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Finding Empty Seats on Busy Routes
Finding Empty Seats on Busy Routes - New York Times
By MICHELLE HIGGINS
Published: July 15, 2007
THOUGH it’s never fun to be stuck on a crowded plane, it can be excruciating on long-haul flights like the ones to Europe that so many vacationers are about to take. And with load factors — the percentage of seats filled — expected to reach 90 percent or more on many days this summer, finding space to stretch out is harder than ever
Flights between the United States and Europe are particularly tight in August, when travelers returning from vacations abroad are also competing with Europeans beginning their holiday trips to the States. And so far, botched car bombings in London and Glasgow don’t seem to be deterring travelers to Britain.
Anyone with the cash can pay more to stretch out in business or first class, but most travelers end up in coach, smushed up against a window, bumped by beverage carts in the aisle or worse — in the dreaded middle seat. But even without an upgrade or elite status in a frequent-flier program, it’s possible to nab a spot on a plane with plenty of empty seats — if you know what to look for.
To help you find some room in the sky — and avoid that spot in the middle — here’s a guide to avoiding crowded planes to Europe this summer.
Unexpected Routes
Some of the least-packed planes to popular European destinations are flown by airlines you might not think of. Take Los Angeles to Frankfurt. It’s no surprise that the German carrier Lufthansa is one of the most popular airlines on that route. Last August, 90 percent of its seats were filled, according to Back Aviation Solutions, an industry consulting firm. But Air India, which flies that same route on its way to New Delhi, was only half full last August. (While it’s difficult to predict how full a particular flight will ultimately be this summer, Frederick Roe, regional manager at Back Aviation Solutions, said that taking a look at how full planes were on a given route last summer “can be indicative” of what to expect this year.)
Air India’s flights to London from New York also generally have more space than the airlines most American travelers turn to first. “Air India is still one of New York’s best-kept secrets,” said John Massey, a spokesman for the airline. “Except for limited crunch periods, seats are generally available to both Europe and India on these flights.”
Flying to Paris? Consider Air Tahiti Nui. While Air France was carrying loads of about 90 percent from Kennedy Airport to Paris de Gaulle last July, Air Tahiti Nui, which last summer started flying from Kennedy to Paris on its way to Tahiti, flew planes about 59 percent full.
Air New Zealand is another surprise. “We find that hardly anyone in North America knows that we fly L.A. to London,” Karen Laugesen, a spokeswoman for the airline, wrote in an e-mail message. “The fact we’re called Air New Zealand must throw people; no one expects it.” The airline’s capacity on that route has just expanded, she added. Since the carrier swapped the 777s it was flying along the route for 747s, there are now 73 more seats per flight.
Vayama.com, a new Web site dedicated to international travel, is a good place to look for such counterintuitive combinations. You can also check online seat maps, found at just about any airline site, before booking your ticket to gauge how many empty seats are left, though that doesn’t mean they won’t fill up by the time you fly. A word of caution: Be sure to avoid flights just before or after national holidays for foreign carriers, even if you aren’t headed to the airline’s base country.
Brand-New Flights
Faced with stiff competition from low-cost airlines at home, United States carriers have been adding new international routes at a dizzying pace. Some fly to destinations outside of major hub cities and tend to be less crowded; others have yet to catch on. Delta alone is adding 14 new international routes this summer, including Kennedy to Pisa, Italy. Just last month, US Airways started nonstop service to Brussels and to Zurich from its hub in Philadelphia. That same month, Continental added daily nonstop flights between Athens and Newark. Continental has also been using larger aircraft to Geneva, helping increase its capacity to 409 seats daily between Newark and Switzerland.
Foreign airlines, too, have been expanding with new routes. Zoom Airlines, which has been operating low-fare flights between Britain and Canada since 2003, just started operating daily flights from Kennedy Airport to London Gatwick. Qatar Airways, the national carrier of Qatar, has been heavily promoting its new service from Doha, its capital, to Newark via Geneva. And Air France just started flying between Paris and Seattle.
André Hesselink, chief executive of Vayama.com, said, “The Newark-Stockholm corridor has become oversaturated with nonstop flights now offered by Continental, SAS and Malaysia Airlines.” All of those routes, he added, “have ample capacity this high season.”
Caroline Kerrigan, a hotel publicist from Manhattan, was able to get some sleep for the first time “in a very long time” on an overnight flight to Ireland, she said, by nabbing a seat on Flyglobespan, Scotland’s rapidly expanding low-fare airline, a week after it started service to West Airport Knock in County Mayo on May 27. Normally on red-eye flights to Ireland, she said, the planes are “packed to the gills.” But her flight from Kennedy Airport to Knock was half-empty. “I had two seats next to me,” she said. “It was great.”
With demand high for flights to Europe, however, such opportunities might not last. In fact, on her flight back on June 19, Ms. Kerrigan said, she didn’t have the entire row to herself as she did on the flight there, although there were many open middle seats.
Cheap Seats and Award Tickets
Even though a lot of factors go into determining how many award seats an airline makes available, “logic would tell you that the allocation of frequent-flier award seat availability is going to be higher among those flights where we expect to not fully sell out on that last day,” said Tim Smith, a spokesman for American Airlines.
Though it’s a bit of a gamble, the same applies to flights with sale fares. And some airlines are making it easier for fliers to find those cheap seats. Lufthansa.com, for example, has a calendar matrix showing flights three days before and three days after the traveler’s requested dates. The matrix automatically highlights the cheapest fare in orange. “This is a good way, especially if you’re a last-minute booker, to find out which specific flights have more space than others,” said Jennifer Urbaniak, a spokeswoman for Lufthansa, since “the flights with the cheapest seats available typically have the most seats open at that time.”
