Originally Posted by
fruitcage
I have often wondered whether anyone can confirm with certainty that cancelled redemptions EVER instantly become available for others to book.
(As opposed to BA's Revenue Management systems keeping an eye on things and deciding to release extra seats as and when it suits them.)
I can give a confirmed datapoint. We had 3 Avios redemption bookings on the same flight LHR-SJC for a split class / split return family trip. My wife and I had 2 seats in F, 1 son in Y and 1 son + girlfriend in Y. The son+girlfriend decided not to go but other son wanted to bring a friend instead. So I called BA and they cancelled the son+girlfriend booking and the 2 Y outbound seats immediately appeared in the avios inventory so the agent could then make the avios booking for other son's friend. I had already checked that there was Y availability on the final return leg from IAD as son+girlfriend were originally returning from ORD, so the release of their return legs into inventory would have been no use as we wanted friend to return on same flight with us from IAD. I was a little anxious that the 2 outbound Y seats would vanish, but there was plenty of cash booking space on the flights if really necessary as a backup. As with anything IT related, always have a backup !