Unable book Swiss First April 2013
 

I want to fly with Swiss in First class YUL-ZRH-YUL in April 2013. Last year, First class was always available. This year, it seems none is! However, on Expertflyer, there are "O class" available for April 2013 every day..
Why is Aeroplan unable to book them ?

That space is for miles and more members only.

Unfortunately the last year has seen a lot of enhancements to mileage travel, especially in premium cabins. The big changes were:

1) You can NOT book LX First Class for transatlantic travel unless you are using Lufthansa's own Mile & More points.
2) You can NOT book LH First Class until 7-14 days prior to departure. It seems flights out of MUC and DUS can be booked 14 days out, and flights to/from FRA can't be booked until 7-10 days out in most cases. Again this doesn't apply to M&M.
3) You can NOT book SQ premium cabins across either the Atlantic or the Pacific unless you are using Singapore's own points.

The availability you see on ExpertFlyer, as yerffej201 points out, is space reserved for M&M members only.

But i did book it last year (for a trip this march 2012 that I just did) coming back from BKK-FRA-ZHR-YUL, all in First class (except FRA-ZRH since only J in these planes). So, I did fly over the Atlantic in First. Aeroplan even offered it as a YUL-ZRH-YUL in First. I had done my booking in June 2011.
Did the rules change?

No the rules didn't change, the availability did - there is no more "O" award space for *A released by LX. :( The LH group (including LX) simply decided to no longer release award First class space to *A members in advance.

You can thank US Airways and the outrageous sign-up bonuses south of the border for that. :td: :mad:

Thanx for these explanations. Too bad for us ! Wish I can fly again one day First Class with LX!
But what are the chances I get upgraded at the gate if I tell them I booked a First class ticket to Asia and if there First class is empty?

Eh, it's not really US' fault. They won't even let you book LH F anymore :( However if I were you I'd stop blaming US and start getting some of their miles! 100% buy miles promo is on now, $1800 for J class RT from North America to Europe, $1600 to North Asia :D

I'm actually taking advantage of 100K US Air I got last Grand Slam for a couple hundred $ to fly my brother to Zagreb next week with me ;) No fuel surcharges and LH new J and LX J for him. Total fees came to $150. Remember when that used to happen here? ;)

Haha, probably absolutely zero. Your best bet for First class travel over the atlantic is going to be LH now (booked or changed within 2 weeks of departure). Travel between Europe and Asia is most likely on LH shortly before or Thai in advance, and over the Pacific Air China's new First is apparently quite good!

If you really want to fly LX F again without paying outright, your only choice right now that I know of is to save up some SPG points, transfer them to M&M and then either upgrade a paid C ticket, or book one of the O awards outright, complete with fuel surcharges.

More like a certain blog and podcast telling the world if AP mini RTW in F. This shut done the availability and in my option the increase in miles requirements.

If you read the numerous other threads on F awards on LH and LH-owned airlines, you'd know the new policy is to only release F space a week or two prior to departure. Only M&M members can get early released award seats on these flights.

It's not the sign up bonuses, it's the selling of miles at a lower price than other STAR partners.

And you can thank Aeroplan for selling mini-rtws in F for 120k up to a year ago.
Almost everyone on YUL-ZRH in F was on Aeroplan points, its the mini-rtw express.

Not quite true. Seats were limited as they always are. The only time F would go out with more than one award seat taken is when the cabin is unsold a week or so prior and LH/LX opens up to award redemptions to all comers to eek some revenue from the cabin.

Sorry Shareholder, that's not true for LX. LX does not release First Class award space to partners at all, ever. Of the M&M airlines, only LH releases award space a week or two prior to departure in F.