What's the book corporate America doesn't want you to read? Find out now -- or you could get scammed.

Why do planes fly with empty seats in business class?

September 28, 2007

Edwin Bittner is a platinum-level frequent flier on Continental Airlines, which gives him access to elite check-in lines, preferred seat assignments and special mileage bonuses. But the one thing he can’t seem to get these days is an upgrade to business class — even when there are available seats.

“Can you help me to understand why an airline like Continental might depart for an international destination with empty seats in the business cabin when I’m unable to upgrade using miles from a coach fare?” he asked me. “I was waitlisted, but did not clear the list.”

Good question. And it’s something I’ve wondered about many times before. Why on earth would any airline not book all of its premium seats by either selling them or allowing its best customers to use their miles for an upgrade?

So I asked Continental.

Mary Clark, an airline spokeswoman, said there can be many reasons why the good seats remain unoccupied.

There may be “empty” BusinessFirst seats on a flight for a variety of reasons, including held seats for crew (contractually required) and circumstances beyond our control (e.g., passenger misconnects, cancellations, etc.). So, an empty seat is not always necessarily available to offer.

The OnePass BusinessFirst upgrade reward rules state that BusinessFirst rewards will not be cleared within 24 hours of flight departure. (This was lowered from the 72 hour rule previously in effect.) The 24 hour rule is a business decision based on preserving the integrity of the international business class upgrade reward program.

And one more thing: Clark points out that BusinessFirst upgrade rewards are up 22 percent year-over-year from 2006 levels. “We are continually looking for ways to increase opportunities for customers to use their upgrade rewards,” she said.

I asked Rick Seaney of Farecompare.com for his thoughts on Bittner’s question and Clark’s answer. Seaney talks with the folks inside the revenue management departments of airlines all the time, and knows how they operate. He said revenue managers treat award seat inventory “as a plague” on their ability to increase revenue on flights.

This is especially painful on domestic routes where capacity has been reduced by 20 percent or more in the past 30 months. So there are less award seats being flown — a lot less — and load factors in the 90 percent range are quite an enticement not to release those “free” seats. This is happening against the backdrop of mileage programs (airline and credit card) still growing substantially.

Consumers have had it up to “here” with not being able to redeem mileage for travel when and where they want to fly.

In specific regards to Ms. Clark’s answer, quoting 2006 numbers vs. 2007, since capacity has been moving out of domestic and into international routes, this should clearly have caused an increase business class seats flown and accordingly the number of seats offered for upgrade and award redemption (assuming their rule of thumb for reward seats allowed per flight has not changed).

I think it is a stretch to imply that “Continental is actively trying to add more upgrade and award seats — and as proof, a 22 percent year-over-year increase.”

In this particular case — empty business class seats just don’t make sense for an airline — why would the airline leave that opportunity to cherry-pick a frequent customer and make them happy?

Specifically on the question of why that seat was empty and didn’t clear on waitlist, it wouldn’t surprise me at all that the reservation system does not deal very well with the cleared situation at the gate. It is pretty obvious that the gate agents know who is boarding a plane and how many people have checked in for biz/first class and if they wanted to they could “make sure their best customers” on the waitlist got into that seat.

I presume the person who sent you that note did not notice a crew member or pilot sliding back into that seat for a rest…

I’m hardly an expert on frequent flier programs or airline revenue management systems, but you don’t have to be one to see what’s going on here. There are too many frequent fliers and not enough award seats. But even when the seats are available, airlines can’t seem find a way to give them away.

No wonder frequent travelers have — to quote Seaney — had it “up to here.”

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

12 comments

  • Joe F.

    Here is the answer:

    “Specifically on the question of why that seat was empty and didn’t clear on waitlist, it wouldn’t surprise me at all that the reservation system does not deal very well with the cleared situation at the gate. It is pretty obvious that the gate agents know who is boarding a plane and how many people have checked in for biz/first class and if they wanted to they could “make sure their best customers” on the waitlist got into that seat.”

