Hi andys84 I thought I was a seasoned pro at 241s but this Christmas have failed! Those seats you saw online were likely already secured by some lucky bugger who got through in the phone. Tried to book CPT three nights in a row for outbound, couldn’t get through on any numbers, and failed at the online scramble. I’ve just had the same three nights in a row. Last night finally bagged two back from JNB on the A380 which was the least desirable - but managed it online.

So currently have nothing outbound, and a return a day later than I really wanted. I will now either take the double 150k seats out on Qatar, but have alerts set on the off chance BA release more.

Theres nothing you can do differently, it really is a painful process.