My flight a few days ago was showing sold out from 3 days out, you could only purchase J. I was on a later flight but was trying to change to a earlier departure. Five hours out EF showed two seats available in Y, I called EK only to be told it was sold out. An hour later I called again to change my flight to an earlier one from a different London location but on the off chance I once again enquired about the flight I wanted earlier which was sold out. To my surprise there were seats available and after I booked I checked EF which was showing Y9 and also flex ticket available. However on MMB I could not select a seat and it was showing every seat was taken.

My second flight was a 2 class and as a guess the flight was full without the rear upstairs Y being available. This must have changed at the last minute as when I boarded there were several empty rows free in the rear but everywhere else was full. I was lucky and got a row of four to myself, but this highlights how much of a lottery checking flights loads is. Prior to arriving at the airport I was fairly confident of op-ups the whole way!