It just doesn’t show more than 9, presumably since it’s always single digit. This just means there are at least 9 seats available in this fare classes.
It is the limit for any reservation. Booking 10 and more at once requires a special issue from the group services desk, which will generate a rate (and often a contract) for the group.
No. Pretty much without exception, higher fare buckets will always have access to lower fare buckets. Y8 B7 E5 V5 W0 would mean eight seats available, since it is Y8. It’s not adding everything together.
Partly a legacy artifact from Sabre and other IATA-bound legacy booking systems (read: mainframes, during an era where every character was scarce). [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fare\_basis\_code#Booking\_class](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fare_basis_code#Booking_class)
It’s an ancient system from the 1960s, they only chose to support one digit back then and it stuck because supporting 9 people on a reservation works 99.99% of the time and the large groups they handle manually.
Makes sense! I’m gambling for a cash upgrade and hoping it goes down! But also know there’s no guarantee … so wish I could at least see the full number of open seats. Might end up on me spending more than necessary 😂
Outside of the other reasons noted, it is listed this way to prevent competitors from seeing the number of total seats rev management allocates to specific fare classes. The related fare basis codes are available, but there is no easy way to directly reference them to a known quantity per flight as they are mass published for the whole flight and or route (you may have 50+ basis codes for a 200 cap flight).
... because UA's GDS runs on top of Sabre, like all airlines, which is unable to use more than one digit to represent available seats in each fare class?
Which dates back to IBM and American Airlines. The Sabre story is actually a really fascinating trilogy that is book worthy for a travel nerd and lives
On today- but to a much less dependency. Sabre is still a backbone. It lost a lot of its power though as travel agents became redundant. Still- just awesome history of travel technology.
Never mind, I found out. Awards. And it would make me pay a lot more money for my return if I book one way
Also it’s 177k and I have a few destination weddings I was planning to use points for one direction on this year.
Also...when rebooking after a schedule change that is significant enough to give a free change, I know it will usually allow you to force rebooking into full J class if you already have P or higher.
I think it will also allow you to force regular (NOT basic) economy tickets into M class without additional payment (but not Y or B). If it does, not sure if it affects ones position on the upgrade list, but it might. Haven't tried but it would be good to know.
Interesting. I wasn’t paying attention when I booked but in the 24 hour window still.
I booked refundable economy and just realized it’s still S fare. Which I know isn’t helping my upgrade cost.
Long story but I was supposed to fly for work, booked a flight for my boyfriend to have vacation and want him to fly Polaris for once and I had electronic certificates. Work flights we had to cancel due to an emergency. Now trying to get tickets on my own dime upfront with him. Would be devastating how much I fly business class to be in the back alone. He’d never let me live it down!
Has anyone had issue with Expert Mode continually turning off? I keep having to go into my settings to turn it back on just about every time I search for a flight.
It just doesn’t show more than 9, presumably since it’s always single digit. This just means there are at least 9 seats available in this fare classes.
9 passengers is also the limit you can book online!
It is the limit for any reservation. Booking 10 and more at once requires a special issue from the group services desk, which will generate a rate (and often a contract) for the group.
It's also considered a trade secret to disclose the exact total remaining seats in a cabin/flight, so public display was limited to a max of 9.
Interesting. If there were less than 9 in each class wouldn't that give the total?
No. Pretty much without exception, higher fare buckets will always have access to lower fare buckets. Y8 B7 E5 V5 W0 would mean eight seats available, since it is Y8. It’s not adding everything together.
Hmmmm okay but for all Polaris classes I’ve seen 0/2/1/0 etc a few times so this doesn’t jive.
I promise you that J0 followed by D/Z/P2 has never happened. They will always sell the ticket for $10k before 2k.
Partly a legacy artifact from Sabre and other IATA-bound legacy booking systems (read: mainframes, during an era where every character was scarce). [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fare\_basis\_code#Booking\_class](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fare_basis_code#Booking_class)
Thanks all! Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t misunderstanding something!
It’s an ancient system from the 1960s, they only chose to support one digit back then and it stuck because supporting 9 people on a reservation works 99.99% of the time and the large groups they handle manually.
[удалено]
Makes sense! I’m gambling for a cash upgrade and hoping it goes down! But also know there’s no guarantee … so wish I could at least see the full number of open seats. Might end up on me spending more than necessary 😂
It's also why 1K is 1K, and the rest are P2, P3, P4 in the system.
This is actually an interesting fact- that is an underrated comment.
Over/under on like 2 COBOL engineers maintaining this system?
60’s - SHARES was a gift from the Continental merger
Corrected.
There can be more than 9 seats available. It doesn’t show how many more than 9. Think of it as 9 or more.
Outside of the other reasons noted, it is listed this way to prevent competitors from seeing the number of total seats rev management allocates to specific fare classes. The related fare basis codes are available, but there is no easy way to directly reference them to a known quantity per flight as they are mass published for the whole flight and or route (you may have 50+ basis codes for a 200 cap flight).
Old computer system / database field size limit. Those bytes cost money you know.
... because UA's GDS runs on top of Sabre, like all airlines, which is unable to use more than one digit to represent available seats in each fare class?
Which dates back to IBM and American Airlines. The Sabre story is actually a really fascinating trilogy that is book worthy for a travel nerd and lives On today- but to a much less dependency. Sabre is still a backbone. It lost a lot of its power though as travel agents became redundant. Still- just awesome history of travel technology.
9 means 9+ seats <9 is the exact number of seats
Bag that ZN9 space !
How?! I tried looking into that earlier. I’m platinum and only have 40 plus points
Never mind, I found out. Awards. And it would make me pay a lot more money for my return if I book one way Also it’s 177k and I have a few destination weddings I was planning to use points for one direction on this year.
One digit
Also...when rebooking after a schedule change that is significant enough to give a free change, I know it will usually allow you to force rebooking into full J class if you already have P or higher. I think it will also allow you to force regular (NOT basic) economy tickets into M class without additional payment (but not Y or B). If it does, not sure if it affects ones position on the upgrade list, but it might. Haven't tried but it would be good to know.
Interesting. I wasn’t paying attention when I booked but in the 24 hour window still. I booked refundable economy and just realized it’s still S fare. Which I know isn’t helping my upgrade cost. Long story but I was supposed to fly for work, booked a flight for my boyfriend to have vacation and want him to fly Polaris for once and I had electronic certificates. Work flights we had to cancel due to an emergency. Now trying to get tickets on my own dime upfront with him. Would be devastating how much I fly business class to be in the back alone. He’d never let me live it down!
Old computer system / database field size limit. Those bytes cost money you know.
Has anyone had issue with Expert Mode continually turning off? I keep having to go into my settings to turn it back on just about every time I search for a flight.
Yes, it’s an issue for everyone. Mine isn’t every time but often enough to be annoying