<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by dnw:
Its interesting that you mention the 'more free seats than can be accounted for by no-shows'. I've been thinking for a while that BA are still being a little naughty in this respect- I often find that a euro-fare quote when booked within a few days of departure comes up only with the top fare buckest showing availble (YBH) yet when you get on the plane its half empty. It does often seem that they empty the lower buckets a few days before departure, irrespective of load 
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Its a bit like having a secretive advanced purchase rule- the V,N etc fares have no such requirement but if the buckets are emptied up to a week before departure, they may as well have!</font>
Yup, naughty - and BD have followed suit. Try getting an EDI-LHR BD shuttle less than 48h before departure and, is if by magic, all flights appear to have sold out in anything lower than S class - £115 per sector - regardless of how empty they were prior to the 48hr mark.