Can flight be cancelled because not many people bought tickets?

OC1999

It depends on the airline, some of the smaller "discount airlines" will cancel a flight if there are not enough people booked on the flight. They will just move the passengers on that flight to another flight, unfortunately sometimes that may not be until the next day. However, in most cases it is not just the number of passengers on that flight but other flights. For example a flight may go from City A to City B and only have 1 person. But they can't cancel that flight because that plane is allocated to also fly from City B to City C that is fully booked. So if they cancelled the Flight from A to B they would have no plane to go from B to C. In your specific case I wouldn't worry about it, as it is very likely you are misreading the system. If the ticket prices are increasing that means that the availability of seats are shrinking. I would not be surprised if by the time you fly the flight is full.

MS

They usually will not cancel for that reason. The aircraft is probably needed at the next airport anyway (for a return or onward flight). If prices keep increasing, then that probably means there isn't an issue yet - if they are concerned about filling more seats, they will start lowering the price.

SumDude

Most flights are not cancelled, because the airplane is needed at the next location (and schedules need to be followed). If the airline wants to fill the plane they will start lowering the price.

Mamianka

If you are checking, online, you must keep in mind that there often ARE many tickets that have been sold - but those flyers have not yet chosen their seats. The only way to know capacity is to speak to a live agent.

RICK

Most major airlines will not, some discount airlines will I once flew from San Francisco to Tokyo via Honolulu, The 747 was full from SF to Hawaii, from Hawaii to Japan passengers & crew totaled 36 people

Jennifer

It is certainly a possibility.A flight can be cancelled at any time for any reason. If you found a flight that is pretty empty, I would consider yourself lucky. While it does happen, it doesn't happen often. .

Rona Lachat

Flights can be cancelled for many reasons. Usually just not because there is a low number of passengers on part of the planes daily activity of going from A to B to C to D to E to..... The Airline does not have to fly. They can arrange for you a seat on some other flight or give you a refund. How nice YOU checked and YOU know exactly what tickets have been sold appears you just know which seats have been allocated. The Airline can leave the list clear until just a few hours before departure. Letting those wanting a particular seat to be able to get it. It takes the computer a few seconds to then distribute the other passengers to to the unoccupied seats. Everyday the ticket's price is increasing to extremely high amount and I doubt people will pay so much to buy ticket. REALLY. There is a reason you are advised to plan ahead and book your travel. The Airline can change their prices and tend to raise them as the seats fill up. Just like Hotels increase their room rate when they are near full. I am aware of an Airline that had two flights from A to B the second flight was frequently cancelled if there were not many passengers. They would be placed on the other flight that left ten minutes later.or earlier. Some days both planes were full some days one plane could handle all passengers.When the plane was needed at some other place it would fly with zero passengers if necessary.

eatbabyseals

The seat map is not a valid indicator of actual flight loads. Another flight can be canceled and your flight could end up oversold. You'd have to look further at the actual flight. Most flights continue onto other destinations which means the plane must fly no matter what because they will be getting more passengers. Best not to worry about it. But do check your flight status the day before and before you head to the airport. Many flights are roundtrip which means one trip might be empty. But the other trip might be full

trailblazer

I've never heard of a -30 day check in period or a 6 hour limitation. So I think you may have it wrong some how. If the price is going up that is because seats are selling and reaching high fare classes. Nothing to worry about if you have a full commercial ticket.

jayden

depends