this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2026
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I may be wrong but I thought airlines did similar. They sold more tickets than existing seats assuming people would cancel. That's why sometimes they offer cashback at terminal for a different flight, but it still comes out net positive
I assume this is for basic economy only, where you can't select a seat? If I choose a seat when booking, I can't imagine the airline allows someone else to choose the same seat?
It might depend on the airline. I used to travel with Ryanair frequently, and special tickets (whatever they were called) were only available for 1/3 of the plane's capacity on a first-come-first-serve basis. Those upgrades got you to choose your seat, skip the queue and guaranteed space for a carry-on bag. All of those things follow a similar pattern: if everyone did it the system would break, which is likely why they picked 1/3 as a cap. It's actually quite clever, although I still dislike the ongoing enshittification of air travel that the budget airlines have caused, despite benefiting from it for a couple of years.
I don't really know the details, sorry.
Whether they do that or not, I know that they have (or have had in the past) deals where they explicitly provide discounted tickets where you basically have "bottom priority" to get a seat on a flights, and you only get notified whether there's space for you with a limited number of hours notice. IIRC it's targeted at retirees, who have a flexible schedule and may favor inexpensive travel.