expertflyer v seatcounter

Looking at a particular flight, expert flyer shows 1 seat in Econ, and 0 in PE and 10 in UC.

Seat counter shows L1 X0 S2 N0 Q0 M1 B1 Y1 D7 J7 Z7 R7 This doesn't seem to add up. Or does it?!
Which is the most accurate? Any ideas?
Thank you

[mitchja]

You can't really compare remaining fare buckets and actual allocated seats for any airline or flight as not everyone is going to select a seat at the time of booking.

Some VS flight bookings made via certain agents are still unable to ammend thier bookings and/or choose actual seats.

Some pax probably still dont use OLCI and so will only get their actual seat number allocated at the airport on the day of departure when they check-in.

Regards

Thanks.So the 10 seats in UC that show on expert flyer could all be sold?

[mitchja]

More than likely, yes.

The other thing to remember is that the numbers in the fare buckets (what seatcounter is showing you; 7's are used for VS, other airlines can use different numbers) bear no resemblance to the actully number of airline seats they have sold or are still selling.

The only time you can be certain of how full a flight will be based on fare buckets is when all the fares show as 0 ie the flight is full.

For example A VS LHR 744 has 54 Upper Class seats but the fare buckets will only ever start at J7 D7 R7 Z7. Dont just add these numbers together. It just means that VS have realeased 7 J fares, 7 of which could be sold as D's, R's or Z fares.

Airlines also stagger their release of fares over time based on historical route data and on how quickly they are selling fares. Not every fare available will be sold all at once.

Regards