ZERO Avios First Class Seats from LAX!
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at 00:51 by garygca.
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garygcaParticipantI have almost 1.5 million Avios points and wish to redeem them for 2 First Class seats out of LAX. I have tried for months to find any seats on BA and there are ZERO available. I have looked each and every day out for the entirety of their listings (almost a year) and none show up….on ANY day. I have written BA and received a standard form letter back which was of no help. Any suggestions? How can they get away with not making any F seats available for awards?? Help??
16 Mar 2016
at 14:28
TiredOldHackParticipantAre you a Gold Card holder? Reserve a couple of seats. Then cancel them before departure, paying… is it £25 per seat now, cancellation charge?
Then try again.
16 Mar 2016
at 14:37
Charles-PParticipantFDOS_UK
I’m sorry you find the concept of supply and demand difficult to understand. Let me help,
“BA product is very popular” = “lack of capacity”
The demand for the BA First Class seats on this route is so high they do not need to release them to Avios points holders. Is that helpful ?
16 Mar 2016
at 15:16
SimonS1ParticipantBA guarantees to make 2 business class and 4 economy seats available on every flight for reward bookings. These are released 355 days out.
There is no guarantee of F seats and if they can sell them as revenue (even by upgrading J passengers and filling down the value chain) then it probably won’t happen.
On the most popular routes evidence is that people sit waiting 355 days out to pounce. Demand for these seats will probably outstrip supply 100x over. Meantime those who are loyal slaves to BA/Avios will continue to grow their balances and the whole thing gets worse.
On shorter routes it is often a lot easier, not that this will be much comfort to the OP. However I would’t waste pen ink writing to BA. There is no point at all, they will refer you back to the published policy.
16 Mar 2016
at 15:24
FDOS_UKParticipantCharles-P – 16/03/2016 15:16 GMT
As I said, it is one potential reason, there are others and SimonS1 has pointed out a couple of reasons in his post above.
Also, if any reward seats were taken then cancelled, there is no guarantee that they will go back into the redemption pot.
The flights that garygca is looking at may end up departing with 50% of the F seats empty or filled with upgrades as they roll the lower classes forward a cabin.
Or demand could be high for F – but you don’t know that and only BA revenue management will.
16 Mar 2016
at 15:32
FDOS_UKParticipantgarygca – 16/03/2016 14:28 GMT
Although not the best use of avios, if you cannot find any redemption seats, have you considered using your stash to fund a good hotel and then looking for a decent deal in business class, where you might get some very interesting options from LAX, especially if you are prepared to fly indirectly?
Just as a sense check, are you looking for F class seats on BA, to London or an AA elsewhere?
16 Mar 2016
at 15:42
Charles-PParticipantFDOS_UK – 16/03/2016 15:32 GMT
Well actually I do have a lot of knowledge of that route and the BA flight because up until a year ago I was a regular user of it and I can tell you both Business and First were very often full. A testimony to the quality of the BA product and the crew.
16 Mar 2016
at 15:58
FDOS_UKParticipantCharles-P – 16/03/2016 15:58 GMT
LOL – the only people who really know how the route is performing overall (seats sold aka load factor and yield) is BA revenue management and that information will be a closely guarded commercial secret.
Passengers may fly the route heavily, but won’t have the same level of knowledge, which is often why they get frustrated when a flight leaves with free seats in a higher class, but they are not allowed to upgrade for miles (or at a discounted rate.)
16 Mar 2016
at 16:04
FDOS_UKParticipantCharles-P – 16/03/2016 16:17 GMT
Perhaps the fact that I have worked with airlines on projects to create systems to build value from the use of operational big data to do this sort of thing and so have spent quite a lot of time with senior managers and their teams, understanding how the operations actually work, might give me a different view to someone who counts seats in the tube?
16 Mar 2016
at 16:21
garygcaParticipantFDOS_UK, thanks for your info. The issue for me, with home base as LAX, is that ALL BA flights must go thru LHR. But thinking that perhaps they were holding seats for other destinations (via LHR), I have also tried almost any other destination.
The simple fact seems to be, as others have said, that this is a very popular route in F for BA and they simply don’t want to make those seats available for anything other than revenue.
Shame. I’ve earned them with F tickets but now can’t use the points for the same product!
16 Mar 2016
at 16:22
FDOS_UKParticipantgarygca – 16/03/2016 16:22 GMT
As SimonS1 posted earlier, these seats are not easy to find. Have you considered routing via Phoenix, as an alternative? Not saying it is guaranteed, but you might find something out of there and it’s not a huge distance from LA.
16 Mar 2016
at 16:24
garygcaParticipantSimonS1– didn’t know about the two business seats guarantee on each flight. I have looked 355 days out many, many times and don’t even see those, but perhaps with the 8 hour time change (LHR vs LAX), they may get loaded GMT vs LA time and I’m simply too late.
16 Mar 2016
at 16:26 -
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