Thread: Flight Load Info Given To Non-Revs

I know that most airlines will not give out the actual number of seats available when you call, but please try to give acurate information. I recently called an airline at 11:30 pm the night before my flight and told the agent that I worked for another airline and asked how a flight looked. The agent told me that the flight was "wide opened" and that there were 50 seats available.

Well I went to the airport at 5am the next morning for my flight to find out that the flight was oversold by 10 and that they did not think that I would make the flight.

When I asked the agent what had happened between 11:30pm and 5:00am, the agent said that the flight still showed 30 seats that they could sell and that these are the numbers that the agents were giving me.

I am a Res Agent and when a non-rev calls, I always view the actual number of seats rather than look at the sell ability or the first screen that shows all "9's" across the screen. If I view that screen it looks like there are plenty of seats.

I do not give the actual numbers but I do tell the non-revs if they have a good, fair or poor chance for making their flight. I treat the non-revs like I would like to be treated.

I had a back-up plan and reached my destination 9 hours later. I was very upset because I could have taken a flight out of another airport and reached my destination by 12 noon instead of 10pm at night had I been given the correct information.

Could you pass this on to other Reservation Agents and ask them to please be kind to fellow airline employees? If we are not kind to each other then how can we be kind to our passengers?

Thanks