    This means W-O-R-K for the gate agent. Look through the manifest, find the best customers above a certain threshold, and upgrade them at departure. Think they want to work? Or talk to their friends?

    The other choice is stand at the check-in counter, and play with your schedule for the next few days or month to work as little as possible and make the most money. Wander around, talk to your friends and tell the customers there is nothing you can do for them. What do you think they are clicking and clacking at on the keyboard? The manifest, pax list, and other departure documents are self generating. I doubt much work is occurring. They are looking at the real flight info and see when their next flight is really arriving.

    The thing that REALLY sticks in my craw is when you are premium frequent flier, there are 4 or 5 seats left in first or business, you are ON the waitlist, and an airline employee flying non-rev ends up getting the premium class seat. Yeah, that one angers me when it happens.

  • Petri

    I don’t know about US airlines but here in Europe empty business seats are quite common and upgrades are not offered because most of the time they don’t have business class food for the new passengers.

    As a paying business class traveller I also prefer to have space around me instead of every seat being filled with a freebie of some sort.

  • Mike

    Twice recently when flying domestically on American Airlines, I was waitlisting for an upgrade. I was told that first or business had checked in full and I should take my original seat. Closer to departure, the agent came on board and brought me an upgraded seat assignment. I *really* appreciated that effort to clear the waitlist when someone did not show up.

  • http://www.thereef.blogspot.com TomCayman

    First of all, there is a big distinction between US domestic business class and International business class…. both in service and revenue management.

    Since 9/11 (following which many seats were empty for quite some time) American elite frequent flyers have grown accustomed to effectively free upgrades, from stickers to e-upgrades to YUP fares to even automatic upgrades for top frequent fliers.

    Important to note though that this has never happened on international (transatlantic/pacific) business class, nor is there this culture among airlines and their frequent fliers in Europe.

    I’m an AA frequent flier, and sure it has got much more difficult to use mileage upgrades on TATL routes in recent years, but they do still often clear inside 24 hours, and yes sometimes at the counter on check in within a couple of hours of the flight (although different airlines vary)… but they could still do better on this, an empty seat is an empty seat.

    As to the old chestnut about food quantities, the dinosaurs of the old airlines should have worked out by now that we know they don’t have to commit seat numbers to their caterers until 3 hours or less from departure, so that eliminates much of that excuse… but why don’t they just fully cater all flights and sell gate upgrades or even on board upgrades (BA does, for example)…. why not ? well, because I guess they figure that people would just wait to upgrade and not pay for that business class ticket.

    Hmm.. they can carry on with “old think” and watch MaxJet, EOS etc keep expanding and nibbling away at their profitable J/F seats.

  • Ben

    Actually, the answer has much less to do with deficiencies in technology, poor customer service, lack of work ethic, lack of food for new passengers, etc…..and much more to do with the idea of maintaining the value of their elite product. When a company is charging $10k for an international business/first seat (not uncommon), allowing too many passengers to upgrade for “free” depresses the value. They need to maintain the perception of exclusivity to continue to charge high fees (with excellent margins). Of course, the airlines don’t like to admit this b/c it doesn’t go over too well with their frequent fliers.

  • Ndimitru

    I can provide first hand one reason that United flies with empty seats in Business class….because the gate personnel take passengers off the upgrade list. Incompetent? Jerks? Who knows. But I am surprised that United does NOT give their elite fliers complimentatry upgrades, this would go a LOooooooong way to upgrade their image.

  • Chuck

    I recently flew DL ATL-TLV on an upgradable coach ticket, paying a $975 premium to do so. I am lifetime Gold, currently Platinum and, even though the gate supervisor admitted there were 6 unsold seats up front, they would not honor the upgrade because of the 24 hour rule. I asked why they didn’t clear it the previous day when there were still 14 unsold seats. No good answer, but I did visit the cabin and found out that many of the passengers were on “buddy” passes. The only advice I received was to never book in that higher fare unless the upgrade could be confirmed on the spot.

