Flight-only, no seat fare?

10-10-20

I was checking-in to an Aer Lingus flight in Spain this week and the family ahead of me were refused a ticket as they bought a "flight-only, no seat" ticket and there was no spare capacity for them to be seated on their intended flight. Much to their dismay they were told to try the next flight and see if there were spare seats (probably not as it's peak season!).

What is a flight-only ticket and how does one purchase one?

zell12

Any other phrases used? Maybe they were stand-by, waiting for no-shows/cancellations

Str8outtaWuhan

Don't think that's a legal thing here in EU.

artanevilla

Most likely traveling on a staff ticket. You are entitled to so many a year (depending on years of service etc.) As far as I remember you got a certain amount of "guaranteed" seats a year, and the rest were these standby ones. Basically you book your ticket, show up at the airport and hope for the best. Not a good idea to try for Spain in July though.

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120870157#Comment_120870157

It was handled by the desk-staff in Spain, so they just referred to it as a "flight-only, no seat". The family were adamant that they "paid for a seat".

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120870165#Comment_120870165

I wondered that too, I know it's a lucky-draw in that respect.

munchkin_utd

could it have been the case that the attendant was pointing out the bleedin obvious, but they are spanish so not able to put it any more clearer than they did ?

Until you have checked in you have no seat allocated, and until youve a seat allocated, you are not guaranteed a seat (thanks to overbooking) - and that could be what she was trying to say.

The “Stand-by Fare” used to be a thing in the past, in the days of APEX fares and very expensive flight tickets. If you were flexible, one option was the standby fare where you could get a decent discount. You would indicate your preferred flight, turn up at the airport, and either be told come back for later flight or if luck was on your side and there was a no-show, you go to go. Might best have suited a busier route like Dublin-London.

I know airlines deliberately allow flights to be overbooked now, based on a prediction of a percentage of no-shows. So, occasionally a cohort of passengers are first asked if they would volunteer to go on next flight sometimes with incentives. Twice over I was offered incentives by BA & SAS. But I think likes of Ryanair pull up the drawbridge and say “sorry, we’re overbooked”, but do give sone compensations.

I saw Aer Lingus do this at Lanzarote, turn away a family at the gate, didn’t hear every word, but family finally appeared content enough, think they had been afforded an overnight in a hotel etc. What was special about this particular flight was that the Captain announced he was flying with an unusually strong headwind, and in order to get airborne on the limited runway length in Lanzarote he had to reduce weight to minimum, including fuel take up. In addition he announced we would only have enough fuel plus obligatory reserve to get to Faro, where we would have to re-fuel. As that family comprised of several individuals plus luggage, and were later to check in, they were calculated to push the performance of the aircraft being the safety margin. It was seemingly explained to them, they were compensated, and understood.

jhegarty

How did you buy the ticket ?

Miss read the op.

VG31

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120870191#Comment_120870191

It was handled by the desk-staff in Spain, so they just referred to it as a "flight-only, no seat". The family were adamant that they "paid for a seat".

I would have said they were travelling on a staff standby ticket (Aer Lingus or another airline) from the OP but based on this it seems unlikely.