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Airlines that make 4 "F" seats available per flight for reward

Airlines that make 4 "F" seats available per flight for reward

Old Mar 11, 2009, 3:06 pm
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Airlines that make 4 "F" seats available per flight for reward

Can anybody help me to correct, refine or flush out this list? Also, I have never seen MORE than 4 F seats on any true F trans-oceanic product. Has anyone?

Does the carrier ever make 4 "F" seats available per transoceanic flight for reward?

ANA - Never. Maximum of 2 F seats transoceanic though in almost all cases it is 0 or 1.

AA - Very rarely. Occasionally seen LAX-NRT or other one-off routes at the 330, especially in low seasons.

BA - Frequently. Most flights have 4 F available at the 330 except for highly impacted destinations (EZE, etc.).

CX - Never. Maximum seen is 3 F seats non-transoceanic (NRT-HKG, etc.) or 2 F seats transoceanic. Most commonly, though, there are 0 or 1 seats transoceanic.

JAL - Never any longer. Practice seemed to stop in 2008; prior to this time it was frequent to find 4 F seats on JAL including transoceanic.

LH - Frequently. Almost all 747's have 4 F seats, sometimes released at the 330 though sometimes on much shorter notice. even the Airbuses can see 4 F from time to time.

LX - Never significantly in advance. Maximum of 1 F seat transoceanic significantly in advance. Reports of "immediately prior" to departure, as many as 6-8 F seats being made available. So LX apparently has a very active release-late program where there's unused inventory.

OZ - Sometimes. Have seen as many as 4 F transoceanic on the 747's with F cabins. Availability seems to be highly seasonal and route dependant in nature.

QF - Never. Maximum of 2 F seats transoceanic and given the policy of allowing QF members to grab at the 360, by the time other FF members can get them at the 330, very rare to find even 2.

SQ - Never. Maximum of 2 F seats transoceanic though in almost all cases it is 0 or 1.

Thai - Never. Maximum of 2 F seats transoceanic.

UA - Very rarely. Seems to be occurring right now with respect to non-retrofit aircraft (i.e. mainly 777 routs right now). Also route dependent. For example SFO-LHR or LAX-LHR, both non-retrofit 777's, you can find 4 at the 330 or closer in if not taken by someone else prior.

Air Tahiti Nui - Never. Most I have ever found is 1 seat at a time though I have heard claims of some people getting 2 on very rare occasions.

Air China - Anyone with info?

Turkish - Anyone with info?

Emirates - Anyone with info?

Etihad - Anyone with info?

Last edited by thesilb; Mar 26, 2009 at 7:59 am
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Old Mar 11, 2009, 3:36 pm
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Thanks for posting this!

I am one who collected miles for quite a while hoping to get 4 F seats, only to find out that airline X NEVER releases 4 seats so I had to book 2 and 2.

Anyhow, some airlines only release 4 F during non-peak times. I know you were talking more international routes, but AS for example, never releases 4F on any US domestic transcons, or mid con flights, but does in the off season on specific routes.
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Old Mar 11, 2009, 4:30 pm
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Originally Posted by smilee
I am one who collected miles for quite a while hoping to get 4 F seats, only to find out that airline X NEVER releases 4 seats so I had to book 2 and 2.
I recently had to book 2 and 2 for a puddle-jumper leg on AA. (Only 2 award seats per flight because the flights only have about 20 seats total.) The phone agent put me on hold 25 minutes and was able to switch this to 4 award seats on one flight. Perhaps you can have similar luck converting 2+2 F seats to 4 together _if_ the airline has two flights per day and you have already nailed down award seats on those two flights.
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Old Mar 11, 2009, 4:51 pm
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Originally Posted by nsx
I recently had to book 2 and 2 for a puddle-jumper leg on AA.
It musta been one heck of a big puddle, since we are talking about trans-oceanic!
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Old Mar 11, 2009, 9:01 pm
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I can see 8 (yes, eight) F seat awards available on expertflyer.
ZRH-JFK 14/3
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Old Mar 11, 2009, 9:04 pm
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ZRH-ORD shows 6 as well!
All on LX.
I will check other airlines later today.
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Old Mar 11, 2009, 9:05 pm
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My experience with AA has been that they rarely have more than 2 seats available, though we did get 3 seats ORD-DME for August. Flying LHR-JFK next month and only got 2 of 3 in F. I've been watching availability on expertflyer.com and it appears that at least 7 seats open up on the Wednesday before a Saturday flight (these flights are almost empty). Not much help when making reservations 330 days out, but taking a voluntary downgrade and then upgrading when seats become available is an option.
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Old Mar 11, 2009, 9:17 pm
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Originally Posted by j3brooklyn
My experience with AA has been that they rarely have more than 2 seats available, though we did get 3 seats ORD-DME for August. Flying LHR-JFK next month and only got 2 of 3 in F. I've been watching availability on expertflyer.com and it appears that at least 7 seats open up on the Wednesday before a Saturday flight (these flights are almost empty). Not much help when making reservations 330 days out, but taking a voluntary downgrade and then upgrading when seats become available is an option.