Finding Empty Seats on Busy Routes
Finding Empty Seats on Busy Routes - New York Times
By MICHELLE HIGGINS
Published: July 15, 2007
THOUGH it’s never fun to be stuck on a crowded plane, it can be excruciating on long-haul flights like the ones to Europe that so many vacationers are about to take. And with load factors — the percentage of seats filled — expected to reach 90 percent or more on many days this summer, finding space to stretch out is harder than ever
Flights between the United States and Europe are particularly tight in August, when travelers returning from vacations abroad are also competing with Europeans beginning their holiday trips to the States. And so far, botched car bombings in London and Glasgow don’t seem to be deterring travelers to Britain.
Anyone with the cash can pay more to stretch out in business or first class, but most travelers end up in coach, smushed up against a window, bumped by beverage carts in the aisle or worse — in the dreaded middle seat. But even without an upgrade or elite status in a frequent-flier program, it’s possible to nab a spot on a plane with plenty of empty seats — if you know what to look for.
To help you find some room in the sky — and avoid that spot in the middle — here’s a guide to avoiding crowded planes to Europe this summer.
Unexpected Routes
Some of the least-packed planes to popular European destinations are flown by airlines you might not think of. Take Los Angeles to Frankfurt. It’s no surprise that the German carrier Lufthansa is one of the most popular airlines on that route. Last August, 90 percent of its seats were filled, according to Back Aviation Solutions, an industry consulting firm. But Air India, which flies that same route on its way to New Delhi, was only half full last August. (While it’s difficult to predict how full a particular flight will ultimately be this summer, Frederick Roe, regional manager at Back Aviation Solutions, said that taking a look at how full planes were on a given route last summer “can be indicative” of what to expect this year.)
Air India’s flights to London from New York also generally have more space than the airlines most American travelers turn to first. “Air India is still one of New York’s best-kept secrets,” said John Massey, a spokesman for the airline. “Except for limited crunch periods, seats are generally available to both Europe and India on these flights.”
Flying to Paris? Consider Air Tahiti Nui. While Air France was carrying loads of about 90 percent from Kennedy Airport to Paris de Gaulle last July, Air Tahiti Nui, which last summer started flying from Kennedy to Paris on its way to Tahiti, flew planes about 59 percent full.
Air New Zealand is another surprise. “We find that hardly anyone in North America knows that we fly L.A. to London,” Karen Laugesen, a spokeswoman for the airline, wrote in an e-mail message. “The fact we’re called Air New Zealand must throw people; no one expects it.” The airline’s capacity on that route has just expanded, she added. Since the carrier swapped the 777s it was flying along the route for 747s, there are now 73 more seats per flight.
Vayama.com, a new Web site dedicated to international travel, is a good place to look for such counterintuitive combinations. You can also check online seat maps, found at just about any airline site, before booking your ticket to gauge how many empty seats are left, though that doesn’t mean they won’t fill up by the time you fly. A word of caution: Be sure to avoid flights just before or after national holidays for foreign carriers, even if you aren’t headed to the airline’s base country.
Brand-New Flights
Faced with stiff competition from low-cost airlines at home, United States carriers have been adding new international routes at a dizzying pace. Some fly to destinations outside of major hub cities and tend to be less crowded; others have yet to catch on. Delta alone is adding 14 new international routes this summer, including Kennedy to Pisa, Italy. Just last month, US Airways started nonstop service to Brussels and to Zurich from its hub in Philadelphia. That same month, Continental added daily nonstop flights between Athens and Newark. Continental has also been using larger aircraft to Geneva, helping increase its capacity to 409 seats daily between Newark and Switzerland.
Foreign airlines, too, have been expanding with new routes. Zoom Airlines, which has been operating low-fare flights between Britain and Canada since 2003, just started operating daily flights from Kennedy Airport to London Gatwick. Qatar Airways, the national carrier of Qatar, has been heavily promoting its new service from Doha, its capital, to Newark via Geneva. And Air France just started flying between Paris and Seattle.
André Hesselink, chief executive of Vayama.com, said, “The Newark-Stockholm corridor has become oversaturated with nonstop flights now offered by Continental, SAS and Malaysia Airlines.” All of those routes, he added, “have ample capacity this high season.”
Caroline Kerrigan, a hotel publicist from Manhattan, was able to get some sleep for the first time “in a very long time” on an overnight flight to Ireland, she said, by nabbing a seat on Flyglobespan, Scotland’s rapidly expanding low-fare airline, a week after it started service to West Airport Knock in County Mayo on May 27. Normally on red-eye flights to Ireland, she said, the planes are “packed to the gills.” But her flight from Kennedy Airport to Knock was half-empty. “I had two seats next to me,” she said. “It was great.”
With demand high for flights to Europe, however, such opportunities might not last. In fact, on her flight back on June 19, Ms. Kerrigan said, she didn’t have the entire row to herself as she did on the flight there, although there were many open middle seats.
Cheap Seats and Award Tickets
Even though a lot of factors go into determining how many award seats an airline makes available, “logic would tell you that the allocation of frequent-flier award seat availability is going to be higher among those flights where we expect to not fully sell out on that last day,” said Tim Smith, a spokesman for American Airlines.
Though it’s a bit of a gamble, the same applies to flights with sale fares. And some airlines are making it easier for fliers to find those cheap seats. Lufthansa.com, for example, has a calendar matrix showing flights three days before and three days after the traveler’s requested dates. The matrix automatically highlights the cheapest fare in orange. “This is a good way, especially if you’re a last-minute booker, to find out which specific flights have more space than others,” said Jennifer Urbaniak, a spokeswoman for Lufthansa, since “the flights with the cheapest seats available typically have the most seats open at that time.”
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