  • http://dchampagne.com:8087/ Darryl

    In Continental’s case, flying with empty business seats is a result of a deliberate policy – they will not clear anyone in the last 24 hours because people were abusing refundable ticket policies. Specifically, people would book a business class reservation that they had no intention of actually flying (possibly in someone else’s name), and then change it or refund it at the last minute, creating an empty seat for them to be upgraded into. This would prevent Continental from being able to sell the seat, and there really is no good way to tell that a particular reservation is bogus – after all, perhaps my boss was really going to fly with me on that trip (him in business, and me in economy), and he had to back out.
    Personally, I would much prefer that they changes the other side of the problem – being able to cancel a reservation without any consequences (if it had to be paid in full, and they kept the money for 6 weeks, people might stop doing that), but I understand their reasons, even if I really dislike the situation.

  • Ed Ferrell

    I think, over the past 15 years, I’ve been in each of the situations mentioned. Have been a UA Premier Exec or 100K for 10 of those. I’ve been moved from coach to biz after the doors closed (THANK YOU, UA), bumped for operational reasons when coach was oversold (No complaints from me), been told about “meals,” and watched the empty biz class seats stay empty. I resent the idea that my being bumped up devalues the class. Ouch! I’m just a few miles short of a million with UA alone and think I know how to “behave” in an upgraded world.

    But, really, they’ve won. I never even bother asking for an comped upgrades anymore. Even on my birthday. But, that said, I’ve been in biz twice in the last 6 flights … all from IAD to LHR, so I’ll be quiet now.

  • Brooks Hurd

    I’ve been a frequent flyer for long enough to remember when the US airlines used to act as if their frequent travelers were important to their bottom line. The effect on the bottom line of each airlline’s elite frequent flyers has not changed, however the attitude of US carriers (and from the comments above, EU carriers as well) certainly has changed.

    When I was PM/MM on DL in the mid 90s, I was usually upgraded. I received coupons based on miles flown. PM meant complimentary Crown Room membership and upgrades based on availibility. Then came the 24 hour rule which made upgrades onorous. The rule was however only a symptom of a changing attitude by US carriers toward their frequent flyers. Over the dozen years that I have been MM on DL, I have experienced a seachange in DL’s attitude. DL formerly treated their Elite frequent travelers as the important customers that we are, but now DL in large part seems to consider us as pests to be undured by busy airline staff.

    The comments above reinforce the point that US carriers by and large DO NOT CARE about their elite frequent flyers. The fact that non-revs get upgraded ahead of us pretty much tells you where these airlines’ priorities are directed.

    Most of my flying is international, so I have a choice in carriers. If most of the US carriers act as if they do not care about my business, that’s fine with me. They lost my business several years ago because of their attitudes toward frequent flyers. I will fly only airlines where my miles mean upgrades and airport lounges.

    GM/MM on DL, gold/MM on AA. This year I’ve been elite on two East Asian carriers.

  • Cityjane

    As a follow-up, I thought you might be interested in this article, which specifically addresses some of the issues mentioned here:
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/06/AR2007060602529.html

    And Daryl is correct regarding the 24hr policy, particularly with regard to international and long haul plans. On Continental, if you don’t clear the upgrade waitlist before an international flight, forget it…there is virtually no chance of getting into Business class.

  • Will H

    I suspect catering “reason” is bogus. Had ATL to MAD flite on DL spring ’06. Mech flaw with orig plane, not fixable same day, finally DL changed to different equipment with 7 instead fo 6 rows in front. Wife & I given upgrades (oh, lucky me) and despite the increased # of front cabin seats, we got the same meals as others in front. If this is feasible on such short, unplanned notice, a claim that the seat will not be filled for reasons of catering seems flatulent/fatuous/fraudulent/fictitious/filibustering/fantasy/foolish/flippant and predictable, considering the source.

Previous post:

Next post: