DCHP-2

seat sale DCHP-2 (July 2016)

• n. — Transportation

  a sale of discounted airline tickets.

  Type: 3. Semantic Change — Seat sale in the US is usually employed to refer to ticket sales at large-scale sporting events. In the context of airline ticket sales, the term is currently more prevalent in Canada. Chart 1, despite some noise, is able to mirror that numerical difference somewhat.
  See also COD-2, s.v. "seat sale", which is marked "Cdn & Brit".

  • The term seat sale was in widespread use from the late 1970s to 2011. Since that point, Canadian print media at least have moved away from the term.