Expert Flyer Question -Answer needed

[coyote501]

I fly Syd - Lax on QF 11 this Sunday (6th May 07) and have been trying to look at the seat map on Expert Flyer to get a rough idea on how full the flight is etc

I have doing this quite regularly and it has worked perfectly up until about a week ago.

However when I now look at expert flyer I can only manage to bring up F class seat map. Instead I now get a 'requested information could not be retrieved' message for both J and Y seat maps?

Can anyone explain this for me?

 

[Evan]

Yes, I am led to beleive that airlines block the seat maps when a certian percentage of the seats are pre allocated. (or atleast BA & QF do)
And so you can no longer see the seat maps sometimes they re-open them within 24hrs of the flight.

If you just want to see what seats are on the aircraft and not worried who is in what you can use seatguru, seatexpert or use Expert Flyer and choose the same flight a week or 2 further out.

Evan

 

[maninblack]

Go to checkmytrip.com and enter your name and PNR. It will bring up the seatmap and availibility but will only show the cabin class you are booked in. Sometimes it doesn't come up but it is certainly not blocked by the airlines, it works 9 times out of 10.

 

[smithym]

Using this tool it is showing the following loads

F0 A0 J1 C0 D0 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 R9 L9 V9 S0 N0 Q0 O0

Hope this helps. Not quite sure how accurate it is compared to EF.

M

 

[coyote501]

This is interesting... I wasn't aware QF blocked this information.

Whilst I am suprised they release this type of info in the first place I wonder what their reasons are for blocking this so close to a flight. Is to limit the number of requests/inquiries etc?

Whilst I appreciated the other web sites they really don't provide the same info as Expert Flyer. Really I am interested in seeing if there are any empty seats near me etc.

Thanks again for your responses.

 

[maninblack]

Whilst I appreciated the other web sites they really don't provide the same info as Expert Flyer. Really I am interested in seeing if there are any empty seats near me etc.

Thanks again for your responses.

Checkmytrip.com shows you exactly that.

 

[coyote501]

Checkmytrip.com shows you exactly that.

You might have to explain that one.... Can't seem to see anything resembling a seat map on my booking???

 

[Mal]

You might have to explain that one.... Can't seem to see anything resembling a seat map on my booking???

Do you see a " Seat(s)" section on your flight? (May need to expand that area by clicking on the + sign.

Assuming you can see the " Seat(s)" bit, you should be able to click on it to show you a seat map of the cabin you are in.

 

[coyote501]

Do you see a " Seat(s)" section on your flight? (May need to expand that area by clicking on the + sign.

Assuming you can see the " Seat(s)" bit, you should be able to click on it to show you a seat map of the cabin you are in.

Under seats it only says no smoking.... I assume the seats haven't been allocated yet.

Obviously once allocated I should be able to see them

(reply edited for typo)

 

[Mal]

Under seats it only says no smoking.... I assume the seats haven't been allocated yet.

Obviously once allocated I should be able to see them

(reply edited for typo)

Yep, either that or the flight has no pre-allocated seating that gets passed to the Amadeus booking (ie, a Qantas domestic flight).

It should read something like:

Seat(s) 1A - Non Smoking

 

[Brettmcg]

I just checked using my swanky new Premium Account

It appears I can access F and J, but Y is still unavailable at this time. In F there's 2 seats available (2F & 3F), and in J (B12 & A18 - Upper Deck; E23, E24, D25, E25, E29, E30, F30).

 

[simongr]

Do you have any status with the airline? You could just call them and ask...

 

[NM]

This is interesting... I wasn't aware QF blocked this information.

Whilst I am suprised they release this type of info in the first place I wonder what their reasons are for blocking this so close to a flight. Is to limit the number of requests/inquiries etc?

Its not so much a matter of them blocking the view of the seatmap. Its more a matter of closing off the ability to pre-allocate seats once they reach a preset threshold of allocations. The close off the seating allocations to protect the flexibility needed to ensure groups are able to be seated ogether at check-in time.

The inability to view the seat map is a side-effect of closing off the ability to assign seats.

 

[serfty]

IME, the seat map may or may not re-appear; if it does it will look rather different.

Qantas hide their seat maps maps inside a week from the flight more often than not. This is for commercial reasons.

If it does not 'reappear' it is likely your flight is quite full in WH[SIZE]Y.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Seat maps are not a very reliable indicator of loads. Many pax don't or can't pre-allocate seats. Operating airline may block lots of seats out - emergency exits, blocks for codeshare partners, blocks to allow groups to sit together, etc. Some pax with selected seats may subsequently change flights or upgrade. And so on.

 

[coyote501]

IIt appears I can access F and J, but Y is still unavailable at this time. In F there's 2 seats available (2F & 3F), and in J (B12 & A18 - Upper Deck; E23, E24, D25, E25, E29, E30, F30).

Thanks for everyone's reply.... particularly Brett as i was interested in the J leftovers as I'm waiting (fingers crossed however not hopeful) on an upgrade.

On a side note ...when de seats get allocated by the airlines and when would they appear on viewtrip and check my trip.

As mentioned earlier I leave this weekend on a RTW trip and still no seats have been entered on any flights. I have even preallocated a few seats through different airlines (AA and BE) but none of the allocated seats appear on either program..

 

[Dave Noble]

On a side note ...when de seats get allocated by the airlines and when would they appear on viewtrip and check my trip.

As mentioned earlier I leave this weekend on a RTW trip and still no seats have been entered on any flights. I have even preallocated a few seats through different airlines (AA and BE) but none of the allocated seats appear on either program..

If the flight is on an airline that uses Amadeus, then it will show on checkmytrip. AA seat assignments will not show on it

I dont know about viewtrip

Dave

 

[JohnK]

On a side note ...when de seats get allocated by the airlines and when would they appear on viewtrip and check my trip.

On my RTW award booking recently the seat allocations started appearing almost immediately for QF, BA and AY flights. No seat allocations for AA flights, I had to do these manually through AA website.

As mentioned earlier I leave this weekend on a RTW trip and still no seats have been entered on any flights. I have even preallocated a few seats through different airlines (AA and BE) but none of the allocated seats appear on either program..

As others have mentioned the seat allocations for AA flights do not appear on CheckMyTrip.

 

[coyote501]

On my RTW award booking recently the seat allocations started appearing almost immediately for QF, BA and AY flights. No seat allocations for AA flights, I had to do these manually through AA website.

Do I need to be concerned that there are no seat details for QF, BA or CX flights... If not already pre-allocated I assume it will be allocated at the gate

 

[JohnK]

Do I need to be concerned that there are no seat details for QF, BA or CX flights... If not already pre-allocated I assume it will be allocated at the gate

No need to be concerned if you are not worried about what seat you get. You will have a seat allocated at checkin.

How late did you book the RTW? It is possible that the flights had reached the pre-allocation limit as has been discussed already in this thread.

Why not call QF and check if they can allocate seats for your RTW trip. If not able to allocate a seat for the first sector then at least try getting a seat allocated for the remaining sectors.