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Flight SAYS oversold but shows 50 plus empty seats?

Flight SAYS oversold but shows 50 plus empty seats?

Old Aug 18th, 2009, 03:48 AM
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Flight SAYS oversold but shows 50 plus empty seats?

My flight to Rome from JFK is at 5:00 pm today so I went to change my seats...this is the strange part, it's showing well over 50 empty seats on the chart (I'm trying to get an empty seat next to us so we can stretch out and sleep), but there is an alert saying the flight is oversold.

How can that be? Wouldn't everyone booked on that flight have to have an assigned seat?

I called the skymiles department and they were useless, the response was "Yeah, it's just a weird thing, the flight shows oversold by negative 19 seats but I see all these empty seats. I can't explain it".

CAn anyone here explain it? Should I just book the seats right next to each other or take a gamble that there are going to be empty seats?
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Old Aug 18th, 2009, 04:00 AM
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Not everyone will have checked in online. Not all seats will have been preassigned. So the flight could easily be oversold and be showing empty seats. So even if you get yourselves a place with what seems to be a free seat next to you it will probably be occupied at boarding.
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Old Aug 18th, 2009, 04:53 AM
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I would not count on an open seat between two of you. Murphy's law says that it'll be occupied even if the flight isn't full.

The last thing you want is someone sitting between the 2 of you.

What is the configuration of the plane?

If there are 2 of you I would book window/aisle together if it is 2-#-2 seating. If it's 3-3-3 I'd book two aisle seats across from each other. I can't stand middle seats.
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Old Aug 18th, 2009, 05:00 AM
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A certain number of seats may be allocated to the check-in counter and the gate for assignment.

My advice would be to GET THERE EARLY
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Old Aug 18th, 2009, 05:11 AM
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I'd believe the warning that the flight was oversold more than a seating chart. There is no requirement that you have an assigned seat on a plane just because you buy a ticket, anyway.
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Old Aug 18th, 2009, 05:56 AM
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The seat assignment chart is NOT a good indicator of available seats. Lots of people don't get seats until they get to the airport! (tour groups etc) I have seen seat maps with LOTS of empty seats on planes where they were begging for volunteers and had "full" seat maps on planes that acutally went out empty!
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Old Aug 18th, 2009, 06:06 AM
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I've traveled with friends on the same flight, but we'd actually booked our flights separately. I was able to reserve my assigned seat on booking, but she wasn't because she booked through some other system that said she had to wait until she arrived at the airport--and we'd paid the same price. Airline tickets are a total mystery . . .
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Old Aug 18th, 2009, 06:14 AM
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Okay thanks, you convinced me, I won't risk it. The configuration is 2-4-2, so I booked 2 seats each(window and aisle) in 2 rows behind each other, so we have 4 seats together and everyone gets a window or an aisle.

Funny thing is, if I go to Delta and try to purchase 4 seats for todays flight, they are STILL selling seats on what the website claims is an oversold flight.

Pretty interesting, isn't it?
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Old Aug 18th, 2009, 06:19 AM
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Oh by the way, they held a lot of those nice empty seats (forward part of plane) for medallion members and released them late last night, but you still can't actually select them until you check-in online.

They didn't show up until I hit check-in, until then, it wouldn't let me chose them - we're not medallion members.
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Old Aug 18th, 2009, 06:34 AM
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I see that every time I make a reservation. The best seats are "priority" and not released until 24 hours before the flight. I try to remember to check in at the 24 hour mark to change to a better seat.

The last time I flew I changed to one of the best seats on the plane but then we sat on the tarmac for a while because of a maintenance problem. We eventually had to get off the plane and get onto standby for another flight. When I got onto a flight I ended up in the last row next to the lav, but at the point I was happy to be in the air and on the way to my destination.
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