Can you please elaborate on this

Thanks
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Old Mar 11, 2009, 10:49 pm
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Thanks everyone! I will continue to edit/update the leading thread with info, as others respond.

Can someone with access to experflyer check LH IAH-FRA almost any date in the future shows 4 F using ANA availability tool. How many seats are there on some of these flights - more than 4?

That LX availability is crazy. I've been checking like mad, that MUST only be close in, i can never find anything like that on any material pre-book basis.

Mahajanvikas, I believe what j3brooklyn is referring to would be redeeming (say) and "F" award but accepting (say) "C" on one leg (or more). This would permit you to then, if F became available, call and re-ticket. If you're "darn sure" F will come available (as in the strategy above mentioned by j3brooklyn) this can be quite handy.

j3brooklyn, there's definitely 4 seats (at least) on AA on some transoceanic flights in F. A great one used to be SJC-NRT until they discontinued it. You could get 4 F almost any day of the year. LAX-NRT is also very good for this, even now, though now, you have to be fairly close to the 330 to grab them.

Appreciate the replies ^
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Old Mar 12, 2009, 7:38 am
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Originally Posted by thesilb
Can someone with access to experflyer check LH IAH-FRA almost any date in the future shows 4 F using ANA availability tool. How many seats are there on some of these flights - more than 4?
Yes, LH IAH-FRA shows 4F seats available on many dates; the tool only allows a max input of 4, so there may be more.

Mahajanvikas, I believe what j3brooklyn is referring to would be redeeming (say) and "F" award but accepting (say) "C" on one leg (or more). This would permit you to then, if F became available, call and re-ticket. If you're "darn sure" F will come available (as in the strategy above mentioned by j3brooklyn) this can be quite handy.
Yes, accept the award in Economy for the other 2 in your group and then hope for an upgrade. Best bet is to subscribe to expertflyer.com and set a notification to alert you when the award seats become available, probably during the week before the flight. However, if the seats sell you won't be able to upgrade. A bit of a crapshoot.
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Old Mar 12, 2009, 8:14 am
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Originally Posted by j3brooklyn
Yes, LH IAH-FRA shows 4F seats available on many dates; the tool only allows a max input of 4, so there may be more.
I am not familiar with expertflyer. How was it possible to determine (as posted above) using expertflyer, that 6-8 LX first class seats were available? Does it show over 4 seats in the case of LX, but not in the case of LH?
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Old Mar 12, 2009, 12:46 pm
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AF does make more than 4 A seats (A is their classic La Premiere class bucket) available to Asia (but rarely any seats to USA). It is common to see P8F8A7 to HKG on their 777-300 with 8 F class seats. But they will raise their F class award redemption level to a crazy number after April 1.
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Old Mar 20, 2009, 11:15 am
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I was able to get 2 F seats on Asiana (OZ) recently.
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Old Mar 23, 2009, 5:43 pm
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Great thread. Wish someone would start one for saver C transoceanic which I would bet is more difficult to find.

Only suggestion would be to provide actual numbers if known, i.e. 2 max for AA, etc.
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Old Mar 23, 2009, 6:17 pm
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Thanks everyone, I updated the chart above again.
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