Originally Posted by
NYGiantsFan
So, when I check loads on flights out of SFO on the 747 what does "held seats" mean? is that a weight restriction? Some of these flights have over 25 seats held... do they normally release those just before flight so Non-revs can get on or does the 747 leave with 25 open seats due to a weight restriction? thats my only guess is a weight restriction
Thanks!
I fly the Whale out of ORD and I can't remember being weight restricted on either PEK or PVG in either of the last two summers, so I would consider it extremely unlikely that any flights out of SFO would be weight restricted (that would have to be a huge amount of cargo). It is much more likely that the "held seats" are for the overbooking situation Cadetdrivr mentioned. If you look at economy and it is overbooked then the held seats are almost certainly for that reason.
If you can give specific flights one of us could look at the specifics.
As an example you can look at SFO-ICN for the next couple of days. You can see an overbooked coach cabin and seats held in business. As far as weight restrictions go, the SFO-ICN flight took off today (granted with about 50 empty seats) and weighed only 802k as compared to a MTOG of 875k. So, these held seats are obviously not for weight restrictions.