Originally Posted by
virtualtroy
Veering slightly OT, but given this combo of dates / routing, VS is in the money. While CX (direct), LH, KL have big problems with seats down the back. QF, NZ meanwhile seem to have healthy non-premium loads, but, wow, what a disappointment for the cabins which pay the fuel bill...
Very unreliable indicator. Booked from UK market inventory, there are at least 4 discounted Upper Class seats available on that VS200.
(And this is one reason why tools like KVS and EF, while often very useful, often fall down for UK customers just when you need them most, ie when you're chasing the last seat or two.)
The other thing to watch for when considering "in the money" is yield. There's a lot of pressure on 27 March and a day or so either side because people are arriving for the Sevens, which starts on Friday 30 March. So even if VS has sold all its Upper Class this far in advance, what yield did it get for those seats? How many have gone to package operators at deeply discounted net rates? Are the airlines that still have premium capacity going to hold out for higher yields later?
I have no idea what the answers are, but these are all the bread and butter of that arcane art called yield management.