stupid airline question

[Luanne]

If I'm making an airline reservation and I'm allowed to make the reservation, but not reserve a seat (the airline website is showing no seats available) what exactly does this mean? Is the flight already oversold?

The flight is not until May 29th.

[Linda74]

No, it is probably that you are either too close to the date and they will release the seats at the gate, or you are too far ahead and they have not begun assigning seats. It really depends on the airlines. We booked tickets in May to go to Prague and KLM would not assign the seats til 90 days ahead. Each of the airlines have their own idiosyncracies. And if perchance, they have oversold...you will be eligible for bump compensation....which is often a good thing!!

[Luanne]

Originally Posted by Linda74

No, it is probably that you are either too close to the date and they will release the seats at the gate, or you are too far ahead and they have not begun assigning seats. It really depends on the airlines. We booked tickets in May to go to Prague and KLM would not assign the seats til 90 days ahead. Each of the airlines have their own idiosyncracies. And if perchance, they have oversold...you will be eligible for bump compensation....which is often a good thing!!

This is a 4-legged flight, two going and two coming back. It's for my dd. We could get seat assignments on 3 of the four legs. It was just the first leg, OAK to DEN where there was no seat to be assigned. At this point the ticket is only on hold so we could change to another flight if this really might be a problem. There would be more of an issue if she doesn't get on the plane (compensation aside) since there will be folks waiting to pick dd up.

[Dave M]

No need to worry. As Linda suggests, there are a variety of reasons, depending on the airline and the particular flight, for not allowing you to reserve a seat now.

Here's more....

It’s possible that the airline anticipates the flight will be overbooked and doesn’t want to play musical chairs by handing out reserved seats yet. Airlines routinely overbook flights. Why? Because a very high percentage of booked passengers eventually cancel their reservations or just don't show up or have a missed connection. Thus, the airlines often overbook, giving them the best chance of having a relatively full flight (which they want) and knowing (by using sophisticated yield management software) that it's extremely unlikely that they will have to deny boarding to anyone. Only about one in every 10,000 passengers is involuntarily denied boarding due to overbooking.

In the event that too many passengers show up, the airline will offer compensation to those willing to take a later flight. DD should merely not offer to volunteer to take a later flight.

If you still haven't been able to get a seat assignment by flight day, make sure she gets to the airport to check in very early - at least 2 hours ahead of time, if possible. That will generally assure getting a seat assigned at check-in. If not, she'll get her seat assignment at the gate. In the one-in-10,000 situation that someone is involuntarily denied boarding, it will almost always be one of the last persons to check in for the flight that gets stuck.

Thus, you can confidently book, knowing that DD will be able to fly.

[Ann-Marie]

Just a thought? I'm assuming you are doing this online. Can't you call the airline and see what they say as to why you can not book that particular seat?

[Luanne]

Originally Posted by Ann-Marie

Just a thought? I'm assuming you are doing this online. Can't you call the airline and see what they say as to why you can not book that particular seat?

Have you ever tried to deal with a United rep on the phone????? I'd much rather deal with their online system. I've had their reps tell me flights didn't exist that I could see online.

Edited to add:
I generally find that the "live" agents have even less information available than the website.

[camachinist]

1 United 1212 737-500 OAK/01:50p DEN/05:17p 9 9 7 9 9 0 9 9 0 0 9 9 7 9
2 US Airways 6188(1) 737-500 OAK/01:50p DEN/05:17p 7 7 7 0 7 7 7 7 7 0 0 7 7 7
3 United 264 A319 OAK/06:00a DEN/09:24a 9 9 6 9 9 0 9 9 9 7 9 9 9 9
4 United 1228 737-300 OAK/10:43a DEN/02:10p 9 9 5 9 9 0 9 9 1 0 9 9 9 9
5 US Airways 6186(1) 737-300 OAK/10:43a DEN/02:10p 7 7 7 0 7 7 7 7 7 0 0 7 7 7
6 United 1202 737-300 OAK/04:58p DEN/08:20p 9 9 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9
7 US Airways 6182(1) A319 OAK/06:00a DEN/09:24a 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
8 United 204 A319 OAK/07:21a DEN/10:45a 9 9 7 9 9 0 9 9 9 7 9 9 9 9

A B E F G H K L M N P Q S T U V W Y
9 US Airways 6190(1) 737-300 OAK/04:58p DEN/08:20p 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
10 US Airways 6184(1) A319 OAK/07:21a DEN/10:45a 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

Which flight?

[Luanne]

Originally Posted by camachinist

Which flight?

It's flight 204.

[CatLovers]

Originally Posted by Dave M

If you still haven't been able to get a seat assignment by flight day, make sure she gets to the airport to check in very early - at least 2 hours ahead of time, if possible.

Or just check-in from home 24 hours before the flight. You'll be one of the first to check in and will get a seat assignment on your boarding pass which you can print out.

[Luanne]

Originally Posted by CatLovers

Or just check-in from home 24 hours before the flight. You'll be one of the first to check in and will get a seat assignment on your boarding pass which you can print out.

Well maybe. I have had this happen before (with my mom). We checked in a day ahead and she still didn't have a seat assignment. She did get on her flight with no problem. And hmmmmm, it was also an OAK to DEN flight.

[camachinist]

Originally Posted by Luanne

It's flight 204.

I'm seeing 46 unassigned seats, 17 of which you have access to as a non-elite

In my prior post, you'll see a lot of 9's in relation to the fare buckets, which means there are still plenty of seats for sale, which matches the seat map.

What is happening is that UA is blocking out a section of the back of the plane for seat assignments at the airport, and, as a non-status pax, you can't override that. I can see them as a 1K. Interestingly, on the GDS, I can see some of E+, which I technically shouldn't be able to do...hmm <edited to add I know why now; I was seeing rows which don't exist >

Anyway, OLCI at the 24 hour window and you should be good to go. If the flight is full, there's a chance they might be bumped up to E+, otherwise it'll be at the back of the plane. I can't recall if exit rows (row 12 on this a/c) are reservable by non-status pax at the OLCI or it must be done at the airport. Worth a try though...

<Also, since this is a held itin, not ticketed, consider booking UA 264, which does have assignable seats for non-status pax. It's just a bit earlier...>

Hope that explains things...

FWIW, you might get a friendly agent on a future call which will override the airport block and get you an assignment. Can't hurt to ask...

Pat

[Luanne]

Originally Posted by camachinist

I'm seeing 46 unassigned seats, 17 of which you have access to as a non-elite

In my prior post, you'll see a lot of 9's in relation to the fare buckets, which means there are still plenty of seats for sale, which matches the seat map.

What is happening is that UA is blocking out a section of the back of the plane for seat assignments at the airport, and, as a non-status pax, you can't override that. I can see them as a 1K. Interestingly, on the GDS, I can see some of E+, which I technically shouldn't be able to do...hmm <edited to add I know why now; I was seeing rows which don't exist >

Anyway, OLCI at the 24 hour window and you should be good to go. If the flight is full, there's a chance they might be bumped up to E+, otherwise it'll be at the back of the plane. I can't recall if exit rows (row 12 on this a/c) are reservable by non-status pax at the OLCI or it must be done at the airport. Worth a try though...

<Also, since this is a held itin, not ticketed, consider booking UA 264, which does have assignable seats for non-status pax. It's just a bit earlier...>

Hope that explains things...

FWIW, you might get a friendly agent on a future call which will override the airport block and get you an assignment. Can't hurt to ask...

Pat

Thanks Pat. All very good info. We'll go ahead and buy the ticket and then dd can just take her best shot at getting a "good" seat.