Swiss International Airlines - July/August Award Availability on LX for M&M Members

I have been surprised to see that on expertflyer there is no O or I class availability from July 14 through August 18 for ZRH-BOS. Earlier in July there is limited availability (mainly O, I think) and beginning August 19 there is lots of availability in both buckets. The abrupt change in inventory levels almost suggests that there are blackout dates for I and O, but I do not think there are any.

I am new to the M&M program. From my unscientific survey using EF, standard inventory loads on any random day far out (especially mid-week) seems to be O2 and I8. It seems unlikely to me that all of the ZRH-BOS flights for July 14-Aug 18 have had that many award seats already booked, but I appreciate that LX might reduce its inventory for some dates (such as during the peak summer travel season) so that maybe on a given day only I2 was loaded and they have been taken. Would you LX veterans expect that O and I will open up on this route for M&M members? I am ideally looking to book 3 seats in I or O ZRH-BOS during on Aug 15 or 16 (a Wed or Thurs).

I have been watching the Aug 19 inventory for a few months now and it hasn't budged from O2 I8, so it doesn't look like M&M members are clamoring to book this route in August. And there is a ton of X availability.

The dates you describe are exactly the peak school holidays in the ZRH area. Chances for 3 I or O seats during those dates are nil.

Even on a very slow day in the middle of winter, three premium cabin reward seats on the same flight are not easy to get, and your August dates are still pretty busy travel time.

I wish you luck but if I were you, I'd be making backup plans.

The dates you describe are exactly the peak school holidays in the ZRH area. Chances for 3 I or O seats during those dates are nil.

Even on a very slow day in the middle of winter, three premium cabin reward seats on the same flight are not easy to get, and your August dates are still pretty busy travel time.

I wish you luck but if I were you, I'd be making backup plans.

Thank you for the reply. Do you say that because you think it is unlikely LX will release I or O inventory at all on those dates or because they released inventory already and it has been booked? Is it really that uniform of a schedule that everyone with kids is vying for tickets between July 14 and Aug 18? On August 19 it goes to O2 I8. And looking at seat maps on EF it appears that no I or J seats have been assigned on LX52 on Aug 15 and only one J seat has been assigned on Aug 16.

Thanks again for sharing your experience.

Your observation is pretty normal on routes where the airline expects that it is likely to sell all seats. This is typically true for the Europe-US flights during summer vacation, for the typical vacation spots around Christmas / newyear.
Since most of the premium seats are booked close to the actual flight you often can see 8 empty F seats up to a few weeks before the flight and then it starts filling up.
Only after it becomes more clear how likely it is that the remaining seats will sell you will see some award seats opening up. With a week or so flexibility and going via FRA / MUC / DUS / LHR most of the time it is possible to find seats less than 2 weeks out, but you can never count on it.

A few weeks ago LX released lots of O and I award seats ZRH-BOS during the week of Aug 15 (based on expertflyer results), so I snagged three biz seats! If other M&M members are looking to make summer travel plans, now might be a good time to jump on it!