Ok folks, any insight on this mystery!!??
We are booking a flight for out in May 2011, when we click on the "view empty seats" button it shows a lot of seats already filled? But yet you aren't supposed to be able to
reserve a seat until 24-48 hours before flight time??
So how do those seats all get booked up??
You can choose/change your seats anytime. I believe it's only British Airways that has the 24-48 hour rule.
Premier travelers on their airlines can book their seats at time of reservation. That leaves the rest for infrequent fliers - vacationers. Call the airline and see if you can speak to a customer service representative to select your seats now. Be prepared to have them change on you without notice, so double check each month before you fly.
Seat selection on-line isn't always accurate, and it changes. As you noticed, lots of seats are "booked" chances are, they are just blocked to you at this time, that's why I say to call the airline's customer service to book your seat.
I flew Iberia last month and wasn't able to reserve my seat in advance. Iberia said "the computer wouldn't allow it" because of the "class" of ticket I had??? It was a fully paid totally standard coach ticket. I was easily assigned a seat on flight day at the airport. The agent at the airport called it "a computer glitch." Other than that, it was a great flight.
While it is true some airlines like BA(?) make seat [INVALID]ion available only 24/48 hrs ahead almost if not all airlines use the bucket seat allocation system. The airline's computer model shows how many seats and of what type to make available on what routes at particular times of day etc. based on historical models in order to maximize profit and places that number of seats in a "bucket" and then it moves on to the next higher price bracket and allocates X number of seats for that "bucket". As each bucket "fills" more seats are added or deleted from that particular bucket. The model is almost a living breathing thing changing sometimes minute by minute. This is one reason why you can go online and see different prices for the same flight 5 minutes let along a day later. American always allows me to [INVALID] my seat at the time of purchase and to change seats (when available) up to the day of departure. Maybe others on this site can give their experiences with seat [INVALID]ion on other airlines. Useful info that.
I've always been able to reserve my seat well in advance. Must be your airline's particular rules.
I booked airline tickets in August for our May 2011 flight and have seats both going and coming on US Air.
Booked US Airways in July and was able to make seat choice immediately. Kept watching and when better seats (to us) opened up several weeks later I was able to change seats.
Hotwire lets you pick seats on some flights.
And if I travel enough times, it is just possible that one day I'll get to sit in one of those picked seats..... :)
It depends on the airline as to when you can book a seat. If they offer the choice of seats upon purchase I would take it. I know USAirways allows you to pick seats at time of purchase as do most other airlines. I have only found that the discount airlines don't offer the seat selection at time of purchase unless you buy them.
Donna
Which airline is it? I flew Continental on my last trip (booked my tickets online 5 weeks in advance) and they let me choose my seat.
I never realized that any airline DIDN'T allow you to choose your seats, with the famous exception of
Southwest Airlines, until people on the Helpline complained about British Airways' policy...and I typically buy tickets many months in advance (domestic and internat'l)...
Are you saying that you WEREN'T ALLOWED to choose a seat? If so, those "filled" seats are reserved for upper-tier frequent flyers...and those seats (if not all booked by that time) are released 24-48 hours prior to departure. Perhaps that airline also allows frequent flyers to actually choose their seats at the time of booking, so they ARE actually "filled"...
When booking a trip earlier this year for next year, we were told that we could not reserve a seat until 24 hours before departure, although, we could choose our seats now if we paid a $15.00 fee each way. We paid the extra, we got a good deal on the seats so it was worth it for us and then we also knew we would all be sitting together.
