(This is a repost of this question on Movies SE. I hope to get better answers here.)
Irene Adler shows the following text to Sherlock:
007 Confirmed allocation
4C12C45F13E13G60A60B61F34G34J60D12H33K34K
He immediately guesses that "these are seat allocations on a passenger jet", claims it must be a Boeing 747 and then recalls a specific flight which takes off at 6:30 PM the next day. Note that only 14 seats are listed. A Boeing 747 can carry about four hundred passengers. The flight takes off tomorrow evening.
Do airlines really document or communicate seating allocations in this way? Shouldn't there be more seats "confirmed" (whatever that means)?