I have no doubt that with anecdotal evidence it will be difficult to come to any certain conclusions. But, roti, your specific experience just seems too diffuse to add much weight to either side of the scale, though. I'm perfectly prepared to believe that there really are substantially more AA trans-Atlantic flights than there are BA Heathrow-Istanbul flights, and therefore more seats, and therefore the latter really could be sold out 10 months in advance. Again, just to make sure I've communicated my question clearly, if we take roti's specific experience, knowing whether a British Airways FFP member could have secured a seat on the Heathrow-Istanbul flight, when calling at the same time as roti did, would go a long ways toward answering my question (at least with respect to the AA-BA alliance).