Last night, my niece Amanda was flying from Newark to Geneva on United Airlines. She was running late getting to the airport so I visited United.com to see if the plane was on time and then texted Amanda to see if she had made it or not. They were both on time. I then asked what seat she was in because I was amazed to see that there was a tab to the live seat map with its inventory, right there on the website. See screenshot below.
The flight was almost completely full except for a few empty seats, and I noticed that one them was next to my niece’s seat—19A. When I texted her and told her that it looks like she had an empty seat next to her, she quickly texted back asking, “How do you know?” “I’m Johnny Jet,” I told her! But then I cautioned her not to get too excited because it looked like there was one person on standby. I told her it was probably a flight attendant and since First Class was full, the flight attendant would probably sit next to her in the next best seat, in Premium Economy.
She didn’t think I was right since they were close to closing the door. I told her to let me know if someone takes the seat beside her and if their name is K. Min. (Surprisingly, United’s website lists the standbys, including those for upgrades, on their website). A few minutes later, my niece texted back in all caps: “HOW DID YOU KNOW A FLIGHT ATTENDANT WAS GOING TO SIT NEXT TO ME?!” I said, “I already told you, I’m Johnny Jet,” but in reality, I was shocked that United’s website gave so much information.
I also noticed the following morning, when I went to see if she had landed on time, that the site allows you to see the actual seat numbers of those on standby and upgrade list (see screenshot below). I personally love all this information because I’m an aviation geek but I’m not sure how many passengers will. Especially flight crew who are trying to fly incognito to surprise someone. Same goes for passengers who are on the upgrade list as we can now see which ones got upgraded and didn’t pay for First Class.
What do you think? Am I making much ado about nothing or is this way too much information for an airline to be disseminating to the general public?
First, I’m shocked that Johnny Jet is shocked that seat maps are public. They have been so for years and years. So what?
Second, I am surprised that some airlines make upgrade and standby lists public; I know many airlines make this available to anyone on the flight via their mobile apps. However, I’m having trouble understanding the concern. What is the attack scenario? Does a bad guy scan the upgrade and standby lists for every flight and then try to guess who the people are based on first three letters of last name and first letter of first name? (Even if the passenger’s name has only three letters, how is the attacker to know this?) Or does the bad guy have out-of-band information as to what flight someone is on, and if the person is also on the standby or upgrade list, and is cleared, is then able to determine the seat assignment? If so, so what?
Third, I’m confused because the screen show of the info after the flight landed showed no one cleared the standby list, yet the post stated that a FA did clear.
Hey Rand,
1. I’ve known for years that they made their seat maps public but I think it’s new that they show the actual load after the flight is complete. I have no problem with it.
2. My concern is that the upgrade and standby list is open to the public. There’s no reason for it — it should just be privy to the passengers and airline employees. I used to date a flight attendant and one of her friends had a psycho ex-boyfriend who would stalk her every move. Hence, making it a safety issue.
3. The FA didn’t get upgraded since business was full — she was sitting in coach next to my niece like I stated.
Sorry Johnny Jet but this is a BIG YAWN. Your articles are usually spot-on, but this time you missed the mark. Are there some people who don’t like this information posted? Sure! Are there some people who DO like this information posted? Sure! That leaves the other 80% who just don’t care.
Welcome to the digital information age, Johnny!
Alaska has gives this information on it’s website, at least as far as standbys and upgrades go.