but need to get to more often )
http://www.flyertalk.com

Flying is sure technical

Greg

 

[DianeH]

It doesn't sound promising, thats for sure. They live 75 miles away from the airport, the flight is at 6:30 am, so I doubt they will come to see if they can get on the flight. They are also traveling with a 10 year old and an almost 2 year old.

Another question unrelated , re: the $100 change fee that Alaska charges for cancellations or changes......
If you have a seat booked and that person decides not to go, but you have found someone to take their place....and you have 2 confirmation codes as you used companion ticket and miles to book.....do you pay just $100 or is it $100 per leg or per confirmation code?

Does that make sense?

Diane

 

[Dave M]

The fee is $100 (more on some arlines) per ticketed passenger, no matter how many legs there are on the trip.

Only the person who is ticketed can use that already-issued ticket. If that person decides not to go, you must cancel the reservation or the ticket will have no value. The ticketed person can get a refund (less the fee), depending on the terms of the ticket, or use the value (less the fee) for another trip, but the ticket cannot be reissued in another's name.

For another person to travel, that person would have to purchase a separate ticket, if a seat is still available after the already ticketed passenger cancels. There is no way to "replace" the already ticketed passenger with the new traveler.

You can try to handle the cancellation and new ticket on the same call, but the reservationist should warn you in advance that there is no certainty that the canceled seat will still be available for the new passenger after the first ticket is canceled.

 

[myip]

I am looking at seatcounter.com... HOw do you know what class is available to use for FF points.

 

[lynne]

FF miles are not displayed on Seatcounter. To see available FF seats, you will need to use expertflyer which is a subscription based service. They do have a free trial. The best place to find information, is the flyertalk forums wiki for your particular airline.

 

[Talent312]

... re: the $100 change fee that Alaska charges for cancellations or changes......
If you have a seat booked and that person decides not to go, but you have found someone to take their place....and you have 2 confirmation codes as you used companion ticket and miles to book.....do you pay just $100 or is it $100 per leg or per confirmation code?

Usually, once a ticket is issued in someone's name, the name on the ticket cannot be changed, unless the ticketed passenger has a legal name change. You could cancel the reservation beforehand, but as its a "companion" ticket, you may have to travel with them for it to be valid. Hypothetically, your new passenger could change their name to that of the original passenger, but that does seem a bit extreme.