Is there any web site or number to call to see how full a particular flight is? I'm hoping for a certain seat and if the plane is getting full I'd like to know. Thanks.

You could make a very good guess when you take the time to look at the airline's seat map page and check the fare code availibility, but you will NEVER know <b>precisely</b> what the actual load is.
Airlines like to keep that a secret.

Besides, just because the flight is full it does not mean it will go out full. There are many factors that add to this. Connecting flights did not come in on time, full fare passengers deciding not to fly on this particular flight (tickets are fully refundable), change of equipment at the last minute by the airline, etc., etc.,

So if you are just looking at a particular seat and don't have the ability to book it ahead, show up at the airport early and see if it's available.
No internet site, including the airline's seat map site will give you that info.

Are you looking for a current seat map for a particular flight? If so, which airline? Many airlines allow you to see available seats during the booking process.

I don't know of any website that will tell you exactly how many seats have been sold on a particular flight. It's possible to get an idea but not usually an exact number.

There are websites that list how many seats are available for sale in a particular fare class but those numbers usually max out at 7 or 9.

Patty &amp; AAFF- I am looking at United Airlines and British Airways for flights to Italy in June. Right now the price is a bit too high, but I would like to be able to see how they are filling up if possible. I have not noticed anywhere on their websites how to find fare code availability, or available seats during the booking process. Any tips? I called British Airways and she said there is still a lot of space on the flight. United airlines has this fully automated reservation line, and I haven't gone through the process yet to speak to a real person.

I would love to be able to get a basic idea of how full a flight is off the internet if possible. That way I could check regularly without having to constantly call. Thanks for any help you can provide.

You are going to have trouble finding anyplace which will tell you exactly how many seats remain on a flight. That information is just not given out, even to travel agents. As AA mentioned, it is quite secretive. As are the lengths of waiting lists.

From available seat maps and listings you can SWAG an answer, but cannot be sure. Not sure enough anyway for what you are trying to do.

As Patty observed, &quot;There are websites that list how many seats are available for sale in a particular fare class but those numbers usually max out at 7 or 9.&quot; Quite true, but the number of seats in any class has nothing to do with the total number of seats remaining on the plane. That because any seat can usually be sold in any of several fare classes.

As an example, assume there are 5 physical seats remaining on a flight (we will conveniently ignore overbooking). The class of service display could easily say something like, &quot;Y5 B5 M5...&quot; That does not mean there are 15 seats remaining on the plane. If someone comes along and sells 2 seats, then it would say &quot;Y3 B3 M3...&quot;


Another thing is that flights are marketed worldwide. Just because it looks like there are a lot of empty seats on a plane today doesn't mean that some football team cannot come along tomorrow and buy them all.

So with all the unknowns and variables, it is quite difficult to outsmart the airlines. Yes, you can still get a better fare, but trying to play games for a better fare ends up buring you more often than not.

jgg,
Try one of the sites listed here for availability by fare code -

http://www.flyaow.com/classavailability.htm

I'm not that familiar with the specific fare codes that UA and BA use. Each airline uses their own sets of different alphabetical letters to represent various fares. However, I believe all airlines use F to represent full fare first, J for full fare business, and Y for full fare economy.

Assuming a 3 class configuration, the fare codes would be listed in this order - first/business/economy. All of the letters following the full fare code in any given class of service represent various discounted fares within that same class of service. So Y could be followed by a string of other letters and those all represent different economy fare codes.

BA also operates 4 class aircraft with World Traveler Plus (premium economy) and I believe they use W (full fare) or T (discounted fare) for this class of service.

Hope that made sense. Someone else can probably explain it much more clearly/concisely than I just did.

As far as seat maps, again I'm not that familiar with either the UA or BA websites, but I don't believe that the BA site allows you to see a current seat map (if I'm wrong, I'd love to know how/where), so you could try using a third party booking site and see if they show a seat map. I believe the UA site does, somewhere in the booking process. Try going as far as you can into the booking process without making an actual purchase.

I like the AA and DL sites as they allow me to view available seats in the first step.

On the subject of fare codes, I have a question for AAFF or anyone else who can answer. Is A the fare class that domestic mileage upgrades are booked into? I was quite surprised by the amount of A availability I see.

I'm referring to AA of course.

Here are the booking classes for British Air:

First F, A
Club (Business Class) J, C, D, I
World Traveller Plus W, T
World Traveller (Coach) Y, B, H, K, M, R, L, S, N, V, Q

A on both AA and BA is discounted first class. Is used primarily for net fares.

I thought A was also used for mileage upgrades (from economy to first on domestic flights) on AA? If not, what's the fare code?

It is also used for domestic mileage/e-VIP upgrade. I really don't know how the computers know the difference for mileage differences, but they do. Domestic &quot;sticker&quot; upgrades are booked into X.

Here is a great site, although somewhat outdated, so double check everything before making a fare/mileage decision:

<b>http://members.shaw.ca/fewmiles/AA/index2.html</b>

Here's the part where I'm confused.

If the same fare class is used for both discounted FC and upgrades, is there a way to determine how many of those seats are actually available for upgrades and how many are only available for purchase as discounted FC? Or can ALL of the seats within that fare class be used for either purpose?

For example, if I see A5, can I assume there are 5 seats available for mileage upgrades or not? If not, is there any way of determining the actual number, other than calling AAdvantage?

Thanks.

When you see A5, then it means you could either buy 5 discounted first class tickets or use miles/e-VIPs to upgrade 5 passengers, whichever comes first.

I should have said - You could buy 5 discounted first class tickets <b>IF</b> AA is offering that fare on that particular flight. Not all fares are offered on every flight. But if you see A fare available, it definitely means that you can upgrade with miles/e-VIPs.

Great! Thanks for clarifying.

Close to flight date, if upgraders have taken all the A inventory but there are still F seats, and a paid &quot;A&quot; person turns up, it's customary for the airline to switch the designation of one of the remaining F seats to A.

The only true way you can tell is if you work for the airline. I fly no-rev all the time and I always know the exact loads before I show up at an airport.