UC Oversold?

Apologies if I've got this wrong, but according to expertflyer there is an allocation on the LGW fleet of J7, D7 and Z6 making a total of 20 suites, when there are actually only 14 suites available on the LGW planes. My flight in December is so far showing 10 suites booked (according to expertflyer availability - and it's still only April!), and still more suites to buy in J & D.

Is overselling a regular occurance in UC? If the route is oversold for that flight would it best to use online check-in?

Thanks.

[preiffer]

Hi FirstTimer.

The first thing to understand before interpreting data from sites such as ExpertFlyer is how fare buckets work. J7, D7, Z6 means that Virgin are selling at least 7 FARES at a J level, at least 7 FARES at a D level, and only 6 FARES at a Z (heavily discounted level). The fare buckets do not correspond to the number of seats available inside the plane.

For example - close to a flight, you might see J7 D0 Z0. There may actually be around 12 seats available, but this means (due to expected high demand) Virgin are only willing to SELL those seats at a J fare (the most expensive).

There are several threads/features within this site that help explain this, along with ExpertFlyer's own help guide

Aha, I see. Thanks for explaining that.

Plus, don't forget that it is possible to buy 1 seat and see 3 disappear from the fare buckets (1 from each J, D & Z), as there is overlap between the buckets.

Essentially it will work something like this (and to make it easier to understand I am not allowing for any oversell)

Of 14 suites all 14 can be considered J. Of the same 14, say 10 Can be considered D and 7 can be considered Z. So when the flight is released you would have J14, D10, Z7 Because the data released by VS to site like Expert Flyer stops at a Max of 7 you actually see, J7, D7, Z7.

Now as seats are sold the following pattern emerges
J14, D10, Z7 (starting buckets)
J13, D9, Z6 (A Z class sold) shown on EF as J7, D7, Z6
J12, D8, Z5 (another z class sold) shown on EF as J7, D7, Z5
J11, D7, Z4 (another z class sold) shown on EF as J7, D7, Z4
J10, D6, Z4 (A D class sold) shown on EF as J7, D6, Z4
J9, D6, Z4 (A J class sold) on EF as J7, D6, Z4
J8, D6, Z4 (another J class sold) on EF shown as J8, D6, Z4
J7, D6, Z4 (another J class sold) on EF shown as J7, D6, Z4
J6, D6, Z4 (another J class sold) on EF shown as J7, D6, Z4
J5, D5, Z4 (another J class sold) on EF shown as J5, D5, Z4
J4, D4, Z3 (another Z class sold) on EF shown as J4, D4, Z3
And so on.

This is a little simplistic (and there may be some parts of it that aren't correct), but it helps illustrate what happens.

Paul

[preiffer]

Spot on explanation, Paul [y]

Hmm... the humble beginnings of a "How VS Fare Buckets work with ExpertFlyer" guide, perhaps... [:?]

[Bazz]

Just a footnote to Paul's excellent illustration but would it not be more likely that with 10 of the possible 14 seats sold, the final line would J4,D4,Z0 as VS would want to push the higher priced seats?

[preiffer]

Yup.

In fact, knowing VS on the Vegas route, it's likely to go to J7 D0 Z0 first [:0][:I]

I understand how this works but Im so glad there are those of you on here who can actually work it out. I suppose its like anything in that practise makes perfect.

Very interesting stuff[y]