Cost of Flying--Wow! Have Your Recent Flights Been Full?

Went to Spain in May, transiting through Gatwick, and each leg in both directions was full. There were very few empty seats in either direction. We flew British Airways.

We ended up getting our Delta Comfort Classic seats Jul 19. We did not have enough miles to book 2 tickets; there were a couple of flights that allowed us to upgrade for only $40 per flight from the tier down. We had been trying to decide between Delta and Alaska Airlines (Nov/Dec Seattle to London). When I first looked at seats in June, the Alaska tickets were 57.5K miles plus ~$252. We hadn't finalized dates and were waiting to see if either of our sons could coordinate a trip with us. When we finally got down to booking, the Alaska tickets were up to 90K and ~550-1000. I haven't checked to see if they've come down. We ultimately decided on Delta so we could have just 2 seats by the window, instead of a third row companion. I remember that our Oct '24 Delta flight back from London had MANY empty rows and I've been wondering if that is generally the case in October.

I flew JFK-Amsterdam round trip in April. Planes full both ways. I'm flying JFK-Prague in October... we'll see what the flights look like.

Did Omaha to Dallas to Heathrow in July and there were a handful of empty seats, on the long haul flight, including luckily in our row so we got to stretch out. This was a fairly cheap ticket ($300 one way).

From Athens to Dallas on the return it was totally full and quite unpleasant (a family was upset they didn't get to sit together so they spent the entire flight standing in the aisle visiting each other with their butts in my face, which I did not appreciate.)

I flew Delta CDG to Atlanta in late May and came back in early August.

On both flights I had a Main Economy seat - both flights were configured 2-4-2 seating.

On both flights I was able to move over and have a two-seat section to myself. Poor girl's Premium Select !!

Obviously there were several empty seats on both those flights in order for that to be possible.

My flights Canada to Paris on Iceland Air in Feb-March were not full.
I had the entire SagaClass cabin to myself on the return trip from KEF.
WestJet to Dublin a few weeks ago: not full in Premium Cabin.
I had an empty seat next to me coming home , which of course, unless you are a pretzel, is not much use for stretching out!

All I can add is don't fly on the same plane I'm on, because it's guaranteed to be full lol.

Another example is if we need rain I'll wash my car first as it's like a rain dance.

One more guarantee of rain is if I gamble and don't take an umbrella. Heavy rain is assured.

Our Delta flights JFK to/from Madrid in late June/early July were jam-packed.

Maybe Mike from WVa was on the flights…..

Flew Delta from Sacramento to MSP in June, and it was pretty full. And flew SFO to Sao Paulo in July through JFK on the way there and Atlanta way back. All flights full. So many delays and cancelations so even more packed. And flight from Atlanta to SFO was also packed.
I have yet to encounter an empty flight this year.

As for cost, I use Google Flights pretty aggressively to lower my spend, even to looking at alternative airports and certainly including airlines I haven't previously flown. My next round trip back to the US will be on Royal Air Maroc, changing planes in Casablanca. Read the reviews, which are good. The TATL segment will be lie-flat. Great fare, matching what I was paying 4 years ago.

Being willing to research a little longer usually pays off. I will say that overseas business class seems to me to be full every flight I take, whether or not I'm sitting there.