Weird AirTran question...

[kristenrice]

Out of idle curiosity, I wondered how many seats were still available on our flight from Detroit to Orlando. Since we leave in three weeks, I figured that the plane would be pretty full.

I did a "mock" reservation for the highest coach fare available and when I went to "select my seats" I was SHOCKED.... There are 58 seats showing available! I know that the first 2-3 rows and maybe a few in the back are "blocked" for those who do not pre-select their seats, and of course, the business class was "unavailable". (Although I did a "mock" BC ressie too and it is wide open)

I was quite stunned to see that many open seats. On our October flight last year and our June flight this year, there were ZERO open seats. Are people just waiting until the last minute to book? Are they going to change the flight and consolidate it with the evening non-stop (Oh I hope not)? Or are we maybe going to get lucky and get to go to Florida on a half-empty plane?

WOW!! I just checked the return flight (on Oct. 20) and there are 99 open seats!! It looks like there are only 16 people on the flight so far. If they decide to move that flight, they better not make it any earlier. The only reason I chose one that early is because it was the only non-stop and I had to be back before 7pm anyways. I didn't want a 10:30am flight, but I had to have one that landed by 7pm and the only other option was a connecting flight that departed at 11:50am and arrived in Detroit at 6:48pm. It didn't make sense to push it that close in the evening to only gain an hour in the morning.

 

[Traveliz]

It's hard to tell - often they can't consolidate because that plane needs to also get to the destination also to reload and head somewhere else.

Liz

 

[crashbb]

Seat maps are a bad representation of passenger load - especially on an airline that charges for selecting your seats.

 

[dioxide45]

The problem with using the seat map is that those who didn't select a seat aren't shown as occupying one on the map. Say the plane has 100 seats, 10 people paid (or used Kayak) to preselect their seat, another 50 just bought a ticket and will be assigned a seat at check in. AirTran knows they still have 60 seats to sell, but the seat map will look like they have 90 to sell. People who pay for the seat fee can select any open seat and none of them should be blocked out by someone being assigned a seat at check in. Hope that makes sense.

 

[kristenrice]

The problem with using the seat map is that those who didn't select a seat aren't shown as occupying one on the map. Say the plane has 100 seats, 10 people paid (or used Kayak) to preselect their seat, another 50 just bought a ticket and will be assigned a seat at check in. AirTran knows they still have 60 seats to sell, but the seat map will look like they have 90 to sell. People who pay for the seat fee can select any open seat and none of them should be blocked out by someone being assigned a seat at check in. Hope that makes sense.

That makes perfect sense.

 

[Minniekins]

How far do you go in making a mock reservation? Do you have to put in your cc info as if to pay? Is there a final confirm button that you just don't click or something? I tried to do one the other day just to see and I couldn't see seat availablity unless I put all my info in to buy and I was afraid I'd go too far and buy something I didn't want to buy, lol!

 

[Andrewj]

Interesteing experience. One of my friend also went through the same experience past days. It is always good to be a part of that.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

It's hard to tell - often they can't consolidate because that plane needs to also get to the destination also to reload and head somewhere else.

Liz

So true. We flew MCO to Atlantic City last weekend with only 21 people on the whole plane. We all could have easily stretched out with each of us across 3 seats and still not even see another passenger. Amazing. I wondered why they didn't cancel the flight until we arrived in AC and saw a whole gate full waiting for our plane to arrive so they could depart.

How far do you go in making a mock reservation? Do you have to put in your cc info as if to pay? Is there a final confirm button that you just don't click or something? I tried to do one the other day just to see and I couldn't see seat availablity unless I put all my info in to buy and I was afraid I'd go too far and buy something I didn't want to buy, lol!

I enter my A+ account login info which automatically fills in name, address, phone, etc. That will allow you to view seats without getting to the cc page. If you're not an A+ member, you need to type it all in.

 

[crashbb]

Interesteing experience. One of my friend also went through the same experience past days. It is always good to be a part of that.

Are you just randomly posting things? This makes no sense in the context of the thread.

 

[Minniekins]

....
I enter my A+ account login info which automatically fills in name, address, phone, etc. That will allow you to view seats without getting to the cc page. If you're not an A+ member, you need to type it all in.

Thanks! I do have an A+ account so I'll go try again. Actually I thought I did login to my account but maybe I didn't, who knows? Anyway, thanks for the answer!

 

[MAH4546]

Amazing. I wondered why they didn't cancel the flight until we arrived in AC and saw a whole gate full waiting for our plane to arrive so they could depart.

They also face thousands of dollars in DOT fines for canceling a flight based on low-loads.

Some airlines are sneaky on high-frequency routes and will swap a broken plane from another route so that the flight "goes tech" and rebook on the next flight. Though an airline simply can't say, "low loads, cancel the flight." The DOT fine can be around $10,000 for the first incident.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

They also face thousands of dollars in DOT fines for canceling a flight based on low-loads.

Some airlines are sneaky on high-frequency routes and will swap a broken plane from another route so that the flight "goes tech" and rebook on the next flight. Though an airline simply can't say, "low loads, cancel the flight." The DOT fine can be around $10,000 for the first incident.

Then why has Airtran changed my Nov. post cruise flight around 3x already? This is a very popular week for travel in our area since NJ schools are closed at least 3 days that week. They could fill at least 6 non stops that day but instead canceled our noon non stop so our next choice of non stop is 7 pm and we now have to find something to do for a few hours.

I thought airlines were free to tweak their schedule as they need to.

 

[MAH4546]

Then why has Airtran changed my Nov. post cruise flight around 3x already? This is a very popular week for travel in our area since NJ schools are closed at least 3 days that week. They could fill at least 6 non stops that day but instead canceled our noon non stop so our next choice of non stop is 7 pm and we now have to find something to do for a few hours.

I thought airlines were free to tweak their schedule as they need to.

I'm not talking about advanced planning. Airlines can tweak their schedules all they want.

Within 24 hours of departure, an airline can't suddenly decide, "this plane has only 21 people, let's cancel the flight." They'll be fined by DOT. Nonetheless, airlines can get around this by claiming it was a maintenance issue by assigning a "broken" plan to the route. They'll do this on high-frequency routes. If there are two flights to San Fran, but eight to Orlando, and the San Fran plane breaks, switch the San Fran and Orlando planes, cancel one Orlando flight with low loads, put everybody else on the remaining seven. That's allowed and happens all the time.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Seat maps are a bad representation of passenger load - especially on an airline that charges for selecting your seats.

What about business class? Are those passengers charged to choose their seat? I would hope not for what they charge but just curious as I'm hoping my dad can get an upgrade using his A+ credits which we can't call for until the day before.

I'm wondering if that seating chart is accurate to see how many seats are still available.